During my first year of teaching, we didn’t really recite the Pledge of Allegiance … then 9/11 happened and it quickly became part of our daily morning ritual. Now, seven years later, I often find myself on the other end of the microphone, reading morning announcements and asking our entire school to repeat the pledge with me. And, to be honest, the longer I work in American schools, the more uncomfortable I become with it.

The mere fact that 385 kids are mindlessly parroting those words, with little to no understanding of what they’re actually saying, is quite disturbing to me. The format reminds me of China, where students of all ages are required to do daily morning exercises and spend weeks of their childhood in compulsory military training. It’s mindless, robotic, and completely against the American spirit (in my humble opinion).

[Military Training, by Lance Webel]

Even more disturbing, however, is some of the content of the pledge. What’s so huge about the flag itself? What does “republic” mean? And isn’t our divisibility, the fact that we can disagree and separate ourselves, one of the very foundations of the freedoms that make us uniquely America?

I don’t get it.

He’s actually a Republican who owes the State of Ohio almost $1200 in back taxes. He doesn’t have a plumbing license, and his vote might not even count because his name is spelled wrong in voter registration records.

Oh, and his name is actually Sam.

And this, my friends, is why I voted for Ron Paul in the primaries. Sure, he may make a terrible president … but he’s been right about the Fed and our economy all along.

So seriously … are we gonna keep trying to treat the symptoms? Are we really this naive?

In China, many of the delicious dishes you could order in restaurants were fat-based. And I’m talking just fat … not pork or beef or anything like that, but straight up cooked fat and veggies. It was actually pretty delicious, but it took a little while to get used to.

One time when I went to the doctor for some skin problems (mostly from the polluted and damp air), he actually prescribed it … I had to eat about a fist-worth of lard every day for two weeks. Mmm … scrumptious!

Funny, sure. But it does raise some big questions, I think. We’re told, over and over, that eating fat is bad for you … but almost every dish in Hunan (where I lived) was soaked in oil and fat, and the people were, by and large (pun intended), incredibly skinny!

So where do we get our strong ideas about diet and nutrition, and how accurate are they? Are we just taking the word of the food industry, which some say is the second-largest industry in America (behind pharmaceuticals)? It has thousands of lobbyists and unbelievable marketing budgets … should we be connecting those dots a little more?

One of the biggest flaws in today’s American church, in my opinion, is its inability to distinguish between biblical and cultural issues, to know the origins of the topics and ideas that it discusses and defends.

It routinely uses scripture alone to argue hot-topic cultural ideas, including most “family values”. It routinely blames our media and politicians for problems that Jesus clearly warned are part of human nature. And in the confusion that follows, it routinely hurts and alienates the very people that the church is supposed to be there to help.

Care to illustrate my point?

In May 2004, Bill Cosby gave a famous talk at the 50th Anniversary commemoration of the Brown vs Topeka Board of Education Supreme Court Decision. It has since become known as the Pound Cake speech.

His words were scathing in their criticism of black culture. And they ignited quite a bit of controversy … just check out this excerpt to see why.

They’re standing on the corner and they can’t speak English. I can’t even talk the way these people talk: Why you ain’t, Where you is, What he drive, Where he stay, Where he work, Who you be … and I blamed the kid until I heard the mother talk. And then I heard the father talk.

Everybody knows it’s important to speak English except these knuckleheads. You can’t be a doctor with that kind of crap coming out of your mouth. In fact, you will never get any kind of job making a decent living.

People marched and were hit in the face with rocks to get an education, and now we’ve got these knuckleheads walking around. The lower-economic people are not holding up their end in this deal. These people are not parenting. They are buying things for kids. $500 sneakers for what? And they won’t spend $200 for Hooked on Phonics.

I am talking about these people who cry when their son is standing there in an orange suit. Where were you when he was 2? Where were you when he was 12? Where were you when he was 18 and how come you didn’t know that he had a pistol? And where is the father? Or who is his father?

People putting their clothes on backward … isn’t that a sign of something gone wrong? People with their hats on backward, pants down around the crack, isn’t that a sign of something? Or are you waiting for Jesus to pull his pants up? Isn’t it a sign of something when she has her dress all the way up and got all type of needles [piercing] going through her body?

What part of Africa did this come from? We are not Africans. Those people are not Africans; they don’t know a thing about Africa. With names like Shaniqua, Taliqua and Mohammed and all of that crap, and all of them are in jail.

Brown or black versus the Board of Education is no longer the white person’s problem. We have got to take the neighborhood back. People used to be ashamed. Today a woman has eight children with eight different ‘husbands’ — or men or whatever you call them now. have millionaire football players who cannot read. We have million-dollar basketball players who can’t write two paragraphs. We as black folks have to do a better job. Someone working at Wal-Mart with seven kids, you are hurting us. We have to start holding each other to a higher standard.

We cannot blame the white people any longer.

Now that’s real.

To learn more about the speech (and some of Cosby’s other recent social activism), check out this fascinating article. It’s long, but definitely worth the read.

We all know which subjects American schools focus on … math, English, and sometimes science. Occasionally, we sprinkle in some social studies, language, physical education, and fine arts … but a quick glance at any of our standardized tests clearly shows our priorities … the SAT and ACT are almost exclusively English and math.

But why?

In my opinion, we are well beyond the Industrial Age, a time when America led the world in the production of innovative goods. Now these industries are moving on to more fertile overseas grounds while we as a nation are moving forward into a world that values creativity, collaboration, and expertise. But does our choice of curriculum really prepare our students for this new Information Age, or are we simply teaching what we’ve taught for centuries?

As an educator, I’m probably not supposed to think this way … but I feel like almost everything I learned in school (except for writing and typing) is now useless to me. I’ve barely used math since high school, I haven’t had to dissect literature, and I haven’t utilized almost any of the knowledge from my biology or chemistry textbooks. And while I understand and appreciate the necessity for basic knowledge and age-appropriate developmental learning, I can’t help but question the content that our schools are focused on.

What about Personal finance? Social networking? Consumerism? Netizenship? Environmental stewardship? Craftsmanship? World cultures? Social justice? Do any of these subjects have a place in our curriculum?

Can you think of any others that we might be leaving out?

Call it mean, call it inappropriate, call it whatever you want … but there’s just something about Falling Hillary that keeps me coming back for more.

Maybe it’s the physics … I find it to be quite mesmerizing. I think I could sit and stare at that rag doll for hours …

[hint: when she gets stuck, use your mouse to free her.]

According to this Washington Times article, a recent ruling in California states that 60,000 to 200,000 families who currently home-school their children are doing so illegally.

“California courts have held that under provisions in the Education Code, parents do not have a constitutional right to educate their children in their own home,” said the Feb. 28 ruling by the California Appellate Court for the second district.

“It’s clear to us that enrollment and attendance in a public full-time day school is required by California law for minor children,” it stated, laying out the few exceptions to that rule, including if the child is enrolled in and attends a private full-time day school or if the child is tutored by a person holding a valid state teaching credential for the grade being taught.”

Are you kidding me?

I still don’t know which presidential candidate I’m voting for this afternoon in the Ohio primaries. Here’s the deal:

• For various reasons, I am certain that Clinton, McCain, and Huckabee would be terrible choices for our country.
• Romney had some appeal, but it was clear early on that he’s shooting for the rebound in 2012.
• I believe that Paul has a voice that must be heard, especially in the we-like-sheep region of Cincinnati, Ohio … and I had originally intended to cast my primary vote his way as a stand for conservatism and freedom. But …
• I didn’t expect the democratic primaries to be so close in Ohio … so now I’m wondering if my vote would be better used to support Obama, my likely candidate in the general election.

But here’s the bigger picture. When I go to my polling location, I must choose which ballot to fill out. If I use the “Issues Only” ballot, I will not have the opportunity to vote for any federal, state, or local officials. If I grab the Republican or Democratic ballot, I will be limited to only candidates from the party that I choose. So I cannot cast a vote for a Democratic president and Republican congressman … I apparently don’t have that freedom in the state of Ohio.

Moreover, the ballot that I choose to use will determine my party affiliation. So if I vote for Obama tonight, I will (for the next four years) be spammed as a democrat, counted in their statistics, and pigeonholed into opportunities that are designed for them. Likewise if I vote for Paul. At least I’ll still be able to choose whichever candidates I want in the general election.

I’m actually thinking about flipping the script, punching Obama’s chad out tonight and reserving my general election vote for Paul … but I need to do some more research first. What do you think?

I have a fantastic idea for a video remix that would be a huge Internet sensation. Unfortunately, however, I haven’t the time nor desire to actually do it. Anyone?

If you turn the volume down really low on the second video then start both at the same time, it almost works. Well, not really … but doing that’s a lot easier than editing a video is!

When I saw this graphic (see it larger), I was pretty surprised. I guess I had never really seen the breakdown of where each denomination is geographically located in our country.

Have you?