Tag Archives: Newburyport Current

January 29, 2008 · 6:39 pm

Surprising Behavior by Senator John Kerry and Michael Cook

What is this world coming to?

Is it possible that prolific letter writer Michael Cook wrote an entire entry for last week’s Newburyport Current (“Culture of celebrity is all about marketing”) without including “President Bush” and an unflattering adjective in the same sentence?

Is it also possible that our Senator Kerry called former president Bill Clinton a “liar” last Friday?

It is not only possible but also true in both cases. I found both occurrences refreshing.

I will admit that I generally only read Michael’s entries until the word “Bush” shows up. After that, the Far Left talking points start and my interest vanishes. I’m not crazy about President Bush, especially on immigration, but he is not the cause of all the evil in the world.

In this article, which I was able to read in its entirety, Michael opined on a topic that my wife and I have discussed more than a few times: “Why do some of the lightweights of our society get paid so much money?” Like us, Michael wonders why those who really make a difference in society struggle to get by.

Michael credits this unfairness to the fact that the successful are getting assistance from publicists while the rest of us are not. We may be doing great things but no one is notifying the media of it or setting up contacts that will lead to financial rewards. I absolutely agree.

I do think we have to remember that we live in a culture that is willing to pay dearly to be entertained. Those offering the entertainment know this. When ticket prices go up people are outraged. However, they do have two choices – pay or stay home. Most choose to pay and that just emboldens those offering the entertainment.

Michael thinks that the sordid lifestyles of many of the celebrities will eventually lessen our interest in following them and/or paying to see them perform. I hope he’s right but after flipping through the TV channels and seeing previews of coming attractions, I think that those providing the entertainment totally disagree with Michael on this point. The faces and thoughts of fools are constantly before us today and most likely will be there tomorrow.

When the Super Bowl is over and they start interviewing the participants you can bet that more than a few players will be an embarrassment to watch………but we’ll watch just to see if they embarrass themselves. Of course, if they’re celebrating Patriots players we’ll bear with it and the networks know that.

The other pleasant surprise I referred to was Kerry calling Clinton a liar. It wasn’t breaking news that the Clintons are often free and easy with the truth it was just that Senator Kerry showed some moxie and went after the Clintons. Kerry’s endorsement of Obama early this month didn’t cause much of a stir. I, in fact, thought that Kerry’s endorsement might do Obama more harm than good since Senator Kerry is about as popular as those dogs that leave their calling cards down on the Merrimac River boardwalk are.

It aggravated many Obama supporters that because Kerry delayed his endorsement he fumbled a chance to help Obama in the neighboring New Hampshire primary. A number of national media types, much to his embarrassment, noted Kerry’s poor timing.

The media criticism stirred Senator Kerry into action. He made sure that he wasn’t late in having an impact in Massachusetts on Super Tuesday (February 5th). This time around he not only told the truth about the former President but also reinforced his support for Senator Obama. Hillary currently has a 30+ point lead in the polls in Massachusetts. However, with Governor Patrick, along with Kerry and now Senator Kennedy backing Obama it could get a lot closer come primary day.

So, thank you Michael Cook and John Kerry for pleasantly surprising me.

(Submitted to the Newburyport Current on January 29th as a letter to the editor. )

Extend the school day? Only if………………..

When an editorial starts with, “It should be obvious…” you would expect that the conclusion drawn thereafter would be exactly that. Not in the case of The Newburyport Current editorial ( “More time, better scores” ) put forth on December 6th.

The editor’s contention is that putting students and teachers in classrooms longer will “obviously” produce better results. Says who?

The editor relies on the statistical findings of an organization called Massachusetts 2020 to prove the point. Would it help to know that Massachusetts 2020 is heavily committed to the idea of adding days and hours to the school experience? They’re about as reliable a source regarding extra hours/days in the classroom as Planned Parenthood is on whether abortion is a good idea.

The Massachusetts Department of Education apparently will release their findings regarding extended school time next month. They could well come to the same conclusion as Massachusetts 2020 but at least they wouldn’t have an agenda going into the research.

The only certainty in extending school time is that it will cost more. Of course with the Chairman of the US Senate Education Committee (our own Ted Kennedy) leading the way, asking for more money comes easy. He wants $50 million a year, which will increase to $150 million a year by 2012, to train teachers to help schools redesign academic content for extended time. What a waste! Don’t these people ever get tired of throwing our money at problems?

Those advocating the extended day seem to assume that the teachers and students are performing efficiently during the regular school day we now have. If we just add time they’ll do even better. We can’t make that assumption.

I believe that school system leaders know exactly why their schools perform poorly on state tests. They will not tell you specifically but I will attempt it.

First, some students are not too bright and no matter how long the school’s best teacher spends with them they will not shine on a state test. A student could well be pleasant, hard working, and a genuine nice kid but it will not matter. In the real world, the underachiever is called out but not in schools. They hide them by releasing group results. The extended-hours folks think that more time in school will make academically challenged students do better. Very unlikely.

Second, there are teachers who don’t know how to teach. If students at a certain grade level do poorly on a section of the state test it is easy for a school system to figure out what teacher was supposed to teach that skill or material. I’m guessing that a high-quality administrator could sort this out and insist that the teacher improve. The extended-hours folks think that students will somehow benefit by spending more time with an underachieving teacher. Very unlikely.

Do you get the sense that schools spend most of their time trying to help underachieving students do better? That’s because they do. But what about the rest of the students?

I think that US schools should try to compete with the schools in the rest of the world. What holds the US back is that in many schools classes are mixed with achievers and underachievers. The schools’ top students are hurt by this arrangement.

What would happen if only the best students and teachers were given a longer school day? You combine the ability to learn with the ability to teach and all kinds of good things could happen. No need to redesign anything. Just put your two strongest elements together.

I am very much in favor of extended school time for the top achieving students and teachers. Extending school for everyone else will never be worth the effort and money involved.

(Appeared in the Newburyport Current on December 21, 2007)

Opening Pitch for Override?

I read, “Hopping: $$ woes hurting Nock,” in the November 9, 2007 issue of the Newburyport Current and immediately thought of major league baseball. I couldn’t help but think that the Rupert Nock principal had been designated to throw out the first pitch on opening day of the push for an override.

Cry “wolf,” early, loudly, and continuously and surely the Newburyport community will commit your way the next time an override is tried. I’m not sure that this tactic will gain enough traction to move very far any more.

The news that the school system is having to adjust because of fewer dollars puts them in a position to better understand the realities that those of us on fixed and/or stagnant incomes deal with regularly. We may be part of Red Sox Nation but we don’t have the seemingly bottomless pockets of Red Sox management.

It certainly would be nice if the tax base could be expanded to lessen the financial burden but I see this community as anti-business. All you have to do is suggest that businesses need parking areas for employees and potential customers and you’ll learn what a chilly reception is all about. Further, add that the parking areas are already in place and could be tastefully landscaped and you’ll quickly be talking to yourself. Some of these folks are so anti-parking and anti-business that I wonder if they would start a drive to ban books from schools if they found out they came from trees.

Speaking of banning, it would help if we could read some good news about our schools. Last month there was an article in the daily paper in town that included essays composed by four juniors at NHS. They had written about censorship after their required reading of Catcher in the Rye in their English class. Unfortunately, none of the students presented a legitimate understanding of why anyone would be offended by the book and therefore might take issue with such a profane book being required reading in 2007. Instead, all of the students presented well-written support for the “anything goes” side of the argument. Wouldn’t many of us have wanted the students to be persuasively presented with the idea that there are places for restraint, limits, and moderation? Maybe the essays were not a true representation of overall student opinion but I’m not so sure. Critical thinking has no chance in one-sided forums.

I am very supportive of athletics but, let’s face it, they’re a school luxury. If you’re looking for trouble just hint at cutting back there. Would it then be asking too much if two of the high school fall sports teams (football & girls soccer) stopped generating headlines for poor behavior in this day when there is talk of stadium refurbishing and updated equipment?

I have high regard for the leadership in our schools and I applaud the efforts of the School Committee’s Revenue Task Force. Creativity and accentuating the positives are going to be essential in order to get the educational job done. Crying, “wolf,” is old school. Many of us are managing to get by on limited means. Show us that you can do the same thing.