Jim Daly

Tests Don’t Always Count What Should Be Counted

What do you think about standardized tests?

Writing in this past Monday’s Washington Post, Marion Brady, a veteran teacher and curriculum designer, shared a fascinating story that confirms what many people, including the late Albert Einstein, have long suspected:

“Not everything that can be counted counts,” observed the German physicist, “and not everything that counts can be counted.”

He was right.

In the essay, Ms. Brady relays the story of a longtime friend who agreed to take a state-sponsored 10th grade reading and math exam.

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What Andy Rooney Thought Every Child Needed

Although he struck many of us as something of a curmudgeon, I enjoyed watching and reading Andy Rooney over the years.

Mr. Rooney lived a long and colorful life before passing away at the age of 92 last month. Many of his newspaper columns were compiled into various books. The following essay that I’m going to excerpt, “What Every Kid Should Have Growing Up,” comes from one of his best-selling works titled Sweet and Sour.

Reading over this list, I have to admit that I wish I had all these things growing up.

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Should the State Be Allowed to Remove Overweight Children?

By now you’ve probably heard the story of an Ohio mother whose 8-year-old son was taken away from her because of the boy’s weight.

The Cleveland Heights youth tips the scales in excess of 200 pounds. Doctors recommend that a child of that age and height should weigh somewhere between 55 and 60 pounds.

To be fair, I’m not aware of all the facts of the case. I did read that state workers had been monitoring the child’s situation for over a year.

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Parents Deserve Blame for Flash Mob Teens

It happened again last week, this time at a 7-Eleven in Silver Spring, Maryland.

As many as 50 teens and young adults were caught on camera robbing the store. To look at the video footage is to see modern-day anarchy in full living color. The operators of the business were helpless until police arrived.

Officials in cities where “flash mobs” have wreaked havoc insist they’re investigating the incidents and studying ways to prevent them from happening again.

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Tim Tebow is Today’s Seabiscuit

He arrived at a time when the nation was fearful and fighting malaise, hungry for a hero to root for, eager to find hope amidst the dark clouds of uncertainty.

That the “he” was a three-year-old thoroughbred racehorse made no difference. After all, Americans enjoy rooting for the little guy, especially when that little guy is criticized and counted out by so-called experts.

Do you remember the story?

It was 1938, smack in the middle of the Great Depression.

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Seconds and Thirds

Tomorrow’s celebration of Thanksgiving conjures up so many memories for all of us. As I’ve shared in the past, my recollections of the holiday as a child bring with them a mixed bag of emotions.

While I looked forward to the celebration, we didn’t have much. And, when my parents got divorced, with mom working several jobs just to make ends meet, times were hard. My mom did her best to pull together enough stuff to make it special.

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Paul Harvey: So God Made a Farmer

Paul Harvey, the late radio legend, shared the following essay at the 1978 National F.F.A. (Future Farmers of America) Convention. As we prepare our homes and tables for Thanksgiving, it’s always good to remember that the Lord uses many bright minds and talented hands to help keep the world warm and well fed (James 2:16). May God bless the farmer!

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This Happened to My Son on a Plane

I was on a recent flight with our family and encountered something unexpected. There was nothing out of the ordinary about the trip, just another full plane with hundreds of people squeezed together, row upon row. On this particular segment, though, I happened to be sitting right across the aisle from the boys and kept an eye on them as they read and talked with each other.

Then it happened.

Troy proceeded to put up his tray table.

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What I Saw at Saturday’s Discussion

It is in the act of discussion, suggested the late Christian writer C.S. Lewis, that you rouse the patient’s reason.

And when such a deliberation is approached thoughtfully and pointedly on a stage, you awaken the senses and stir the hearts of the audience, too.

This is precisely what occurred in Iowa at the first Thanksgiving Family Forum. Hosted by the Iowa Family Policy Center’s political arm, The Family Leader, and co-sponsored by Citizenlink and the National Organization for Marriage, the forum showed America something that almost always gets lost in presidential politics: candidates are real, regular people who face the same challenges in life as the rest of us.

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Happy Orphans?

It’s common to wax nostalgic for the past, to suggest that the “good old days” weren’t just good – but great. If only we could turn back the clock, so the logic goes, all would be well.

The only problem with such a theory is that it’s just so often not true. Case in point:

One hundred years ago, on April 14, 1911, the following headline appeared in the New York Times:

5,000 HAPPY ORPHANS AT A CIRCUS TREAT

Youngsters from Many Institutions in the City Have Their Annual Merry Day

The article went on to highlight just who these orphans were, referring to them as “little waifs and strays, orphans and half orphans” who had their one “happy day” of the year at the Barnum and Bailey Circus.

Continue ReadingTopics: Family and Home Tags: adoption, faith, family