STEM Education Should Be STEAM Education

Mickey Hart has written a nice little Huffington Post column on the importance of the arts in education. He argues that the science, technology, engineering and math approach, known as "STEM," won't work as well without the arts.

Neuroscientists also have shown that the brain is hardwired for music, innovation and creativity, all other human activities follow. No human culture known to historians or anthropologists has ever existed without music and dance. The arts are a necessity for insight: the arts make us human.The energy that you acquire from art and music turns inspiration into invention. This allows an inventor to dream up something never envisioned before and creates new industries and good-paying jobs.

I think he's right.

The World Has Lost Two Great Teachers

I learned of the passing of two great teachers this month. Each will be remembered for the profound and lasting effect they had on their students.

Lyn Hendry, who was a childhood neighbor and taught at my High School in Bethesda, Maryland, passed away on October 13 at the age of 89. She was living in retirement in Chestertown, Maryland.

As far as I can recall, I never had a class with Mrs. Hendry. I graduated 30 years ago, after all, but I think I would have remembered. But she was a neighbor and I can say that her teaching influenced me, if only at a remove. Several of my siblings took her classes and brought her influence home. I'm sure she is one of the reasons our dinner-time table-talk was in many ways like a seminar itself.

And earlier this week, we lost Charlie Bassett, retired American Studies professor at Colby College and one of the touchstones in my own intellectual development.

I took his survey of American literature class. It was one of those large, lecture hall classes that can become simply a catalog of facts and figures. But his teaching style was so vivid and involved that I remember some of his lectures to this day.

Ironically, I had heard earlier this fall that Professor Bassett was battling an illness at a nursing home near Villanova, where my eldest has just started her college career. Her school search, selection process, and move to Villanova had had me thinking back to my time at Colby and to teachers like Charlie Bassett, and what he helped me learn.

I think we forget sometimes how important teachers can be in helping shape us into the citizens we become. I'm glad to have known these two as neighbors and teachers.

I'm sad to learn that they are gone, but grateful for the work they did -- work that we'll remember and hopefully pass on to the next group to come along.

From My Bucket List?

I had my picture taken with The Count, from Sesame Street, today. I was very excited about this.

I didn't realize that I wanted this until earlier in the week, when I looked at the media advisory from the US Census Bureau about the Census in Schools event I was planning to attend.

Right there, listed along with the Governor, a Senator, and the Director of the Census, were The Count and Rosita!

The Count was there for the students at Bancroft Elementary and a demonstration of the educational materials about the Census that the Bureau is making available to schools nationwide.

But I did get to pose for a picture after the lesson. Great fun!

Though when you compare this picture of me with the picture of my Grandfather at about the same age that I posted earlier this week, it makes you wonder about my level of dignity.

The College Tours Continue

We're in Quakertown, Pennsylvania, this morning, getting ready to stop in at Cabrini College to collect Christina. She's just finished two weeks at The Rock School, an intensive ballet program in downtown Philadelphia which houses its students on main-line college campuses like Cabrini.

We took yesterday for a pair of college campus tours with Colleen. We started the day at Villanova, just down the way from Cabrini, and finished up at Lehigh, about an hour north of there, in Bethlehem.

They are both very nice schools. Both are largely gothic, architecturally, so I was in Dad-with-camera-heaven. It made one of the young tour guides nervous. She felt she was going to have to wait for me each time I became fascinated with a steeple or a hilltop view. I assured her I could catch up and that the tour was for my daughter -- not me.

The photo above right is from one of the libraries at Lehigh. It is, I believe, a "quiet room" there. I loved that room; three stories of open shelves with spiral stairs and an amazing sky-light, stained-glass, dome.

Time will tell if either school appealed to Colleen enough to want to apply. I liked them both. These campus tours are bittersweet for me; I realize what a great opportunity college can be and how much more is offered these days. And I realize how much more I might have gotten from my college experience had I been a bit more mature.

At Villanova, our guide pointed out an archway where it is said that you can hear a whisper in one side of the arch around on the other; sound is carried along a carved-out channel. Two kids in the group decided to try it out, but it didn't work -- both were listening neither was whispering.

At Lehigh, we came upon the university's wrestling team. They were manhandling their wrestling mats into a rented truck parked facing up a steep grade. The mats didn't quite fit. I have my doubts that that exercise ended well.

Lehigh is built on the side of a small mountain. There are many steps and inclines. But also great views. If nothing else, students there have no trouble staying in shape.

Three Days, Four States, Three Universities: 866 Miles

Karen, Colleen and I took a road trip this weekend and visited universities in the Research Triangle area of North Carolina. Christina stayed with a school chum with whom she was completing a project.

Karen had a half-day in-service on Friday. I took a half-day of vacation and she drove from Lewes to Dover (39.3 miles) to pick me up after lunch. We then drove to Wilmington Friends School for Colleen's lacrosse game. We had to detour around a traffic mess on I-95; 295 had had to be closed for emergency repairs and that backed-up 95 and parts of SR 1. Luckily I was able to call my friend Kim, who lives up there. She navigated us around the mess, but it added to the drive (56.6 miles).

We got to meet the head of the Wilmington Friends Upper School. Rob Lake is a very nice young man, knowledgeable about lacrosse and popular with his students. We enjoyed our short chat.

It was a great game. The Sussex Tech girls led for much of the game, but Friends came back late and won it 11 to 10. It was a tough loss, but I think the team learned a lot.

After the game, we headed south on I-95 through Baltimore, past Washington DC and Richmond to Colonial Heights, Virginia (243 miles). It was a tough drive. it rained from south of Washington all the way down Virginia. Quite hard, at times. We reached our hotel in Colonial Heights at about midnight and crashed.

We were up early Saturday morning and headed south on I-85 to Durham, North Carolina (138 miles). We reached Duke University in plenty of time before a 10:00 a.m. information session. We followed that with a campus tour.

Duke is a cool school. We spent most of our time on the side of campus with Gothic architecture. Another part is Georgian. It's a beautiful place, even on a grey, wet day. We were particularly impressed with the chapel at the center of things; it is impressive outside and in, and surrounded by charming walks. I liked Duke. If Colleen wants to apply there, that would be fine.

Saturday afternoon, we drove down to a Holiday Inn near the University of North Carolina campus in Chapel Hill (9.9 miles). This morning we drove around the UNC campus. It was a quiet time; I assume most students were either at church or sleeping off their Saturday nights. We drove across to Raleigh (25.8 miles) where we also drove around the campus of North Carolina State.

From Raleigh, we drove back to Lewes by way of Norfolk, Virginia, the Bay Bridge Tunnel, and long empty stretches of Virginia and Maryland (354 miles).

It was a long weekend, but fun in its own way. And we got to see a few more campuses and think about where Colleen might go to school.

This is What An Apology Should Look Like

Cape Henlopen School Board member Nobel Prettyman has a letter of apology in the Cape Gazette newspaper today. It refers to an incident recently in which Mr. Prettyman lost his cool and spoke his emotions more than his mind. The politics of the District, and the details of that incident, are not what interests me here. I wanted to highlight the following letter because it is, I think, what an apology from an elected official, or any leader, should look like.

I've taken the unusual step of posting the whole thing here, rather than just linking to the Gazette's letters page, because that page is not a persistent link; letters cycle off the page week to week.

Prettyman: “My behavior was totally unacceptable.”

I am a Cape Henlopen school board member because I desire for our young scholars to receive the best education possible. I have always voted with the best interests of the young scholars in mind. I am passionate about the issues before the school board.

Recently, my behavior has not lived up to the high standards at which I wish to serve. I speak specifically to the events that took place at the March 3 owners meeting. Not only was my behavior not of a high standard, but by any reasonable evaluation, my behavior was totally unacceptable. I wish I could take my offensive words back.

Unfortunately, I cannot. All I can do is apologize for my behavior and pledge not to repeat it.

When I read the article in the Cape Gazette, I cringe at the way my words must appear to the readers. I cannot blame anyone if, after reading this article, they made judgments about me. However, please do not draw any conclusions about my character based solely on a news report. A news article cannot convey my intent. In my heart of hearts I did not intend for my remarks to be taken in a racial manner. Furthermore, I did not intend for them to pit one part of the Cape community against another. I truly and deeply do apologize if my actions and words have offended anyone. I will take all the steps necessary to ensure this behavior is not repeated.

If my words were hurtful to any board members, I apologize to them for any pain I caused. I would be willing to take any training available to board members to help establish a better working relationship with my fellow board members. Since I am an elected official, I apologize to my fellow board members, district employees, citizens, parents and most especially to the young scholars.

I, Noble Prettyman, Cape board member, deeply regret that my words have distracted the district from the important business of educating our young scholars. In the future, I pledge to have the high standards expected of a Cape board member. As usual, I am available to any member of the community for input and discussion by email to n.prettyman@att.net or at 302-684-2658.

Noble Prettyman
Milton

Agree with Mr. Prettyman on the issues, or disagree, but the bottom line is that this is how a leader should conduct himself when in the wrong. I hope that I have the courage to conduct myself this way if and when the need arises.

A Short Report from a Delaware Education Workshop

Karen and I drove up to Dover this evening for a workshop with Delaware Education Secretary Lillian Lowery and Chad Robinson, a legislative advisor from Lt. Governor Matt Denn's Office.

This was one of the Back to School Briefings set up to get input on the reform plan for Delaware's schools. Tonight's meeting was focused on the proposal to replace the Delaware State Testing Program (the hated DSTP) with a new test that better measures individual student progress.

There were about 20 people there. They included parents, teachers, school administrators, teacher's union staff, Department of Education staff, and legislators. There was also a young man in the sixth grade, a scout who came with his father as part of his effort to win a merit badge in Government. And there was a college student who had been through Delaware's school system. I give great credit to both Secretary Lowery and Mr. Robinson for their including both of these students in the conversation and for asking, and really wanting to hear, their opinions.

As I understand it, the idea is to have a more flexible test that students take at the start and end of the school year. This would be a test that can be "tuned" to individual students, find their individual starting point at the beginning of the year and measure their progress through the year. It could be used to help guide instruction instead of as a simple flat-line measure of whether or not the student has learned what is required in the standard.

That's the framework. The workshops that are now under way are meant to gain input on the idea and guide the drafting, over time, of the new program. There was good conversation for two hours. The discussion got a little education-wonky; there were some leaders in the teaching professions in the room. But everyone had something to contribute and we covered a lot of ground. It was a very positive session.

I like this approach; it's the same sort of thing Governor Markell has been doing on the budget issue. It is taking the discussion to the people and honestly seeking input.

I think of this as the start of "Delaware 2.0".

GIS Day

I spent Wednesday morning at the Air Mobility Command Museum at Dover Air Force Base. Wednesday was GIS Day, a day intended to celebrate the role of GIS data and tools in many aspects of modern life.

I was one of many volunteers from the Delaware GIS community hosting fifth graders from three Delaware schools for a GIS Day field trip at the museum. We squired them through a series of learning stations including activities teaching about maps and map data, weather emergencies and emergency preparedness, and using GPS to help locate accident victims.

As a centerpiece, we had the Earth Balloon from the Delaware Children's Museum. This is a 19-foot inflatable globe into which kids can enter with an instructor to see all manner of geography from the inside.

Wednesday evening, the event was open to the public. I had to miss that; I had a Lewes Planning Commission meeting that night. It wasn't the only GIS day event; the City of Dover GIS folks hosted an for city staff to demonstrate the ,many uses of the technology in the capitol city.

I spent my Wednesday morning with 14 fifth graders from McVey Elementary School, in Newark, a very nice bunch of kids. Fifth grade is an interesting age. We had little tiny kids and boys who had shot up above their classmates and whose voices have dropped an octave. There were young ladies of great self-possession with bright, inquiring minds. They worked well together. They listened. They were a pleasure to work with.

I was also very pleased with the work done by the folks who created the event, led by Megan Nehrbas, of Sussex County government, with help from Miriam Pomilio, of the Delaware Geological Survey. They have created a new educational resource that I hope will continue in the years to come.

Visiting the Temples of Learning

I guess that title is a bit overstated, but it works with the picture. This is a reading room in one of the libraries at Boston College. We visited BC and Boston University last week with Colleen, who is entering her junior year at high school this fall and should start thinking about colleges soon.

We made a quick trip to Boston to visit campuses and spend some time with friends from the Tyler Place who live south of Boston. We drove up on Wednesday and came back Sunday.

The summer college visit set-up seems to be a meeting in a lecture room where a large group of parents and kids hear from an admissions officer and a student (or a panel of students) about the school. There's a chance to ask questions and then campus tours in smaller groups led by students tour-guides.

I notice that the prospective students don't ask as many questions as they should; parents ask quite a few. In some cases, perhaps they should sit back and let their kids do the asking. The student guides, on the other hand, are not shy at all; they can't be and also have that job. They are generally outgoing and impressive kids who represent their schools well.

There is a cynical part of me that finds these young men and women just a tad too high on their schools, but I keep that part hidden. These are nice kids.

BC and BU are lovely schools, if rather different from each other. BU is much larger and more urban. BC is a smaller suburban school, set off by itself. I could see my daughter at either; but the choice is hers and there are many more schools to consider. The cool thing is that we have started the process that will lead eventually to her selecting a college or a university.

It's another step taken.

In Boston

I'm typing this in a smelly smoking room in a Sheraton Inn in Newton, Massachusetts. I'm in the Boston area through the week-end. I brought Colleen up for a three-day "Bass-Lines" program at the Berklee School of Music. She's staying in the Berklee dorm and I have a cheap (and stinky) room just outside of Boston.

We drove up today. Colleen is almost done with the first 6 months of her graduated driver's license; she can drive with a parent along in the car and I used this trip as an opportunity to give her some (guided) experience driving on various kinds of highways. She has now driven Delaware's SR1, parts of the Garden State Parkway, several different interstates, and the Merritt Parkway. She did well.

We got into Boston in the late afternoon and got her checked-in at Berklee with no trouble. We then met some summer friends at Quincy Market for a nice dinner. After that, I dropped Colleen off at her dorm and headed out to this hotel.

I got terribly lost heading back out here. It was dark and Boston is tricky. I got here, though, after a few false leads. This hotel sits astride Interstate 90 -- the Massachusetts Turnpike -- Looking out my window I see three lanes of headlights and three of tail-lights.

I used Hotwire to book this place; it didn't have to be special, just a place to sleep for a few nights. My plan is to play tourist but be nearby if Colleen needs me. I didn't count on a smoking room, though. I hope they can move me tomorrow.

A Lost Opportunity?

There was a bit of a stink this past week in the Indian River School District here in southern Delaware. I take a mostly cynical view of it, but a story in Time this week suggests that there could have been a very positive learning experience, if we had only looked for it ahead of time.

The requirements of the settlement of the Prayer in Schools lawsuit against the District had teachers and administrators reviewing an updated Religion Policy and a set of real-world examples designed to help them avoid unconstitutional proselytizing. Somewhere along the line, it was suggested that the School District had commanded a cancellation of the pre-Break parties set for this week; parties that traditionally have a Spring/Easter theme.

This caused something of an uproar, even after the District issued a statement saying it had not commanded any cancellations. It doesn't even really make sense, given the status of "easter" as as much a secular holiday as a religious holiday. I don't think it diminishes the special and deeply felt meaning of this holiday for true Christians to see other folks mucking about with the bunny rabbits and the eggs that symbolize new-birth and spring. So there isn't really a lawsuit-based reason to cancel such parties.

My inner cynic suggests that someone angry over the settlement of the lawsuit planted the party-pooping story to generate parental anger and protest. It wouldn't surprise me to see someone try that as a way to gather support for making the public schools more parochial.

But that 's just the voice of the little Elmer Gantry perched on my right shoulder. On my left shoulder is an angel holding up a print-out of the Time story about the many religious traditions that celebrate this time of year and the curious convergence of those holidays this year.

...on this particular Friday, March 21, it seems almost no believer of any sort will be left without his or her own holiday. In what is statistically, at least, a once-in-a-millennium combination, the following will all occur on the 21st:
Good Friday
Purim, a Jewish festival celebrating the biblical book of Esther
Narouz, the Persian New Year, which is observed with Islamic elaboration in Iran and all the "stan" countries, as well as by Zoroastrians and Baha'is.
Eid Milad an Nabi, the Birth of the Prophet, which is celebrated by some but not all Sunni Muslims and, though officially beginning on Thursday, is often marked on Friday.
Small Holi, Hindu, an Indian festival of bonfires, to be followed on Saturday by Holi, a kind of Mardi Gras.
Magha Puja, a celebration of the Buddha's first group of followers, marked primarily in Thailand.

Yesterday would heave been a perfect opportunity for comparative religion parties in the schools using the many holidays, traditions, foods, dances, music and art to explore a wide variety of cultures.

"Half the world's population is going to be celebrating something," says Raymond Clothey, Professor Emeritus of Religious studies at the University of Pittsburgh. "My goodness," says Delton Krueger, owner of www.interfaithcalendar.org, who follows "14 major religions and six others." He counts 20 holidays altogether (including some religious double-dips, like Maundy Thursday and Good Friday) between the 20th (which is also quite crowded) and the 21st. He marvels: "There is no other time in 2008 when there is this kind of concentration."

The article points out that, in fact, it's only nine times in 800 years that "Good Friday, Purim, Narouz and the Eid would occur in the same week" and only one time that they would ever happen within a two-day period.

I guess we missed a chance to teach. Maybe next time?

Fifty Years Ago Today

This is who we were just 50 years ago.

On September 4, 1957, a 15 year-old girl walked down the street to her first day at a new high school. Dorothy Counts was a special young woman; tall, smart, and pretty.

She was also the first African American student to enroll at Harding High School in Charlotte, North Carolina. She was one of four students to integrate High Schools in that city that year.

Her walk from her father's car to the school building was short, but she was followed and hounded along the way by a crowd of angry white kids. They told her she was not welcome and should go home. Only less politely than that.

She made it to the school, but her career there was short. The stress of that first day expressed itself in a sore throat and fever. She returned to the school for three more days before the threats, rock-throwing, and spitting convinced her parents to pull her out of the school.

Here's the statement her father released to explain that move:

In enrolling Dorothy in Harding High School, we sought for her the highest in educational experience that this tax-supported school had to offer a young American. ... Needless to say that we regret the necessity which makes the withdrawal expedient. This step, taken for security and happiness, records in our history a page which no true American can read with pride.

True. And fifty years later, have we earned the right to be proud of ourselves? Technically, our society is integrated; as are our schools. But, let's be honest: we can do better.

One has only to read the "comments" section of the News Journal web site to see how far we have yet to go.

Yet, I take some hope from the story about this anniversary in last Saturday's Charlotte Observer. Dorothy Counts -- now Dot Counts-Scoggins -- is able to look back with compassion and some understanding on that time, and so are several of the young boys, now older men, who made up part of that mob.

Have a look, it's worth the read.
(Photo credit: Don Sturkey, 1957 North Carolina Collection, Univ. of N.C. Library at Chapel Hill.)

The Costs of Education

We're just about to head back into the school year here in Delaware. I know some other folks around the nation are already into their 2007/2008 school year. Two timely headlines caught my eyes yesterday. Here are two facts to bear in mind about the re-start of school.

The News Journal ran a story yesterday (Teachers spend out of pocket on kids) on the costs borne by teachers as they prepare for the first day of school.

Teachers nationally spend an average of $475 of their own money on classroom supplies and materials each year, according to a study prepared by Quality Education Data Inc. for the last school year.

Meanwhile, the Marketing to Moms Coalition has released a report (Back to School 2007 [WORD]) that found that parents are also slapping down some cash at this time of the year.

"School Age Moms" (mothers with children aged 7-12) will spend nearly $450.00 on average on Back to School 2007. School Age Moms with two children between 7 and 12 will spend nearly $600.00.

As a parent of school-age kids, and as the spouse of a teacher (and friend to other teachers and parents), I can attest to the truth of each of these reports.

Some Newspaper Editor Has My Sense of Humor

This headline from today's News Journal is simply wonderful:

Md. sex-ed plan includes sex education

The accompanying text explains that the Maryland Board of Education has ruled that the Sex-Ed curriculum in Montgomery County, Maryland, may indeed include educational information about sex.

A Boat Rowed Around It

A fellow affiliated with the Delaware Museum of Natural History is about to start on an intriguing adventure. John Wik plans to row a small rowboat around the Delmarva Peninsula as an educational adventure and to raise awareness about the museum.

It is called A Delmarva Odyssey (WARNING: embedded and apparently unstoppable video).

Mr. Wik will leave from the City of New Castle this week and row down the Delaware River, through the Delaware Bay, around Cape Henlopen, down the Atlantic Coast, around Cape Charles, up the Chesapeake Bay, through the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, and back to New Castle.

Not all in one go. He plans to do a few days a week, stopping along the way to record video lessons about the region and its ecology for school children. The Delmarva Odyssey site already has a few videos up detailing plans for the trip, the equipment, and some basic information about the region.

I'm ashamed to say I missed Molly Murray's story on this trip from a few days ago (A Delmarva trek, from bay to bay). I learned about the Odyssey from the Delmarva blog Shore Things (which I only just discovered).

According to Molly's story, the trip was to have started tomorrow, Mother's Day. The Odyssey web site, however, gives Tuesday, May 15 as the starting date. I imagine it may have been changed for various logistical reasons in the nearly two weeks since Molly's story came out. I know the last thing I would want to do on Mother's Day is start a major me-centric adventure. Better to wait a few days.

I hope to track this trip. The News Journal appears poised to offer regular updates, and I will return to the Odyssey web site from time to time. It would be helpful if there were regular text updates from the Odyssey site, and not just the collections of videos that appear planned. An RSS feed would be helpful, as would a schedule of whens and wheres so those of us inclined to could go on-site for a look.

When, for example, will Mr. Wik be passing my town of Lewes?

Evidence That There Is Hope

We spent this morning at the Indian River School District Spelling Bee where Christina was a contestant in the fifth grade division. She was one of the top four spellers in fifth grade at the Southern Delaware School of the Arts and so was sent to the District-wide contest as one of the representatives of her school.

I was loosely familiar with this event. Christina's older sister Colleen was a contestant herself one year.

Christina did well; she lasted past the preliminary rounds but stumbled on a word that, without the pressure of competition, she would have spelled correctly. She came out into the audience to sit with us and spelled almost every subsequent word in the contest correctly in a whispered aside to her mother and me.

An SDSA classmate of Christina's was the winner. He was a strong speller, though the young man who placed second seemed the more confident. I think that confidence proved to be his downfall. Almost all the others took advantage of their right to write down the word to see the spelling before answering to the judges. This kid never touched pencil to paper; in each round he simply paused in thought and then spelled his words. I believe the lack of the letter he dropped from "influence" would have been obvious to him had he written it out first.

I was pleased to see that the final five spellers were all boys. It may be an erroneous stereotype, but I would have expected the girls to be the better spellers. I'm glad I was proven wrong.

Bragging About My Niece

I have a large family. I am one of seven siblings. Each of us is married with at least two kids. I have nieces and nephews ranging in age from their 30s to their halcyon pre-school days.

I like to brag about them almost as much as I like to brag about Colleen and Christina. You may remember my posts about my nephew Nick and his appearance in the movie Rent.

Today, my sister-in-law Jane sent a link to an article on the web site of Walt Whitman High School about the freshman members of Whitman's swimming team, including our niece Jenna.

The story (Talented freshmen swimmers bring promise to team) starts with a fanciful retelling of the day when a very young Jenna came face to face with destiny:

When six year-old Jenna Mahaffie saw the Merrimack Swim Team after practice, holding their bathing caps and goggles as water dripped off their bodies onto the pavement, she felt an instant connection. What began as a playful visit to the pool turned into something more for Mahaffie, as she decided then and there to join the swim team, marking the beginning of her competitive swimming career.

To her credit, Jenna calls this "exaggerated" and laughs at it. Good for her.

The story goes on to discuss how Jenna is part of a contingent of young swimmers adding strength to Whitman's swim team. She's rather a good swimmer.

It was something of a trip down memory lane for me to read this. I graduated from Whitman in 1980, a few years after Jenna's Dad, my brother Jim. And I swam at Merrimack as a kid. I even attended a few swim team practices there, though that clearly wasn't my sport. (I wonder what was?)

I occurred to me, as well, that Jenna reminds me of a swimmer I knew when I was at Whitman. Shelley was a swimmer and lived next door to a surfer we knew named Murray. One of the guys in my band, the Ramblin' Beach Guys, had kind of a crush on Shelley, so we wrote a doo-wop song called "I'm in Love with Murray's Neighbor."

It was our only sort-of hit. Not that we ever recorded it, or that it was ever heard very widely.

So now, there's Jenna; another Mahaffie wandering the halls of Walt Whitman High.

Welcome, Weary MBA Student

When you have a chance, pay a visit to Dino's Journal.

Dino is a young man from Indonesia who will be arriving in Delaware this month as an MBA student at the University of Delaware.

He recently tried out PlaceBlogger and found Newarking. He was pleased to learn a bit more about the place he'll be studying.

I've added him to my blog-roll and look forward to his impressions of our small state.

Grant Me Patience? Too Late.

I rarely do this, but let me take a moment to point, aghast, to a letter to the editor in today's Coast Press newspaper.

One Maria Johnson, of Georgetown, has written a letter asking "Is AIDS education a sly 'agenda'?"

Is it true that there's a poster contest in the middle and high school sponsored by CAMP Rehoboth to recognize HIV and AIDS? Do other organizations like heart or cancer foundations, pregnancy care centers, Alcoholics Anonymous, or domestic abuse groups go into schools and tie up young people's emotions, energy and brains with their stuff?

Okay. First let's check on that "is it true?" question. A Google search finds the CAMP Rehoboth web site, where a small amount of perusing shows us that, yes, CAMP Rehoboth did sponsor a Student Art Contest this fall as part of the local World AIDS Day activities.

The contest was one of two activities added by local sponsors for this year. The other was a Wall of Healing, Remembrance and Prayer at Epworth United Methodist Church.

The Art Contest wasn't intended to "recognize" HIV and AIDS, though. It was designed to call attention to the risks of HIV infection that young people face. Here's what the organizers had to say:

CAMP Rehoboth chose to sponsor the Student Art Contest out of deep concern with the latest statistics released by the Centers for Disease Control. The data establishes that 50% of all new HIV infections occur in young people under the age of 25. In addition, national case surveillance data for people ages 13 to 24 revealed that the burden of HIV/AIDS falls most heavily and disproportionately on black and Hispanic youth. CAMP Rehoboth believes that accurate, age-appropriate information is our best hope for reducing these trends for our young citizens. By working with Sussex County school districts, CAMP Rehoboth hopes to ameliorate this situation.

And yes, Ms. Johnson, quite a few other issues-based organizations sponsor student arts contests, essay contests, and the like. My daughters have both been winners in fire-prevention essay and art contests, and young people we know have won citizenship essay contests and that sort of thing. It can be rather a positive experience.

Let's see what else Ms. Johnson had to say.

There's a whole page of support groups in the Delaware State News. If there's a private matter that a student needs help with, maybe a guidance counselor could direct the young person to a support group or a helpful foundation.

I'm not sure why you would limit yourself to the State News, but directing kids to guidance counselors makes excellent sense. I quite agree.

I am not a gay-hater, but this example demonstrates that the gay agenda is being slyly and forcibly taught to children in schools. I think people should be aware of this, and I think CAMP Rehoboth should be kept out of our schools.

You are not a gay-hater? Let's leave that to one side for the moment. I can say, though, that something can't be both "slyly" and "forcibly" done. I think those two adverbs are mutually exclusive.

If the "gay agenda" is to teach young people about the risks of unprotected sex and the dangers of making poor choices, then I say bring on the homosexuals as soon as possible.

And by the way, let us not suppose that HIV and AIDS are only a gay issue. We know well that AIDS affects gay and straight folks alike.

But this is silly. CAMP Rehoboth is not in the schools trying to turn young Sussex Countians into gays and lesbians. If you spend your time worried about this sort of thing, please get a clue. Or a life.

As it happens, I have gotten to know a few of the founders of CAMP Rehoboth over the years. The Executive Director, Steve Elkins, is in the Epworth Church bell choir with Karen. His partner Murray Archibald, CAMP Rehoboth President, is a lay leader in the church.

Both gents are much more religious than I am, but I am sometimes at the church and they have been most welcoming and friendly, despite my less-Christian status.

By the way, if you were wondering, CAMP Rehoboth stands for "Creating a More Positive Rehoboth."