From the Editor
Fred Barton
Editor, SLATE Newsletter, and Region 4 Representative to the NCTE/SLATE Steering Committee

Gentle Readers:

Well, here we are in the middle of another year of educational reform. Protestors are protesting, lawsuits are law suiting, legislatures are legislating, and somewhere in all this adult shin kicking children are supposed to be learning.

We live in interesting times. Unfortunately.  Perhaps some of you remember Sputnik. I do and, as Yogi Berra once said, it’s déjà vu all over again. I mention this because sometimes the long view helps one to cope more effectively with the, how to say this politely, current crop of boneheaded policies. Perhaps that didn’t come out quite right. In his State of the Union speech President Bush called for a renewed emphasis on math and science. Yet unemployed engineers say there's actually a big surplus. "No one I know who has looked at the data with an open mind has been able to find any sign of a current shortage," says demographer Michael Teitelbaum of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. An unemployment rate of 6.7 percent among electrical and electronics engineers and an even higher unemployment rate of 8 percent among engineering managers due to "offshore" engineering jobs and the continued infusion of foreign engineers into the country allowed under the H-1B and L-1 visa laws further depressing the wages engineers earn were apparently not considerations in the President’s thinking.   No matter we need people at Burger King who can make change in their heads. Ah, the long view.

Speaking of the long view, we offer up a rumination by one Ray Lawson, a high school teacher for 60 years. Yes, you read that right, Ray taught high school for longer than I’ve been alive. Mostly in the same city as well. Meetings where we are excitedly debating the issue du jour will often find Ray rubbing his forehead. We’ve been here before, he will say, and it’s amazing how people who don’t know where they are going can end up back where they started. Sounds a trifle cynical I know, but I have the privilege of knowing Ray personally and, as you will see when you read his piece, he may have lost a little of his hair, and maybe a step or two over the years, but he never lost hope and he never lost the joy of being in the classroom. He is an inspiration to me and many other teachers here in Michigan, and if you run into him at a conference, buy him a beer and get him to tell you the story of how he taught a bunch of English students to dance.

Next up is Pat Graff who, in a very eloquently worded letter, reminds us that censorship issues often aren’t as simple as they may seem, and the censorship sword can cut both ways. As English teachers we can fall into the “us versus them” mindset, but as Ms. Graff’s heartfelt piece points out, like many things in life, just when you think you have it figured out, along comes the unexpected. Pat has been a member of SLATE for more than a decade and recently chaired the SLATE Nominationing Committee. She is a past member of the NCTE Executive Committee and has been teaching English and social studies for 29 years.

Speaking of censorship, Millie stops by with a status report on the state of the first amendment. Not the best it’s been. Groups who would impose their agenda on the public schools took a couple of hits in the last few months, the most noticeable being the Dover, Pennsylvania, decision on Intelligent Design, but they are by no means defeated and their attack is across the broad front of education. From Of Mice and Men to Walter The Farting Dog it seems there is no shortage of people ready to underestimate the intelligence and capabilities of children.

Finally I reflect on my state’s marriage with Achieve, Inc. Another helpful service provided by the business world to improve and enhance education in this country. With friends like these…