Scott Bradford: Off on a Tangent

D.C. Students See Big Academic Gains

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If you read my non-endorsements for the 2007 Fairfax County School Board election, you probably got the distinct impression that I don’t like the over-democratization of our schools. Educational decisions should be made by educational professionals with the limited oversight of elected city councils or county boards of supervisors or mayors. This allows for democratic input on the management of our schools without it degrading into the political BS you see in our school boards every month.

So you might guess that I was pretty happy when Washington, DC, Mayor Adrian Fenty (D) was elected with a strong mandate to sack the entire city school board and schools superintendent and replace them with a chancellor that answers directly to him. I was. I’m even more happy to learn that DC Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee—a former teacher who has been heavily criticized locally for her supposed ‘inexperience’, for firing hundreds of under-performing teachers and administrators, and for closing under-enrolled schools—has successfully led students in the DC school system to significantly improved test scores after only one year in office.

Critics have already begun claiming that the scores are a fluke, or that reforms from the preceding school leaders (what reforms were those, again?) had as much impact as the Fenty/Rhee reforms. It’s probably too early to tell. That said, I strongly suspect that DC schools will continue to thrive and improve under Rhee’s culture of professionalism and accountability, and DC’s schools will (against all odds) become a model for reform nationwide. Step 1: Depoliticize by dissolving elected school boards.

Setting Concrete Goals

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I’m learning that it’s best to set concrete, rather than nebulous, goals. For example, I’ve said many times before that I meant to write ‘more’ content for this web site. It wasn’t until I committed myself to an average of at least five entries per week that things finally changed. For some reason, a goal of five entries per week was easier to reach than a goal of ‘more’ entries.

When I bought my bike last year, I said I was going to get back into riding. Well, I sorta did. I did a few rides of 10 miles or longer before the weather turned too cold (having bought the bike at the end of the season) but then failed to pick it back up when the weather turned nice again. My bad. Well I finally went back out last week, and I apparently haven’t lost my ability (thank God). I did a 10-mile ride on Thursday evening, then a 20-mile ride on Saturday. It didn’t take a lot out of me, so now I’m setting a personal, concrete goal of riding at least 30-miles per week.

I figure that’s only a three-hour commitment (roughly) in the week, which can be met with three 10-mile rides or one 30-mile ride or any other combination. That gives me flexibility, but it is a concrete target. Let’s see how it works out.

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Plain Ol’ Discourtesy

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I wrote five years ago now about the ‘wrong way to protest‘, positing that while people are free to protest against the war in Iraq (or anything else, for that matter) they should be aware that there are limitations to that right, and that—even when protesting in a legal way—being rude or discourteous is unlikely to win anybody to your side. In 2003, I gave the example of protests in the D.C. area that block roads and turn our commutes into an even bigger nightmare than they already are. Those protests failed on both the legal and the courteous scales, simultaneously resulting in the arrest of the protesters and angering (i.e., not convincing) the very audience they were trying to send a message to. People, for the most part, simply tune-out rudeness.

An article in the Washington Post yesterday reminded me of just how rude and discourteous protesters can be when voicing opposition to the war in Iraq. This time, protesters interrupted the annual July 4 naturalization ceremony held at Monticello (Thomas Jefferson’s home) in Charlottesville, VA—which was presided over by President George W. Bush (R)—with anti-war catch phrases and a refrain of “impeach Bush”.

Personally, I find these kinds of protests a little meaningless to begin with. I still see no legal basis for an impeachment (once again, even if I were to accept that Bush lied in the lead-up to the war in Iraq, lying to the people might be immoral but it is not illegal and is, thus, not impeachable). Further, I continue to support both the war in Iraq and support many of the President’s initiatives to protect our national security. Having said that, I strongly support the freedom of speech and peoples’ right to protest these things if they disagree with them. I’d simply prefer that they show a modicum of courtesy and intelligence when doing so.

Interrupting a naturalization ceremony, where [legal] immigrants become U.S. citizens, is downright tacky no matter what you’re interrupting it with. Yeah, congrats, you got your zingers in against the president. You also interfered with a solemn ceremony welcoming new citizens from around the world and made yourselves look like whiny children. That may well be legal, but you didn’t accomplish anything—except possibly to discredit yourselves in the eyes of impartial viewers.

On-Target (Mostly)

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So I’ve already talked a little bit about our new Smith & Wesson model 620 revolver, which we got last weekend. Melissa and I each tried it out soon after buying it just to get familiar with it, but today I made my first ‘real’ trip to the range with the intent of gaining some skill with the weapon.

I’m actually not doing too bad. The first target is 21 rounds of .38 Special ammunition at a distance of seven yards. The second target is another 21 rounds at seven yards, but this time with the more-powerful .357 Magnum ammunition. I have more experience with the .38s, and they’re a bit easier to handle when compared to the .357s (which have quite a kick to them), but if the target had been a bad guy I think I would have gotten him pretty good either way.

Most people I’ve talked to recommend practicing with the .38 Special rounds, since they’re easier to shoot and a lot cheaper, but keeping more-expensive .357 Magnum rounds in the gun when you’re using it for personal/home protection since those rounds have a lot more stopping power.

Anyway, I had a good hobby-day today. I spent an hour at the shooting range, then did a 20-mile bike ride. Best of all, we didn’t have to visit the emergency room today ;-).

Fun Start to the 4th

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Most people wait until near the end of the 4th of July to end up in the emergency room—generally with the assistance of fireworks.  But Melissa—always the overachiever—wanted to get the E.R. visit out of the way early.

She is allergic to just about everything on God’s green earth, but the hives she came down with this time were way beyond the norm even by Melissa standards. After toughing it out for a day or two, she said it was time to go get it looked at by a professional.

They hooked her up an I.V. and loaded her up with lots of Benadryl, Prednisone, and Zantac and within literally 10 or 20 minutes the hives were fading away (as was Melissa overall . . . Benadryl makes you drowsy in its over-the-counter form, but high dosages in an I.V. knock you out harder and faster).

Anyway, Melissa is fine and went home with prescriptions to keep the hives at bay until they disappear on their own. No idea what set things off, but after an afternoon nap we went back to the normal schedule and even proceeded to participate in a 4th of July barbecue. I did miss my planned visit to the shooting range, but that’s okay—plenty of weekend ahead.

Scott Bradford is a writer and technologist who has been putting his opinions online since 1995. He believes in three inviolable human rights: life, liberty, and property. He is a Catholic Christian who worships the trinitarian God described in the Nicene Creed. Scott is a husband, nerd, pet lover, and AMC/Jeep enthusiast with a B.S. degree in public administration from George Mason University.