Back to school night

As father of a 10 year-old daughter in 5th grade, "back to school" nights are events that are mandatory. For the uninitiated, it is customary here in the state of New Jersey, for schools to schedule a night near the beginning of the school term where parents can see their child's classroom, find out the new teacher's classroom rules and any major projects that your child will need to complete during the academic year. This night is always dovetailed with the 1st meeting of the PTA, which takes place prior to meeting your child's teacher.

So, on a very warm and humid September evening, I found myself in my daughter's school's gymnasium staring at large revolving fans hanging almost 25 feet above the ceiling. Although well intentioned, these rotating monstrosities had as much success at cooling the immediate atmosphere as President Bush's policies to reduce global warming. Beads of sweat were evident on just about everyone of the conscientious parents. We had been given a sheet of paper with the names of all the office bearers of the PTA council. As I was new to the school district, none of the names were familiar, although I did note that every single one of the names was female. Looking around, I was quite proud that I was a member of a significant minority of fathers. Being a Monday night, it was most probable that many of the other fathers were stretched out comfortably on their living-room sofas getting ready to watch Monday night football - a male ritual I have never understood, while many others were just pulling into the driveway. The sheet of paper which doubled as a fan also contained the PTA budget which I learned was reasonably significant. $60140 was going to be spent on an assortment of activities including fundraising, trips and Science day. I realized that I had never quite understood how budgets for fundraising were reported. It now became clear to me that expenses are budgeted in the current year and profits/proceeds are summarized the following year. This rather mundane piece of logic came to me while I was staring at this large mural on a side wall. It was a massive map of the world stretching more than 20 feet across and 15 feet high. The map was colored an assortment of green, yellow, red, pink, white and brown. There was however absolutely no method to the coloring. For instance Sumatra, Borneo and Java which make up the Indonesian archipelago were colored yellow, green and brown respectively. All the now-independent states that made up the former Soviet Union were colored green, but in the North American continent, the United States was colored red while Canada was pink. The island of Sri Lanka (colored brown) was as large as Korea (pink). I began to worry about the educational standard in a school whose students appeared to struggle with the concept of relative proportions as well as national boundaries and/or continental drift. I assuaged my anxiety by telling myself that Bush’s policy of “No child left behind” testing did not encompass geography and perhaps I would find some relief when I heard about the Math and English curriculum.

“With that, the meeting is adjourned”, I heard the PTA President announce. Relief. Everyone made for the doors to find their respective classrooms. This entailed going through a maze of doors and hallways where had I been alone, would have required me to utilize a GPS locator. Room 115. I was greeted by a young female teacher who sweetly but authoritatively told me to sign up for my 1st parent teacher conference by selecting the most convenient of three dates in December.

I found my daughter’s seat in class and sat next to 4 mothers who each smiled at me. There were only two other fathers in a class of 20 students. Both the other dads were with their wives. I was the only dad who came alone. Its not that my wife isn’t interested in my daughter’s school work she is very shy and doesn’t like to make small talk with people she doesn’t know. Being Chinese, I have an inscrutable countenance, which seems to paralyze people into reticence in trying to engage me in any conversation (meaningful or otherwise). So, ‘back to school nights” are my duty. Besides, I am keen to learn what my daughter does at school.

We are led through a packet containing the curriculum, the child’s homework responsibilities, expectations and methods of assessment. I pored over all this and my eyes settled on the Math curriculum. Multiplication (3 digits), fractions, decimals, percentages, geometry and metric conversions. As I read this, my mind went back to when I was in 5th grade. It amazes me that this schedule of learning Mathematical skills has not changed in 3 decades. Although, there have been many attempts to alter the way these skills are learned, the actual schedule of when a student reaches these milestones has remained relatively unchanged. I have no idea as to the reason for such resilience except that it may simply be that it is too firmly entrenched in the mathematical pedagogy that it cannot be lifted. There is something reassuring however, about an unchanging institution.

The language arts curriculum had no surprises. The class would be working on comprehension, writing personal narratives, essays, realistic and literary essays. It was pleasing that such emphasis was placed on teaching our kids how to describe and express their thoughts.

The social studies curriculum comprised learning about indigenous cultures and colonization of the New world as well as the American revolution. The curriculum appeared crafted to help our kids become socially conscious individuals as they learn about early settlers and overcoming the repressive, oppressive, sanctimonious, hypocritical, arrogant, obnoxious, British colonialists.

In Science the kids were going to learn about the human body. Huh? That’s it? The teacher almost apologetically explained that the district was still in the process of being restructured. There was also going to be an “exhibition” where the kids would have to do a project and have the opportunity to present it to parents. Last year, my daughter had learned about scientific analyses, formation of hypotheses, magnetism, static electricity, life cycle of invertebrates, characteristics of the vertebrates. So I expected that the kids would be continuing by learning about heat, sound, and electricity. It appeared that any momentum in the Sciences would come to a screeching halt with this curriculum.

“So there won’t be any tests in Social Studies and Science, is that right?” I heard a parent ask. Yes, that was correct. The whole concept of testing is so unnatural. What you have spent weeks learning is condensed into a series of questions which needs to be answered in a tense environment where the kids have to stay focused for what seems to them an eternity. Nevertheless, although I despise endless tests that occur in the education system, I have always thought there is benefit in a test or two to ensure that the kids actually learn something.

When I came home, my daughter was watching TV while practising her trumpet. “Do you know what is one way to prevent a hangover after drinking?”, she asked. As I saw that she was watching a Science oriented TV show, it was obvious that this topic was discussed during the show. I answered that I didn’t know allowing her to tell me that you needed to drink lots of water after every glass of alcohol that you have. “Why?” I asked, innocently. “Because hangovers are caused by dehydration”, she told me sagely. I nodded in reverence to her knowledge. It occurred to me that there was no perfect school curriculum as school only occupies a third of the day. I sat down with her to learn about whether Coca-Cola could dissolve a tooth in a single day.

Electoral map 2008

The electoral map as of September 13th, has 6 battleground states. They are: Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, Michigan, Colorado and Virginia. The permutations and combinations to win the election are complex but much simpler for Barrack Obama than for John McCain. Aside from Florida and Virginia, Obama is leading in all other states. Virginia is a virtual toss-up.

For Obama, the following combinations will ensure victory:
1. Florida, Pennsylvania and any of the other 4 states
2. Florida, Ohio and any other of the other 4 states
3. Florida, Michigan and any of the other 4 states
4. Michigan, Pennsylvania and Virginia,
5. Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia
6. Michigan, Pennsylvania and Ohio
7. Any combination of 3 states and Colorado

For McCain to win:
1. Florida, Ohio, Virginia
2. Florida, Michigan, Virginia, Colorado
3. Florida, Ohio, Michigan
4. Florida, Virginia, Pennsylvania
5. Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania
6. Florida, Colorado and any two others
7. Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania
8. If he doesn’t win Florida he must win 4 of the other 5 states.

The most interesting point is how Obama has managed to reshape the map in the Midwest. Indeed, even in the most conservative of Midwest states – Indiana, he is narrowly behind McCain. as noted by CNN columnist, Jack Cafferty, it all started one frigid night in Iowa. Nothing astonishing was supposed to occur. Hillary Clinton did not campaign vigorously as she thought her victory was locked up here. On that cold January night, the state of Iowa which is 95% White, decided that they had had enough of the Bush administration and they cast their support for a skinny black guy with a funny name. This sentiment has swept through the Midwest and the unlikely scenario of an African-American President is now a possibility.

Sarah Palin

At first blush, the nomination of Sarah Palin as Johnny Mac's VP sounded preposterous. She was after all, a Governor of a small state for just under 2 years. Before that she was the mayor of an even smaller town in the 49th state. With the many attacks that the GOP had made on Barry O's lack of experience, her nomination appeared contradictory. The GOP was very quick to dispell any questions about her experience. Early comments by political pundits suggested that she was selected because Johnny Mac wished to court disenchanted supporters of Mrs. C. I found this suggestion completely absurd. Palin's politics are in stark contrast to the liberal leanings of the New York senator. Sarah Palin is a life-long member of the NRA, she is pro-life, she advocates oil drilling in the arctic wildlife refuge and of course most importantly, she is a Republican. On pondering this it occurred to me that none of these stances were relevant to the many problems which ail the United States right now. Can someone please educate me on how any of her platforms are relevant to healthcare, education, economic decline (budget deficit, trade deficit, weakened US dollar, housing slump, banking crisis)? If one stretches one's imagination a little, one could see some connection between her pro-gun stance and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, in the sense that she believes in the power of the allmighty weapon to crush any and all opposition. I have no issue with her level of experience, its her lack of relevance to any major issues that is my problem.