This is Viewpoints for Monday, August 22, 2016

To the citizens of our nation

During every presidential campaign, there is a moment to decide. We listen to plans and platforms, read all we can, assess the candidates and then we make a very important decision. But in this campaign the political rancor is disconcerting. Families are split along political lines. Relationships are strained. We are not the people we want to be, a people who revere our country, who pledge our allegiance, who get a catch in our throats when we stand before our “Star-Spangled Banner.”

I write as a call to each of us, asking us to call forth our better selves as we make choices. We have the power to decide the kind of people we will be. We can choose between division and harmony. We can choose to be uniters, makers of peace and ambassadors for justice. In spite of the discord of this season, we can choose what is good over what is harmful.

The words of a great hymn inform us. In 1845, James Russell Lowell wrote the text of the hymn “Once To Every Man and Nation”:

“Once to every man and nation, comes the moment to decide,

In the strife of truth with falsehood, for the good or evil side;

Some great cause, some great decision, offering each the bloom or blight,

And the choice goes by forever, ’twixt that darkness and that light.”

May God guide our decisions and lead us to choose wisely.

Not staying in their lane?

“Normal” no longer exists. I was watching the Olympics last night, and I saw two athletes who looked distinctly like men with long hair, competing in women’s running events. Their faces and bodies were entirely male-looking. Neither had any problem winning their events. The TV commentators remarked that the testing for too much testosterone has been removed as criteria for entering as a woman. Makes me wonder just exactly how the International Olympic governing body does determine if an athlete is male or female.

DNA and chromosome testing would be my easy answer, since no amount of surgery nor hormone treatments can change that. TV folks also said the other female competitors all objected to those two athletes being allowed to compete, but nothing was done. I’m guessing that both were really born males, either surgically and/or hormonally treated to pass as women, barely. I guess if a guy can’t win a gold medal competing as a man, all he has to do is say he’s a woman, grow long hair and do whatever else and get it as a “woman.” Either that or just eliminate the separate male and female categories and have everyone compete together. The men would not win them all, I think. Some events favor artistic expression versus brute strength, speed and endurance. Women have the edge there.

I know that a lot of female athletes would have trouble winning a beauty contest, but they still look like women, and nearly all are still attractive. And of course, it’s performance, not appearance, that is the goal. However, these two specimens, if really female, would have to be the ugliest females I have ever seen in my 75 years of life. On second thought, they were close to being the ugliest men I have ever seen. Anybody know what the rules are these days? Or are there none?

Focus on the product

You have got to wonder in our public school system if education and the decisions they make are really about the children. Every child deserves the opportunity to obtain a quality education. And we would like to educate our students so they can maximize their potential and enable and empower them to make meaningful, positive contributions to their communities. Good words and I’m sure when we read them we all agree it’s a worthwhile goal.

We want our children to do good and a quality education is the cornerstone to success. At least a good education provides the foundation from which we can build on to achieve success. Yet it seems each decision we make tends to ignore, forget and just leave out who the primary customer or product is: the student. Education is like manufacturing a product, but whereas manufacturing has quality procedures and standards like SO-9001 to track quality and ensure repeatability to keep the focus on the product, education often loses that focus, or so it seems.

A prime example is the mandated closing of the Macon Charter Academy. Why wait until two to three weeks into the start of the school year to hold a hearing about whether to allow MCA to retain its charter. And while awaiting this hearing MCA is not allowed to enroll any more students. That mandate of no new enrollment itself seemed a recipe for failure. But in spite of that mandate I was optimistic that MCA would retain its charter; otherwise if the children are your primary focus, why wait until Aug. 18 to hold the hearing. But obviously the children are not the primary focus.

Perhaps someone was on vacation at the state board so July was not a convenient month to hold the hearing. But, whatever the reason for waiting, it was certainly not for the benefit of the children. Now these students must uproot themselves. Their parents need to find another school to accept them and the student must then re-acclimate themselves to a new learning environment. We continue to introduce change after change to our educational system, i.e., a lack of leadership for over two years, changing educational standards from QCC (Quality Core Curriculum) to GPS (Georgia Performance Standards) to CC (Common Core), choosing a new governing structure IE2 (Investing in Educational Excellence) and a constant barrage of testing approaches. Do any of these changes consider the end product: the student?

We need to certainly work on our educational system here in Macon-Bibb, and the leadership we finally put in place is moving in a positive direction. We want our educational system to be one of the best in Georgia and one of the best in the country, but we must keep our eye on the product. The decisions we make must put the student in the forefront of our thought process. And while I’m on this soapbox, the concept of Opportunity School Districts is totally ridiculous. How can the state run our schools and educate our children better than we can? If they have a secret formula that makes them better, why don’t they share that with us now? Because again the main ones to suffer as a result of a failed state takeover are the students.

This story was originally published August 21, 2016 at 9:00 PM with the headline "This is Viewpoints for Monday, August 22, 2016."