"What's fair is what's possible."

How's this for a powerful idea:

"Make friends with frustration; if you are not occasionally frustrated, even angered, by a teacher or learning environment that seems bent on nothing more than highlighting your limitations, you are probably wasting your time. The politically correct notion that no one should feel “uncomfortable” has no place here. Instead resist the temptation to build a case through appeals to what is “fair” when the going gets tough and you’re feeling sorry for yourself. What is fair is what is possible.  Creativity requires treating the impossible as possible."


It's from an article by a Forbes magazine writer, August Turak, called "Can Creativity be Taught?" He's talking about what makes a powerful, successful business leader, but the quote applies to students, too.

I may have to copy out this paragraph and post it on my office door . . . !

Education is an Escalator

Nicholas Kristof wrote this in today's New York Times:


"How is it that we can afford to double our military budget since 9/11, can afford the carried-interest tax loophole for billionaires, can afford billions of dollars in givebacks to oil and gas companies, yet can’t afford to invest in our kids’ futures?"

So true -- what kind of men do we have as our politicians these days? Why are they so cruel and greedy?
Taking from education is taking from the future; it's breaking the escalator. Why?

Amen

William Shawn, New Yorker editor: "Amid chaos of images, we value coherence. We believe in the printed word. And we believe in clarity. And we believe in immaculate syntax. And in the beauty of the English language."