Is High School Obsolete?

45 governors got together on Saturday to discuss the state of the American education system. Bill Gates was there and threw in his two cents...

"America's high schools are obsolete," Gates said. "By obsolete, I don't just mean that they're broken, flawed or underfunded, though a case could be made for every one of those points. By obsolete, I mean our high schools, even when they're working as designed, cannot teach all our students what they need to know today."

source: Yahoo News

OK, so he put in a little more than his two cents... In fact, he's put $700 million into reducing class sizes. And, I think he's got a point. Our education system hasn't kept up. Agricultural and manufacturing work is dissappearing in this country and students have to be prepared for college or at least to enter into a more technically oriented job market.

I think accountiblility in the education system has brought new emphasis on the fundamentals in elementary education. Though perhaps poorly conceived, the "No Child Left Behind" Act has brought some improvement in primary schools. A new focus on how we are preparing our High School students for the modern work force may be just what we need to keep the country competitive in the new global marketplace.

Snow Tubing!

Here's some of our group snow tubing today in Winterplace, WV.

Not that I was a fan but...

Check this out...

"Important Korn Announcement: Korn has parted ways with guitarist Brian Head Welch, who has chosen the Lord Jesus Christ as his savior, and will be dedicating his musical pursuits to that end. Korn respects Brian's wishes and hopes he finds the happiness he is searching for."

Source: KoRn.com

Like I said, I'm not exactly a Korn fan. In fact, the one time I tried to listen to it I thought it was some of the most obnoxious noise I had heard in a long time. But it's pretty big news anytime someone who was successful as a secular heavy metal artist makes a life transition like this guy.

So make a note, now you have something to talk about with that quiet brooding kid who always has a Korn t-shirt on.

UPDATE: MTV News is now carrying an interview with Brian Welch that goes into a great deal more detail:

"He left because he had become sick of 'chasing the almighty buck,' and felt that being respected by his young daughter was more important than being rich."

source: MTV.com

He also has a new web site site: HeadToChrist.com

Rock on Palau!

Tonights the night we've all been waiting desperately for, THE SURVIVOR SEASON PREMIER!!!

Even the Charlotte Christian radio station spent most of their morning show talking about it. Did you know that most of the inhabitants of Palau (that's where Survivor is located this season) are Christian? 49% Roman Catholic. One third of them observe an indigenous religion called Modekngei. I don't think I've ever seen K N G together in a word before. I wonder if the K is silent... even if it is I still can't pronounce it. Palau is an island nation and a televangelist. I don't think Luis Palau hangs out with Mark Burnett but that might explain why the Christian radio station spent so time on the subject this morning. Maybe they were confused? Am I rambling? Here's more information on Palau if you care:

CIA World Factbook: Palau

Now on to the important business at hand. FANTASY LEAGUE! This year's team will be called "Desecrate I" the name of a major American air raid on a Japanese base on Palau during WWII on March 30 and 31, 1944. This resulted in the Lost Fleet of the Rock Islands, Japanese shipwrecks that divers visit today.

I will be sending out fantasy league invites this afternoon. If you don't get one by 5 o'clock today then drop me a e-mail to find out if it was just an oversight or if I left you out intentionally. Don't panic about getting your picks in today, they never score the first episode anyway. Here's were you go for more information or to register:

Survivor Fantasy League

Christian Girls Rock!

This is Nicole C. Mullen. She's rocking a soldout crowd in Charlotte tonight.

My Grandfather

He could usually be found working in the yard with one of those denim train engineer hats on. When I was born he nicknamed me "Smokey" because he didn't want someone else to come along later and give me a stupid nickname. He made really great boiled peanuts. He had interesting hobbies like rock tumbling, woodworking and occasionally he welded scrap metal into some strange looking stuff. He fought during World War II in the trenches at the Battle of the Bulge and recieved a Purple Heart.

There aren't that many heroes like my Poppy around anymore. I miss him.

The King Lives!

I'm in Dothan, AL this weekend. This is a peanut dressed up as Elvis.

Inside the Teenage Mind

There are two new interesting studies out this week that deal with youth.

Does your teenager tend to engage in risky behavior? Well they can't help it. The region of the brain that inhibits risky behavior isn't fully developed until you turn 25! Most kids are going to pick a career and a lifemate before the decision making part of their brain is mature. Well, at least that's what our first interesting teenage study of the day says:

"...teen recklessness is partly the result of a critical gap in time -- starting with the thrill-seeking that comes in puberty and ending when the brain learns to temper such behavior.

Since children today reach puberty earlier than previously, about age 13, and the brain's reasoning center doesn't reach maturity until the mid-20s, Steinberg said, 'This period of recklessness has never been as long as it is now.'"

Source: Charlotte Observer

The second study addresses depression, anxiety, attention deficit disorder, conduct disorders, and thoughts of suicide:

"These mental and emotional problems are affecting the nation and its future. 'Large numbers of children, even including those who could be considered privileged, are no longer developing the empathy, moral commitment, and ability to love necessary to maintain our society at the level that has always been our dream,' he writes.

So what's the problem? A significant cause of this 'crisis,' the commission said, is that children and teens are experiencing 'a lack of connectedness ... to other people, and [lack of] deep connections to moral and spiritual meaning.'"

So what's the solution? Apparently, you need to get your kids into a youth group (oh you know this is going to be in the Miami Baptist Newsletter next month!).

"Religion is the key -- more specifically, the religious communities that are able to transmit the beliefs, values and morals that help give young people a sense of the transcendent, an ordered universe and their own place in it."

Source: Crosswalk.com

Whine...

I turned 32 today. Normally, I don't get depressed about birthdays. Getting older doesn't bother me. But on the occassion of 32nd birthday, no one wished me a "happy birthday" except my mother-in-Law and that was after I called to thank her for the shirt she bought me a week or two ago.

Yesterday, Angel said "Tomorrow is your birthday." And yesterday, my dad asked me if there was anything I wanted for my birthday. But today, it was like there was some conspiracy to let the day pass without any acknowledgement. Even after I reminded Carmen a few minutes ago she didn't even make an attempt to get out the words "happy birthday." She just said "uh-huh" and rolled over to go to sleep.