“Back In the Day”
Were schools better back then
When what things needed learning
Seemed so much clearer...
Or is it just a soft focus memory?
The names and engaged faces
Of all those people who cared
For what mattered most
Come flooding back in a rush...
Images etched in the mind’s eye
Dedicated souls large and small
Empowering with regard
For our better natures...
Their words echo now
Through today’s noise
Of righteous research
And heard from all sides...
Put forth by good people
Convinced of their science
That strategies trump
A heart’s connection...
And to what end?
Children’s learning reduced
From exploration’s discoveries
To multiple-choice answers...
How can scale-score numbers
And content proficiencies
Measure childhood excitement
And the love of knowledge?
Places of regurgitation
Limit the mind’s advance
To the joys of knowing
And understanding’s horizons...
Learning’s a relationship with something...and never a calculation.
Paul Colaluca (10/4/09)