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♦ WEDNESDAY, JULY 26, 2006 4A Mmx&tim 3Jmmutl 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 h JlmrlCL an 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.