(No, the person in the photoooo is not the skunk. That’s my grandma. Not a skunk!) I want to blahg about the sorry state of public education here in the Great Lake State. Alas, there is so much going on right now that I don’t know where to start. Not to mention that I am only a very concerned tax-payer who values public education and is appalled at the apparent efforts by our state’s Not-My-Dad’s GOP legislators to destroy public education here in Michigan. The “skunkworks” (google something like “Snyder skunkworks” if you dare) is one of the latest efforts.

I was also appalled when I heard that our wondrous Gubner wants to dumb down high school graduation requirements by eliminating things like Algebra II and FOREIGN LANGUAGES!!! !!! !!! WHAT?!?

The idea is to “train” people for vocational jobs… I certainly don’t have any expertise about how to craft high school graduation requirements. I took Algebra II and LOVED every minute of it, even the time that I was sitting there taking a test, oozing mucous from just about every facial orifice, wearing a dark brown second head of hair wig (yes, really!) and our loverly but strict teacher, Mrs. Grout, came along and snatched up the snotty old crumpled up Kleenex I had on my desk and threw it in the trash. We were *expected* to take Algebra II in my family! (I got an A on that test and in that class and I *loved* Mrs. Grout…)

I also took a language. Latin. The Commander: You *will* take Latin. (The other choice was French and I don’t think she was all that impressed with the French teacher. I won’t say why.) I took three years of Latin from Mrs. Velde, a concentration camp survivor. I was terrified of her and her paddle although I don’t remember a time when she actually used it on anyone. I can’t say Latin was my best subject (hello, algebra) but I managed to get As and, guess what? It helped me hone my [English] writing skills. But I regret that I didn’t learn any other languages.

So, who are these employers that we are apparently trying to dumb down our high school graduation requirements for? I dunno. Maaaayybeeee a job stocking big-screen TV sets at Woldemort doesn’t exactly require Algebra II. But not requiring a foreign language? I do not get that. Spanish? French? CHINESE? ARABIC?

Sorry, but people who would do away with a high school language requirement are shooting our country in the foot.

Okay, I ranted in spite of myself and quite incoherently. Maybe it’s fitting after all that the woman in the photo is my grandmother. That woman walked the train trestle from Bay Mills to Brimley to go to high school and had to climb down under the trestle when a train came by. (Family legend that I may not be reporting accurately.) She valued education and sent all four of her children to college. When I was a kid, the Sault Ste. Siberia Evening Snooze always reported the children who made the honor roll and Grandma would watch that newspaper to see which of her grandchildren were on it. Make no mistake, she was *not* a crabbly old curmudgeon. She just cared about her grandchildren and their education.

Oh, the photo also includes gratuitous photos of Pooh, NpJane, my loverly dog Tigger, and The Commander.

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