I am getting curmudgeonly in my old age. About some things.

Actually, curmudgeon is a misnomer if you still have small children. Particular. That's better. I used to roll my eyes when my parents would begin a story with "back when I was..." Now I'm doing it.

One thing I have loved about grad school is that I get to read lots of cool stuff that I otherwise would never have known about. The following is from Georges Bernanos, the French novelist.

Read on...

I've been frustrated by my students' lackadaisical attitudes toward written homework assignments. Last night I posted a diary about school and homework here. I addressed it to teachers, but I should have said "teachers and parents".

There were over 70 comments, which is great, and I appreciated hearing all the opinions represented. In a nutshell, here's what I was asking about (edited):

Over the past eleven years as a full-time teacher, I've been getting closer and closer to that conclusion. Not because I think it isn't valuable, but because I think the culture of school-student-parent has changed. Not only that, but the anti-intellectual in the White House seems to set the example that learning isn't all that important. Don't read newspapers! Or think! let FAUX NEWS think for you!

Disclaimer: This rambles a bit, I'm shooting from the hip :-)

 I received the following in an email from one of my colleagues. It is an excerpt from a message sent to education association officers in the state. It specifically addresses Ohio education issues, but due to NCLB the issue of funding affects every school system in the nation.

Clearly, public education is under assault...open and total warfare.

More on the other side...

Come election night, what will the soundtrack be? A lot of us are planning parties or get-togethers with like-minded friends. I for one plan on having some beers handy as well as a bottle of Pacharan (a Spanish liquor) to sip from. But no celebration is complete without music.

So what will it be? Your election night soundtrack, I mean.

Here's your chance to play DJ. I've posted ten of the songs from my iTunes Election Mix below. Your mission: help create a playlist for election night (and probably the morning of Nov. 3)

The best Labor Day wishes to all, and with that, on to Ohio.

Since my in-laws and their extended family live in the central and southern parts of the Buckeye State, my wife and I packed up our (almost) 2 year old daughter for a little drive this weekend. Interstate 71 on the weekend is usually a lousy drive, so we decided to take federal and state routes all the way: smaller roads, smaller traffic, small towns. Along the way, I realized that John Kerry will win this state.

Ohio is a beautiful state. My partiality aside, you can get a slice of so many different lifestyles from the different regions and cities within the state that Ohio truly is a microcosm of the nation. It was a lovely and fascinating trip, from big city to cornfields to rolling hills and forest (not to mention a fairly large lake and a famous river...not the one that burned either).

We've discussed this before, but in light of recent news, perhaps a re-hash is in order...

NPR reported this morning that the new suspicion of a summer or pre-election terror attack in the US is at least partially a result of the success of the Madrid attacks in changing the Spanish government.

Makes sense, right? In Spain, the PSOE under Zapatero (socialists) took control from the PP and Aznar just days after the attacks.

The problem is, that's not really why the election turned out that way.