NRU mish mash edition part 73

I was listening to the radio and remembered that Morning Edition Sunday might still be on as I drove to my community service project when the universe gifted me with this piece.  Hurrah! Someone else that believes that text messaging, emails and other kinds of communication are not interchangeable.

In fact, on that Sunday morning, NPR was full of advice on communicating perhaps in honor of it being St. Valentine's day several days after this was to air.  Not sure, but that is my guess.

This piece made Steve Inskeep cry ... wonder how often that happens.  In this short piece, the power of love is revealed...truly.  Gotta love StoryCorps!

As my classmates and I are delving deeply into the process of observation and detailing those observations with detailed notes, this piece brought home the difficulty and the constant need for stretching!

I am trying to figure out how to take Barry's pronouncements about education ... and then I read this from Caroline Kennedy... I believe their hearts are in the right place... I just wish that I could believe that these were policy statements and ones that had a basis in history, theory and practice.

One thing struck me about this article more than anything else... that the incorporation of the common core in the GED will change the test to an online exam that will cost $120.  I am not sure that it is the most salient point of the article -- but for me, it stands out because these policy decisions that are money makers for test companies raise my eyebrows.  Perhaps there are reasonable explanations for this ... but the fact that these tax paying citizens have already paid into the K-12 system and not gotten out of it the golden diploma, are now taking time and energy to put back into the system and a new hurdle of $120 is added ... hmm... we believe in dropping back in?  We believe that high school diplomas are important? We want to increase the number of people who reach this milestone? The extra $120 does not speak to those beliefs, in my opinion, regardless of who pays for it.

I think it does take a lot of heart to try something new at a later point in life ... so I wish this couple the best of luck in their endeavor.  I am particularly moved by their heart conditions ... and so glad that they heeded the warning signs given them by their bodies.  May we all learn to be so attuned to these signs.

This story made me weep.  I wish there were anthropologists studying this kind of phenomenon instead of just trying to figure out what is "wrong" with people.  What is right is so much more interesting, useful and compassionate.  What will we do with this knowledge?  How will we bring more productiveness to the world (trying to not use the word "good").