Today's Reads, Views, and Links

More on the insanity of high stakes testing.  This is from a professor at Eton who claims that our current state of high stakes testing hasn't changed much since the Victorian age and fails to properly prepare our students for the modern world.

Couldn't agree more.

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This man, much like the owner of a Culver's in Wisconsin who chose to pay his employees for six month when their restaurant was burned down, is an inspiration to us all.  Stories like these should be mandatory for Yahoo to have on their news wire for at least one week.

I'd much rather read about this type of philanthropy than what skinny dress some actress wore to an awards banquet or the newest political scandals.


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One strength of mine is being able to not only wake up early (around 5 every weekday morning) but to also get out of bed without hitting the snooze once.

All in my family are not so blessed with being early risers.

Here is an article on why this actually might be a good thing.

I've put my early mornings to good use for the past four months by running just about every morning.  If I don't run, I tend to have some coffee and read the news.

How many of us, though, squander valuable time by hitting that snooze button.

I recall the spring of 2003 when I was living on my own and trying to get up early every morning to run.  I remember several mornings where the alarm would go off about 5:30.  I also clearly remember hitting the ten minute snooze button.  Then hitting it again.  Then again.  Until finally 6:30 or so when I finally rolled out of bed.

Instead of hitting the snooze, do this -

What you should do instead: Pelayo recommends setting your alarm for the time you have to get up and then actually get up when it goes off, every day at the same time. Eventually, this consistency may help you feel naturally sleepy at the end of your day, so you'll feel compelled to go to bed when your body needs to, and then wake up without the need for an alarm.

All that time squandered because I couldn't get my sorry ass out of bed.  Glad I don't have that problem now.

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Stupidity in public education, especially early education, should never be tolerated.  I'm always amazed - mostly from KoKo's education - how many teachers seem to hate teaching kids.  Why teach then?

Empower kids and make a difference in their lives.  Or get the hell out of the profession.

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This kid made my day!