The Scourge of Vagueness

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The Columbia Basin Herald:

“The Moses Lake School District is looking for a new high school principal following the resignation of Mark Harris Wednesday.

“We came to a mutually agreeable decision that his skill set is not the best fit for Moses Lake,” said outgoing superintendent Michelle Price.”

I’d be very disappointed if one of my first year writing students explained someone’s firing by writing, “his skill set was not the best fit”, because that requires readers to work way too hard.

Then a slight elaboration:

“We had a conversation about where we are and the future of two high schools,” Harris said. “And we decided they need someone who knows the community and is steeped in its traditions and culture.”

More vagueness, “where we are”, “the future”, “knows the community”, “its traditions and cultures”. Those references are far from self-explanatory. This reader is going to guess Harris didn’t ask enough questions, implemented changes with little input from teacher-leaders, and probably lacked the needed interpersonal skills to effectively lead a high school more generally.

There’s this pseudo-elaboration too:

“Explaining the phrase ‘skill set,’ Price elaborated that with the addition of the second high school as well as planned upgrades to the existing high school, Harris didn’t really have the skills to lead through that kind of change.”

But again the phrase, “the skills to lead through that kind of change” is the same vague reflex. What does that mean? What specific skills was Harris lacking? The reader has to speculate. After a couple of readings, I still don’t know what “the skills to lead through that kind of change” is code for?

The district spokesperson concludes by proving it is possible to speak entirely in cliches:

“It will take someone special to lead people through the coming changes,” she added. “Leadership is about fit.”

What does “someone special” mean? And “changes”? And “Leadership is about fit.”? Dear CBH, please resubmit.

Even though all of Moses Lakes probably knows, I can’t help but conclude that Harris flamed out as a principal in ways the district really doesn’t want made more public.

Here’s an idea. When no one is willing to tell ANY of the story behind the story, just go to Twitter, and spare readers the public relations chess game.

Friday Assorted Links

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1. The universal phenomenon of men interrupting women.

From the comments:

“. . . I got into a taxi the other night with my husband. I knew the directions and address better than him, so I gave the taxi driver the instructions. He did not reply to me, but then said, “should I take the tunnel or the bridge, sir?” I was shocked. He would only speak to my husband. When I complained later to my husband, he said he was an older guy from a traditional culture, that that was what he believed. My husband–whom I consider to be enlightened and egalitarian– did not notice the slight until I pointed it out. That one word “sir” rendered me and my words invisible and “put me in my place.” In the middle of “cosmopolitan” Manhattan. It made me think society is becoming more–not less–patriarchal. . .”

2. Just 5% of Americans account for 50% of all U.S. medical spending.

3. Why I’m giving my children their inheritance now.

“They are pretty levelheaded young people.”

That’s an understatement as attested to by this:

“They have each parked the money in low-cost, diversified index funds.”

And this:

“You are giving us part of our inheritance now. Time value of money, and all that. Cool. Your grandson thanks you for helping to pay his college tuition.”

4. Canada to teach computer coding starting in kindergarten. Not from The Onion. What’s next, resume writing in first grade, internships in second?

5. Alison, the most important question of our time?

Strong closing:

“The Hive is there in solidarity.”

6. If not, this may be, “Is $9,000 too much for a gravel bike?“

Lost Baby Pig

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Our neighborhood’s electronic bulletin board regularly reminds me that living in the country is different:

Case in point.

“My daughter just lost a baby pig. He’s mostly black, with a pink circle…or maybe diamond, on his nose. We’re between 36th and 46th on Libby Road. He ran through the woods, northbound, but no telling how far he would run. He’s just 7 weeks old, so he’s very afraid (has had nearly no contact with people) and has no survival skills at all. Please let me know if you’ve seen him and we’ll come right out. It would be great if he was cornered.”

A reply:

“Found one little piggy? Don’t think it was going to the market or eating roast beef.”2227d192d5b8bae7d8abf95c2a2c6c96.JPG.115x115.jpg

Then this:

“How in the world did you catch the little guy? They’re so slippery!”

And finally:

“Well my puppy started it all. Then three humans and one senior dog joined the chase. We have a mostly wire fenced yard and so we did a couple rounds. Piggy ran through the electric chicken netting which really torqued him then my partner got him in the salmon fishing net. Three people two dogs one piglet! I wish I would have had the whole thing on video!!”

I wonder, how did the owners know the piggy was “very afraid”? Maybe he had courage to spare, had been feigning dependence, and had been plotting his escape for four or five of his seven weeks. And found the entire attempt exhilarating.

Can We Please Stop Celebrating High School Graduation?

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[From the archives. Four years later, one high school graduating class, I think it stands up pretty well.]

Like it’s an amazing accomplishment that means something significant. Note to the graduates. We expected you to successfully finish all twelve grades.

For shit’s sake, my cycling training is suffering and I missed a triathlon in Portland last weekend because of the first of an endless number of graduation-related events that dot the Byrnes family social calendar.

We’re long overdue on updating our traditions. Forty-fifty years ago a high school diploma was meaningful. High school graduates could get manufacturing jobs and support families. Now, a high school diploma is simply a ticket to continue around the game board of life. That’s all. It’s not an amazing accomplishment. And to the well intentioned people congratulating me in church on Sunday, not necessary. I didn’t sit in boring class after boring class or complete any homework. I did inquire about school at dinner (to no avail) and I did drive the forgotten violin to school a few times, but that’s hardly grounds for congratulations.

Here’s what graduating from high school means, plain and simple. Instead of having most decisions made for you, you get to make more of them yourself. Enlist in the military or enroll in a vocational program, a community college, or a four year college or university. In a few more years, if you apply yourself in one or more of those settings, you will have sufficient knowledge and skills to begin making a positive difference in people’s lives and get paid a living wage. And you’ll be economically independent.

And then we’ll party hearty.

Summer Reading and Thinking

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What I’m reading. Janesville by Amy Goldstein. What happens to a place when a majority of people work for an automaker that closes shop? When people used to earn $28/hour with some overtime and now make somewhere between $0 and $16/hour. Here’s a part of the answer:

     “In the shadows of town, hundreds of teenagers are becoming victims of a domino effect. These are kids whose parents used to scrape by on jobs at Burger King or Target or the Gas Mart. Now their parents are competing with the unemployed autoworkers who used to look down on these jobs but now are grasping at any job they can find. So, as middle-class families have been tumbling downhill, working-class families have been tumbling into poverty. And as this down-into-poverty domino effect happens, some parents are turning to drinking or drugs. Some are leaving their kids behind while they go looking for work out of town. Some are just unable to keep up the rent. So with a parent or on their own, a growing crop of teenagers is surfing the couches at  friends’ and relatives’ places—or spending nights in out-of–the-way spots in cars or on the street.”

Robert Putnam on Janesville,

“Reflecting on the state of the white working class, J.D. Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy focuses on cultural decay and the individual, whereas Amy Goldstein’s Janesville emphasizes economic collapse and the community.  To understand how we have gotten to America’s current malaise, both are essential reading.”

On deck. In the hole.

Shifting to thinking, I’m thinking about how artists talk about becoming artists and the implications of that for parents, teachers, and coaches. How do parents, teachers, and coaches cultivate true artistry or other specialized forms of expertise in young people? Specialized expertise that might enable them to independently make a living in the new economy. My thoughts are still in the subconscious primordial ooze phase, but I trust they’ll settle in some sort of coherent pattern sometime soon.

In short, here’s what I don’t hear artists say, “I took this really great class in school.” Instead, musicians for example, almost always say, “My parents were always playing the coolest music.” The word I keep returning to is “milieu” or social environment. In this data obsessed age, we’re utterly lacking in sophistication when it comes to the cumulative effective of the environments young people inhabit. Granted, formal schooling, think Juilliard for example, can contribute to artistic excellence, but meaningful learning is mostly the result of osmosis outside of school.

How do some families, in the way they live day-to-day, foster specialized expertise in children almost by accident, whether in the arts, academics, cooking, design, computers, or athletics? What can educators learn from those families to reinvent formal academic settings? What might “osmosis-based” schools look like? Schools where students watch adults actively engaged in learning and get seriously caught up in the fun.

 

Friday Assorted Links

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1. A preschool in a retirement home. What’s not to like?

2. How much foreign language is being taught in U.S. schools? Data is sparse, but approximately, 1 in 5 students is studying a foreign language, 46% Spanish, 21% French.

3. Rush to college might be a mistake.

“Perhaps the most profound finding to emerge from the survey is that going to college to find yourself has become a luxury many Americans can no longer afford. Instead, those who expressed the least regret were best able to align their education with a career.”

4. 20 most popular running routes in America. Come on America, nuthin’ but shorties. I have run four and walked one. One of the four was where I first started running in my late 20’s. Can you guess? What about best running routes? I nominate the Cowling Arboretum. So good, when you get lost in it, you don’t mind, you just Forest Gump it until eventually returning to civilization.

5. Do you know what the next big thing is? I will end up bloody, but I am in.

6. There’s now a little more gender equity at the Summer Olympics. About time.

7. Woman goes viral for helping blind Cubs fan catch a cab.

8. RichieZ and I are seeking a third in an effort to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics. Previous experience cleaning glass required. Send resume.

Dream Job

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Thanks to the Pressing Pauser who sent this job announcement:

GOLF COACH NEEDED:
Pacifica Christian High, located in Newport Beach, is looking for a head coach for its varsity girls golf team as it goes into its inaugural season in the fall of 2017. Individuals with a strong background in coaching golf, working within a high school setting, and are strong in their faith are encouraged to apply. Please submit a resume and direct all application questions to. . .
Here’s how the receipt of my application would prob go down:
Athletic Director to anyone within earshot in the athletic office, “Get a load of this one. Dude lives in Washington State. Perv alert!”

Dear Apple

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As you race to catch up to (and hopefully pass) Amazon’s and Google’s smart speakers, I have a suggestion. Find out if I’m an anomaly. Specifically, my craving for silence. If others feel similarly, you may want to tweak HomePod’s design as you continue to refine it before December’s release.

As a card carrying introvert, I have limits on how much I can interact with people, or people-like personal tech, each and every day. At a certain point, I need silence to recharge. That’s why I silenced Waze, my fav app, after a few days of use. Why would anyone choose to fill their car with an automated voice when they can easily read the turn directions in blessed silence? Similarly, my phone only “rings” when three people call me. Voicemail is one of humankind’s greatest inventions.

I was conscious of my quirky commitment to silence a few years ago, when outside of Portland, a friend of mine spoke an address into his phone before we headed out. That struck me as really odd, why not just type in the address I remember thinking. I want to save my finite number of words for people, not my iPhone or my future HomePod. And I don’t want my pocket computer or HomePod to ask anything of me or to speak to me. Just show me where to turn and stream Marvin Gaye.

So since HomePod isn’t shipping until December, use the intervening time to figure out whether “quirky” is the apt adjective for my condition or whether there is in fact an underreported “silence is golden” contingent that embraces technology, but seeks work-arounds to the growing expectation that we have to talk to our tech.