The Kuser School post below this graphic deals with a comment I posted when I heard of the shenanigans allegedly going on in the Atlanta Public School system, where certain teachers and certain Principals are suspected of "cooking the books" to give a false report on student grades in order to pass the stringent requirements of the "No Child Left Behind" government program. Over the many years since I left high school, I have noticed a trend that I feel has deteriorated the possibility of a student gaining the full benefits of a complete education. Before we donned the caps and gowns to graduate, we were expected to be proficient in American and world History, Geography, Spelling, English, Arithmetic, Science, and other non-elective courses like common courtesy, music, the arts, manual training for boys, and cooking and home economics for girls. History has morphed into "Social Studies." I don't know what happened to the current subject we all called "Geography," but I still remember that HUGE "Stull and Hatch" geography book I carried home nightly with homework from Miss Julia McClain. There is much negativity in the education climate in this year of 2011, where reports of students not getting a full education, students lacking the very basics of world geography, lack of knowledge of our American historic heritage, and unfortunate reports that some text book publishers are revising American history to be more in line with those on the left side of the political spectrum. Another very noticeable vestige of my educational past is the removal of the familiar portraits of George Washington on the upper left wall in our school room, Abraham Lincoln on the right. Have they both have been relegated to the storage bin?
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Anonymous said... - And I still wonder if the Russian march through Afghanistan was the old notion of the quest for an ice free port? Geography was perhaps my favorite. Skipper
