Flight Delays

My husband's trip home from Haiti has been delayed twice, and now the word is, "Don't come to the airport until I call you as we get off the plane." In Columbus, this is not hard to do--it's an awfully easy city to get around in--unless I'm driving. I usually start out about an hour early for this 20 minute drive so I can ask directions after I get lost. I double checked with my friend AZ on how to get onto 670 this morning. She even offered to ride along to direct me, but I think the arrival is a bit too iffy.

However, when I talked to him this morning, not even an unexpected night in New York could dampen his enthusiasm. I asked him if he wanted to go back to Haiti, and he said, "It's not IF, it's WHEN."

Speaking of driving, last week I had another one of those rude men in a pick-up roll down his window and scream at me. And I do mean screaming--his face was purple, my windows were rolled up and the radio was on, but I could hear him. I guess he had been behind me until the stop light for which I had slowed down in order not to rear end the car in front of me. I was driving the speed-limit--seems he wanted to go faster. I just gave him the "Yo mama wears combat boots" look.Source URL: https://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/Columbus
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3458 Catching up on education

There was an item in USAToday Feb. 7 reporting that 15% of high school students passed Advanced Placement in 2006 compared to 10% in 2000. It's been going up steadily every year. Hispanics are behind both blacks and whites even though they outnumber blacks. I'm wondering if bi-lingual education (mandatory) isn't slowing them down. Most immigrants in our past knew instinctively that in order to get ahead they needed to speak and write standard English. Many Hispanic parents know that but school boards and gate keepers are denying them this dose of common sense. The article certainly didn't credit NCLB for these figures, nor would I because I'm not sure how that would affect the kids at the top of the class, unless NCLB is floating some boats we weren't expecting when the level rose. Could it be more home schooling? Surely they get to take Advanced Placement.

I chatted with a chemistry teacher in a vo-tech school the other day. She was real excited about their school library--the new librarian has dumped the carrels (that was high tech in the 50s and 60s), and now the students can check out laptops to use in the library. Also the school (which serves 10 high schools in the Columbus area) is planning an expansion, and the librarian is getting 4 times her present space. And they will throw in an assistant. Some librarians know that marketing is an important skill these days.

If you turned up your nose at a teaching career because you heard the pay was bad, you need to get a neck adjustment. Bureau of Labor Statistics clocks teachers at $34.06 and hour, or 11% more than the average professional specialty like architecture. Frankly, I'm not sure you could get me in front of a class for $50/hour, but I sure do admire the committed saints who do it. The article by Marcus Winters and Jay Greene which appeared in the WSJ also pointed out that some of the highest paid teachers in the urban districts have the worst results--Detroit, NYC, DC.

The English speaking peoples account for 7.5% of the world's population, but their economies produce more than a third of the global GDP. . . the English language is an intellectual global currency. "A history of the English speaking people since 1900" (Harper Collins, 2007)

Schools in the Columbus, OH metropolitan area (both city and suburban) have been closed for three days now due to the extreme cold. The wind chill factor is a problem for students waiting outside for busses. At least, I think that was the reason. Back in the days of global cooling, I don't remember that schools closed for cold weather in northern Illinois.Source URL: https://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/Columbus
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