Another Great Quote...

I read this the other day and found it very amusing. It is a quote from Demetri Martin, a young comedian. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

"I used to play sports. Then I realized you can buy trophies. Now I’m good at everything."

A Glimpse of the Love of Christ...

Every once in a while, you do get a glimpse of the love of Christ at work in the lives of those in the world. Such is the case of a basketball game in DeKalb, Illinois.

It was a Saturday night in February, and DeKalb High School was playing a non-conference game on the road against Milwaukee Madison. The two schools, who were developing a friendly rivalry and planned to get together after the game and share some pizza. But, the game almost never happened.

Earlier that day, the mother of Milwaukee Madison senior captain Johntel Franklin died at a local hospital. Carlitha Franklin had been in remission after a five-year fight with cervical cancer, but that morning, she began to hemorrhage while Johntel was taking his college ACT exam.
Johntel and several of his teammates were at the hospital late that afternoon when the decision was made to turn off the life-support system. Carlitha Franklin died, only 39 years old.

The Milwaukee-Madison Knights coach, Aaron Womack, Jr., was going to cancel the game, but the DeKalb High coach, Dave Rohlman, told him he wanted the teams to play, even though the game would start late and the Milwaukee Madison team would dress only eight players. Early in the second quarter, Womack saw Franklin out of the corner of his eye walking into the gym, He had come directly from the hospital to the game to root his teammates on.

The Knights had possession, so Womack called a time out. His players went over and hugged their grieving teammate. Fans, too, came out of the stands to hug the grieving boy.

"We got back to playing the game and I asked if he wanted to come and sit on the bench," Womack said during a telephone interview.

"No," Franklin replied. "I want to play."

There was just one minor problem. Since Franklin wasn't put on the pre-game roster, putting him now meant a technical foul that would give the DeKalb team two free throws. It was a tight game, but Womack was willing to give up the two points because it was more important to help his senior guard and co-captain deal with his grief by playing. Across the court on the other bench, Rohlman wasn't willing to take the two free throws. He told the referees that he was willing to forget the technical, and they could just let Franklin play.

"I could hear them arguing for five to seven minutes, saying, `We're not taking it, we're not taking it," Womack said. "The refs told them, no, that's the rule. You have to take them."
That's when Rohlman asked for volunteers, and Darius McNeal's hand went up in the air. He went to the free throw line alone, dribbled the ball a few times. His first free throw went about two feet, and did not even come. The second barely left his hand.

It didn't take long for the Milwaukee players to figure out what was taking place. They stood and turned toward the DeKalb bench and started applauding this gesture of sportsmanship and love. Soon, everybody in the stands did the same.

"I did it for the guy who lost his mom," McNeal told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "It was the right thing to do."

It was the right thing to do... what a blessing to hear those words from any athlete today. The children shall lead shall they not. It is very sad to me that we have to go and search for these stories in our high schools because we will never find any of these stories in our professional ranks. There it is... a glimpse of the love of Christ, found in a place and at a time that is least expected. If you care to read the rest of the story, click HERE; it will do your heart good. Blessings!

The Best Sick Excuse Ever!

The other day our school received the best sick excuse I have ever received in my entire career. Matthew Denny, one of our seniors and one of the best kids I have ever met, sent the following excuse. I trust you will enjoy it as much as I did!



I regret to inform you that my body is producing excessive pyrogens resulting in an elevation of my core temperature which will preclude my attendance of your intellectually stimulating allocution on Thursday. After discussion with my personal physician and nurse, and in an effort to prevent the sharing of this ailment with yourself or fellow classmates, I have determined to remain in my primary residence where proper nourishment, hydration, medication, and repose are readily available. Should there be given any assignments which are not posted on your website or in your syllabus, kindly submit them to my email so that I may tend to their completion prior to my hopeful return on Tuesday.

As always, I am your most humble student and servant in Christ,

Matthew

Research says... we think we're better than we are!

As I was reading the latest Reader's digest, I stumbled on an article titled, Seven Dumb Things We Do. As I read the article I was amazed that the article actually had some validity to it. For instance, the seventh dumb thing that we do is that we think we are better than we are. Sounds like scripture, right?


The article quotes a Princeton University research team and their study. The team asked people "to estimate how susceptible they and the "average person" were to judgemental biases, most people claimed to be less biased than others." Interesting...

The author states that "this should come as no surprise . Most of us hate to think of ourselves as average or, heaven forbid, below average." There are more interesting tidbits from this article.

Stefano Della Vigna, an associate professor of economics at the University of California Berkely states that "overconfidence is, we think, a very general feature of human psychology." He goes on to say that "nearly everyone is overconfident, except people who are depressed. They tend to be realists." Wow!

The article then documents the fact that as tasks get harder, overconfidence goes up and not down. "So strong is our belief in our own abilities that we often believe we can control even chance events, such as flipping a coin or cutting a deck of cards. But it is an illusion of control."

The more we explore our world and who we are in our world the more we discover that the Biblical interpretation is ... most accurate. Without Christ, we are doomed to be addicted to ourselves as scripture clearly teaches. The first shall be last, the meek shall inherit and scripture goes on and on...

I leave you with the following verse. Blessings!


I Peter 5:5
"Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

Educational Statistics tells us...

What do the educational statistics tell us about education in the United States? Well, let's look!

The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a system of international assessments that measures 15-year-olds' performance in reading literacy, mathematics literacy, and science literacy every 3 years. PISA was first implemented in 2000. PISA is sponsored by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), an intergovernmental organization of 30 member countries. In 2006, fifty-seven jurisdictions participated in PISA, including 30 OECD countries referred to throughout as jurisdictions and 27 non- OECD jurisdictions.

Let's look at some of the current statistics.

Total Math Literacy: OECD Average is 500

Finland 544
Japan 534
Canada 532
Netherlands 538
United States 483
Italy 466
Mexico 385

Total Problem Solving Literacy: OECD Average is 500

Finland 548
Japan 547
Canada 529
Netherlands 520
United States 477
Italy 470
Mexico 384

Total Science Literacy: OECD Average is 500

Finland 548
Japan 548
Canada 519
Netherlands 524
United States 491
Italy 486

The U.S does better in reading literacy, as the OECD Average is 494 and the U.S total score is 495. So, how are we doing, as a whole, compared to the last batch of data?

If we look at the mathematics literacy as our benchmark, in 2006, the average U.S. score in mathematics literacy was 474 on a scale from 0 to 1,000, lower than the OECD average score of 498. Thirty-one jurisdictions had a higher average score than the United States in mathematics literacy in 2006 compared with twenty-five currently. The results are better, but not much.

Peg Tyre, of Newsweek, writes:

"There's been a lot of hand wringing about how the United States is falling behind in science education. Now, it looks as though America may be losing its edge in reading and literacy, too. Six years after No Child Left Behind was signed into law—and U.S. schools began throwing resources into teaching all kinds of kids to read and read well—fourth-graders in the United States are doing no better in reading than they were in 2001, according to the results of an international reading test released this week. "

She goes even deeper, revealing:

"Fourth-grade students from 10 countries and jurisdictions—including Russia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Italy, Sweden and Canada—did better than American kids, according to the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) released by Boston College. In 2001 only three countries did better than U.S. kids in reading. Here's what's puzzling: If you believe the numbers the U.S. Department of Education churns out, the reading scores of American fourth-graders should be rising. According to the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress scores, known as the Nation’s Report Card, fourth-grade reading scores have improved—and not just a little. Between 2001 and 2007, according to the Department of Education, reading scores for fourth-graders jumped eight points, from 213 to 221. Eighth-grade reading scores have remained flat."

Her answer:

"So why are American kids falling behind internationally? Maybe because schools can't do everything. According to a report released last week by the National Endowment for the Arts, 60 percent of 8-to-10-year-olds report reading less than 30 minutes a day for pleasure. Almost 40 percent read less than five minutes a day. At the same time, the governments in Hong Kong and Singapore, which leapfrogged over the United States' test scores between 2001 and 2007, have launched massive public awareness campaigns touting the importance of reading in school and at home."

Schools can't do it all, nor should they. We, in America, had fallen into this idea that quantity is everything. There are a lot of good things to do in a school, but the question is what is best? Blessings!

A Funny Quote!

I ran across this quote from Steven Wright that made me laugh out loud. Enjoy it!

"I went to a restaurant that serves 'breakfast at any time'. So I ordered French Toast during the Renaissance."

Is It the Same Old Story?

What happened to that change we were promised? Senator Chuck Schumer declared the following in the senate:

"... the “American people really don’t care” about all those “little tiny, yes, porky amendments” that the “chattering classes” have exposed."

I, for one, care deeply about these "porky amendments" because, tiny, they are not. I care that this looks too much like the past. I care that this looks and smells like the Bush stimulus package, only much larger. I was not in favor of the Bush stimulus package, and I am not in favor of this one either.

Here is a pop quiz: can you name the last government program that was an economic success?

I remain prayful, hopeful and willing to give this new administration and congress a chance, but when leaders make statements like this... it is hard not think that the more things change... the more they stay the same. Blessings!

No More TV!

The great experiment has begun. My family and I decided three weeks ago to rid ourselves of TV. The price kept soaring, and the family-oriented programing kept decreasing, and the decision became easy.

I am not a huge advocate of TV, but I have to admit, I liked ESPN, The History Channel, Discovery and several news channels. Over the last year, as I watched these channels I found myself having to turn the channel during commercials for the sake of my children. Even during early evening hours, commercials and most programs were hardly appropriate for my children of 9 years and 7 years. So, we decided to do away with the bill and the cable.

And, three weeks into the great experiment, we are doing well. My wife has finished 4 books, I have finished two books and am writing more and my children, well, we now do not have to monitor all their TV watching because there is none. And, to be totally honest, I do not miss it at all.

What has our great experiment revealed to us? Well, I learned that even though I thought I did not watch much TV... I was watching more than I thought. TV was a habit that had become part of our routine as it had become natural to turn the TV on at every turn. TV prevents conversation: we watched many programs as a family but never talked with each other during the watching process. Now, we talk more and spend time doing things that promote conversation. TV had become rest in some ways for us. When we were tired and worn we often put on the TV and passively sat in front of it; instead, we should have gone to bed early for some much-needed rest. And finally, we are outside more.

I thought we had a handle on TV, but the reality was this: it took more of our time than we could have ever imagined. Try a week with out TV; it will reveal more than you know. Blessings!