Newspaper Page Text
♦ WEDNESDAY, JULY 26, 2006
4A
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OPINION
Daniel F. Evans
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans
Vice President
Don Moncrief
Managing Editor
You be the judge
Is it right for a candidate to call
the local newspaper - the Houston
Daily Journal - and inquire on top
ics/issues most on the minds of Houston
Countians?
That’s what one did this past week pre
ceded with the note he would be visiting
in the next week or so to speak.
One side of the coin says he’s just
smart. Maybe
he is the kind
of man that
needs to be
in office.
He’s doing
his home
work. He is
conducting
research.
There’s noth
ing wrong
with that.
On the
other side of
the coin, how
ever, we’ve
noted politi
cians typical
ly don’t pro
vide a whole
lot of attribu
tion.
From past experience, we’ve seen they
all waste little time taking credit for
others’ work. Rare is the politician who
doesn’t. Unfortunately, that’s just part
of the unwritten rules somebody wrote
long, long ago. To break from the norm
means probably not getting elected.
So, in other words, it’s entirely likely
- more likely - he’s going to step up to
the podium and pretend he knows all
about Houston County - us - and every
thing we’re concerned about without the
slightest indication somebody had to fill
in a whole lot of blanks.
Did we help him? No.
Will he still be able to pull it off?
Definitely. After all, archives of the news
paper still exist. But, at least he’ll have
to do his own legwork. And who knows,
maybe he will learn something - if our
rejection didn’t at least tell him 1 some
thing - about us in the process.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Take a chance
The article (in Friday’s Houston Daily Journal) regard
ing the BOE “acceptance” of specific goals to close the
“achievement gap across racial and economic lines” are
no different from the “output” goals, most of us expect
from our young people.
We invested $1.2 million for Classworks, which is a
computer program that promised us that teachers in
grades 1-8 could know, assess, and challenge each of our
children’s individual abilities.
We implemented a reading recovery program, which
“specially trained teachers” work with our children one
on-one.
We implemented an Early Intervention program for
grades K-5, which specially trained teachers work with
small groups of children who need more help with read
ing and math. Plus we invest at least $6,000 of local tax
dollars toward each student’s education, as well. Thus,
money, or lack of spending it, does not seem to be an
issue. However, after the “education process,” according
to the data, is not meeting federal, state, or local expecta
tions. The goals presented are admirable, but we need
objective criteria to ensure the best outcome..
It seems to me, to ensure an outcome that meets
expectations of the stakeholder groups, which includes
parents, students, employee, business, and taxpayers,
U.S., and Georgia DOE, that change is inevitable. The
input change requires that we simply throw more money
into the system, and/or we somehow change the genetic
makeup of the children who enter our schools.
To change the system’s process in education seems
more feasible, economic, legal and humane, but it is more
complicated than focusing on or manipulating the input.
Changing the process requires the system to follow the
letter of the law (O.C.G.A 20-2-736 (c) that clearly states
that parents be given the opportunities to develop and
update codes of conduct, to reflect the “REAL System’s
Process”, rather than simply accepting the school manag
er’s “Ought Systems Process.”
To do so, might require schools to change school council
meeting times from 7-7:30 a.m. to times that are more
conducive for parents, at a particular school.
See LETTER, page 5A
Foy S. Evans
Editor Emeritus
One side of the coin
says he's just smart.
Maybe he is the kind
of man that needs to
be in office. He's doing
his homework. He is
conducting research.
There's nothing wrong
with that. On the
other side of the coin,
however, we've noted
politicians typically
don't provide a whole
lot of attribution.
Fop most, the reward awaits
I’m fairly confident that the follow
ing conversation takes place every
day somewhere in Georgia:
“I’m just not happy anymore. I
used to be. I mean, I was excited to
be married to her, excited about the
prospect of having and raising children
together...even growing old together.
But now it’s too hard. We argue over
so many things and we don’t even
enjoy being together. I just want to be
happy again.”
“Well, you deserve to be happy. I
hate to say this and hope you’ll forgive
me for doing so but...perhaps it’s time
to start over.”
“Are you talking about divorce? I
can’t do that. The kids!”
“Sure, it will be hard at first, but
they’ll be fine in the long haul. Kids
are resilient. And besides, their hap
piness will return after awhile; but if
you don’t get out you might never be
happy.”
(With sense of resignation) “Maybe
you’re right. Plus, if this thing deterio
rates much further, our home environ
ment will be even worse. How damag
ing will that be for the kids? Living
with unhappy parents will really hurt
them.”
“Right!”
“Ya know, I must admit that I’ve
thought about this.. .but I never wanted
to, well, say it out loud. I’ve got to give
this some more thought. I just want to
be happy again...and I don’t think that
can happen in this marriage.”
Now, I know words on paper can’t
necessarily communicate the depth of
despair and frustration expressed in
a conversation like this. But there’s
a pretty good chance the sentiment
expressed in those words are at least
j=i
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SOMEWHERE BETWEEN HERE
AND THERE - I write from the
passenger seat, heading east,
in this instance on Interstate 80 to
Omaha for my son’s baseball tourna
ment. But it could be any of a million
reasons why we make our link in the
Interstate Highway System chain.
The federal four-lane (or more)
turned 50 earlier this summer, millions
of cubic feet of concrete connecting
drowsy burghs to bustling metropo
lises and every off ramp in between.
Billions of miles later, interstate
highway drivers who pay attention
have a cursory knowledge of what’s
where in the United States, which,
according to recent reports, puts them
in the upper quartile of American geog
raphy expertise.
All that controlled access and we still
struggle differentiating Dubuque from
Duluth or Dover from Denver.
Windshield time we call it, a $3-a
gallon look-see of everything between
point A and point B.
And nowhere is that better accom
plished than on freeways - two, three,
four, six, eight lanes of continual move
ment.
I like driving,, a combination of
being an uncomfortable flyer, not suf
fering mass transit fools gladly and a
bit of a fascination with everywhere in
between.
I recommend a conversant passenger
and satellite radio to cover any com
munication contingency.
Actually, I prefer train travel, con
venient, sophisticated and leisurely, a
view of the country, a smooth ride and
elegant meals along the way.
Oh, wait. That was the 19405.
Whole enterprise
As sure as interstate highways are
hard and gray, so, too, are they a work
OPINION
vaguely - if not vividly - familiar to
you.
Two sincere people - one being hon
est about his pain, the other genuinely
trying to help.
The problem is that the conversa
tion is laced with faulty presupposi
tions that rob people of hope, poison
the attitudes and tones that shape
relationships, and ultimately serve as
self-fulfilling prophecies.
Faulty presupposition: The marriage
will never get better.
The truth: Even terribly unhappy
marriages can turn into happy ones.
The National Survey of Marriage
and Families reported 77 percent of
marriages rated “not good” at some
point are rated “good” or “very good”
five years later. A strong commitment
to marriage as an institution, and a
powerful reluctance to divorce, do not
merely keep unhappily married people
locked in misery together; they help
couples form happier bonds. Staying
together tends to strengthen the bond.
This doesn’t mean that problems van
ish entirely; instead that couples devel
op the skills to deal with them.
Why did these marriages survive
where other marriages did not?
Spouses’ stories of how their marriages
got happier fell into three broad head
ings: the marital endurance ethic, the
marital work ethic, and the personal
in progress.
If you are on one, chances are good at
some point it’s under construction.
While Eisenhower envisioned an
interconnectedness that would provide
the backbone to the nation’s infra
structure and give Miami, Maine and
Montana all the sense of belonging to
the same whole, I’m sure he would
have a wagered a star or two that at
some point the whole enterprise would
have been finished.
Not happening. Freeways are so
fast (that’s only theory in some urban
locales), so efficient, so convenient and
so accessible that we ... well ... use
them. A lot.
That means we drive more, have
more vehicles to do so and, ergo post
carburetor, we are in constant need
of more and better interstate high
ways: more lanes, more ramps, better
bridges.
Constant construction may make
some travelers toss their Trip-tiks, but
any veteran of controlled access knows
that if you drive on Ike’s vision of a
connected America, you will encoun
ter jack hammers, concrete forms and
detours.
Last summer in Wyoming, for exam
ple, I went from a silky smooth 75 (OK,
maybe it was 78 or 79) to a gravel
and dust-infested 35, enough to rattle
nerves and work on a vehicle’s paint
job.
'I 1
Randy
Hicks
Columnist
Georgia Family Council
interstate runs through it
George
Ayoub
Columnist
Morris News Service
HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL
happiness ethic.
■ In the marital endurance ethic, the
most common story couples reported to
researchers, marriages got happier not
because partners resolved problems,
but because they stubbornly outlasted
problems related to finances, employ
ment, depression, parenting, even infi
delity.
■ In the marital work ethic, spouses
told stories of actively working to solve
problems, change behavior, or improve
communication. When the problem
was solved, the marriage got happier.
■ Finally, in the personal happiness
ethic, marriage problems did not seem
to change that much. Instead married
people in these accounts told stories
of finding alternative ways to improve
their own happiness and build a good
and happy life despite a mediocre mar
riage.
Faulty presupposition: I’m unhappy
in marriage. If I can get free of the
marriage, I’ll be happier.
The Truth: Divorce doesn’t foster
greater happiness.
Call it the “divorce assumption.”
Most people assume that a person
stuck in a bad marriage has two choic
es: stay married and miserable or get a
divorce and become happier.
A study conducted by a team of
leading family scholars headed by
University of Chicago sociologist Linda
Waite found no evidence that unhap
pily married adults who divorced were
typically any happier than unhappily
married people who stayed married.
Divorce did not typically reduce
symptoms of depression or raise self
esteem. Even unhappy spouses who
had divorced and remarried were no
See HICKS, page 5A
To be honest, orange-clad road work
ers and their engineer brethren do an
amazing job of keeping traffic moving.
And millions of us roar past only a
couple of feet from their workstations.
Today, there is irony, too, when an
interstate runs though it.
Those in towns at the end of off
ramps may grumble about fuel prices
when filling up their own vehicles but
hope travelers do it anyway - in their
backyards.
' That’s because while interstate high
ways are all about concrete and con
struction, they’re also about ka-ching.
For years Grand Island worked to get
its third exit, the idea being that, like
other exits, it would cause travelers to
empty their purses for a room at the
inn, a trinket at a local store or a tank
of the aforementioned pricey gasoline.
That may yet work like gangbusters.
Regardless and whether we like it or
not, the truth after 50 years is clear:
Economic well-being is better at the
end of an off-ramp than many miles
away.
Just ask the dozens of small towns
across the nation that lie an hour or
even 30 minutes away from an on
ramp. In this neighborhood, they are
easy to find.
Since Ike saw the future, we have
traded Route 66 and the Lincoln
Highway for anything with an “I” in
front of it. We have left a mile-a-min
ute behind. We have developed road
rage and built vehicles with Blue Tooth
and On Star.
At 50 we may know our geography
and have our fair share of detours, but
if you’re on a controlled-access, federal
interstate highway, you are connected.
George Ayoub is senior writer at The
Grand Island (Neb.) Independent. His
e-mail is george.ayoub@morris.com.