Some random stuff

Haven't stopped listening to that U2 album. It's growing rapidly on me and I think that some of the reviews might be telling the truth that this is their strongest stuff since the Joshua Tree/Achtung Baby era. Great combination of depth and some interesting musical experimentation.

In other news, I was encouraged by the announcement by the Obama administration that he was backing a merit pay system for teachers. While there are some definite obstacles to implementing such a program (namely the issues with good teachers in really bad schools possibly getting the raw end of the deal), this is a definite step forward. Plus, honestly, anytime a union opposes something, I tend to think it's a good idea. Unions seemed to serve their purposes for a long time but mostly seem to be more about their own power and influence rather than actually helping anyone (definitely not helping the situation with the Big 3 automakers and the UAW).

Anyway, with my mom having taught for 30 years and my wife being a former public school teacher, I have often been shocked and the number of sub par, unqualified teachers that are allowed to educate the majority of children in this country. Little is done to deal with the problems and often when principals do try to deal with it, local teacher's unions make it nearly impossible for any disciplinary action to take place. On top of that, you have bureaucracy that deals with ridiculous issues (like "tolerance") and leaves good teachers in jeopardy. Check out the This American Life podcast from this week for more on that. The segment "Rubber Room" is almost unbelievable. Anyway, I'm glad to see something that I believe is positive happening in the public school system.

Finally, I'm often surprised by the choices my children make and this particular event from yesterday has interesting psychological questions. For breakfast I asked my children which of two cereals they would like to eat. The decision making goes like this:

1. My son, the youngest, answers first because he knows what he wants, "Honey Nut Cheerios".
2. My daughter, as soon as she hears his answer immediately asks for the other one, in this case "Corn Chex" (it's weird but my kids will eat basically any cereal with no sugar needed).
3. My son second guesses himself primarily because he almost worships his older sister and begins to express great conflict about what he now wants. Usually this manifests itself as," I want Corn Chex......no I want Cheerios....no I want Corn Chex" and so on and so forth (often resulting in me just leaving the room shaking my head).
4. If my son's final wish is the same as his sister's she will promptly change her vote to the other choice, apparently because eating what you like is less important than getting that darn baby brother to leave you alone.
5. The cycle could continue for days, I'm sure, unless I intervene and then tell them what they are going to have. Sometimes, if the cereals are similar, I'll just tell them that it is whatever they ask for even if it's not...I guess that makes me a liar, but it gets the job done more quickly at times.

So it got me thinking about the thought processes that go into such a decision and how few of them actually go into "what do I want to eat" and how many of them go into "what does the other person want to eat". I swear, with all the goofy stories and amazing insights, I need to write a book sometime about these kids. I'm sure at least four people (the grandparents) would buy a copy.