A New Year

The day after Labor Day, the First Day of School, the start of a new year of college classes in our college town--this time of year always feel like the beginning of the most meaningful yearly cycle in our lives (at least in this family), rather than January 1st.  It's been a bittersweet time in years past for me, because of my lingering nostalgia for my public school teaching days.  It's strange, this year, to really feel that the bitterness has passed.  I feel pretty secure in saying right now that I don't miss it anymore, and I don't wish I were back in a classroom again.  And that is a strange feeling in and of itself.

I was reading last week that a member of Michigan's House (a Republican, of course--need I even say that?) is planning to introduce a bill to make it legal for private companies (or, teachers under their umbrella) to compete with union members for teaching jobs in public districts.  They don't expect the bill will get anywhere ... this time.  To anyone who's paying any attention at all to public school politics in Michigan, this surely comes as no surprise.  This is where we're headed.

When I'm feeling cynical and a dash paranoid, I believe that a social revolution is in its beginning stages, and I also believe that public schools will be one of its biggest battlegrounds.  I don't mean physical violence--well, I hope not!--but rather ideological clashes on a massive scale.  These are big, entrenched, established systems of public good that are woven throughout the fabric of our communities--our public districts are a huge target.  I can honestly say right now that I'm glad to be extricated from that system as an employee (my role in it as a parent is another topic!) as the vitriol directed towards it is beginning to change into action.  We're starting to see words take shape as laws intended to take the system apart. 

I suppose it could be said that I've "bailed" on a system that needs passionate advocates.  While I was in my elementary classrooms, though, I found that the nuts-and-bolts of getting the work done--paperwork, student assessment, homework, planning, meetings, required extra-curriculars, etc.--consumed huge amounts of energy and time.  It's almost like the job is designed to consume as much time as possible with minutiae, leaving nothing behind for advocacy.  I mean, who has time to go to a School Board meeting or a House hearing in Lansing when there's a Spaghetti Dinner or an Ice Cream Social at which you must volunteer and bring a pan of brownies (that you made during time that's supposedly your own)?

(Setting aside my tin foil hat, for now.)

In other--completely unrelated--news, Eli had his one-year appointment a couple of weeks ago, and he's doing very well as always.  He weighed just shy of 29 pounds, was over 33 inches tall, and is generally awesome (well, in my words--our doc didn't put it exactly that way).  :)  He's now showing interest in taking some of his first steps, so it feels like walking is just around the corner.  He's adding more and more words every week; in the past seven days or so, he's started to say "book" and "water" and "down" (he points down at the floor in conjunction with that one) and "bike."  Considering that the milestone for "normal" (or is it average?  Not sure.) is for a kid to say "mama" and "dada" by 15 months, I think Eli is doing just fine in the talking department.