I want to point out a couple of passages that I think are worth mentioning (emphasis mine). The Preamble of the US Constitution:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

The Congressional oath of office:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.

The Presidential oath of office:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

The Constitution of these United States is only as strong as those defending it. And when money can buy off the Constitution our trust in this government ends. SOPA and PIPA are full scale assaults aimed at purchasing the Preamble to the Constitution and Chris Dodd’s blatant bribe money is an indication that we are no longer afraid to even have the perception of bastardizing the Constitution for our own personal gain.

On the heals of Chris Dodd’s, the MPAA’s and RIAA’s blatant destruction of the Constitution, the Administration was rebuffed by the Supreme Court, denied the ability to place a GPS tracking system on a vehicle without a warrant. The Obama Administration defended this action, which was clearly a direct assault on the Fourth Amendment.

At what point do we recognize that our government — Presidents, Senators and Congressman — is no longer upholding their oaths of office, the sworn statement to defend this nation from threats and uphold the Constitution? The oaths don’t say uphold the Constitution from threats but only if they don’t pay well. It says all threats, foreign and domestic.

We have lost our trust in our government to do what is right. This is a very precarious position. And if We The People don’t take back government by exercising our Constitutional right of voting this trash out of office and fixing the Constitution so money can’t own our government, then we are as complicit as they are.

These are the education issues and trends I see impacting the publishing industry [1]. They know it, we know it, our schools know it. Something needs to change. I am excited to hear what Apple and the publishing industry announce. I’m sure I will write more on the topic later:

• A text book costs around $200 a piece and weighs as much as a Volkswagon Bug. Each student needs 5-7 of these, at least, per year. They must store them and carry them. In the case of colleges, students must afford them. In the case of middle and high schools, the schools must.
• The content of the average text book is written for the state standards of Texas, California and New York. This both enlarges the books to cover multiple state standards and makes parts of the books unusable by 47 states whose standards are not covered.
• For the first time, investors are seeing education companies as a money-making play.
• Computers in K-12 primarily sit in a corner, mostly unused, but kids today are born with a mouse (or touch device) in their hands.
• School budgets are being decimated. We could argue about this one all day, whether it is overspending when times were good, too much administration, excessive assessment. It doesn’t matter. School budgets are decimated. And this is causing a complete re-prioritization about what public education mean.
• The ranks of those being educated outside of formal education is growing exponentially. When I started in education, around 2002, there was about one million home schooled kids. Last I saw numbers, around 2007, we were near two million. That has only grown in the past five years.
• The only class that requires a computer is high school math. Everyone carries a TI and they cost around $100. For $100 more, one can buy a Kindle Fire tablet computer or an iPod touch. If it wasn’t for the College Board propping up TI, their education division wouldn’t exist today.
• All of the money being pumped into education doesn’t seem to be making the situation any better. And we all agree that the key to US success is to have better schools.
• Everyone in print media has watched what happened to the newspaper industry and are deathly afraid of what happens next.

I had a bunch of things I wanted to write about this week but I just don’t feel like it. I lost a family member last Thursday, my cat Morning. It has been a sad weekend knowing he is gone. If you are so inclined to read on, please do.

Elia

—

Twelve and a half years ago, in the fall of 1999, a little kitten showed up on my front door step. We had just moved into Grant Street about 6 months before. I had no idea where he had come from (or even that he was a he). He was so young he didn’t meow yet. Just a little, throaty croak to tell you that he was there.

At first, for a few weeks, I wouldn’t feed him or let him inside. After a few weeks, the weather started changing so I brought him some food. And a week or so after that he started coming in the house. Where did he come from? We soon thereafter found out that Morning was bought at a pet store by the strange neighbors in the rental house next door. The neighbors named him. They thought he was a girl and would make a fine lap cat. Boy, were they wrong on both accounts.

The relationship with Morning remained that way until the summer of 2000 when we found out the neighbors were moving. We were going to ask but the neighbors had already offered. Morning came to live with us full-time.

Live with us “full-time” is a funny thing to say about Morning, though. He never was much of an indoor cat, especially at night. Sure, he would come in when he wanted food or a cool place to sleep, but for the most part Morning preferred being outside. We would find him sleeping on the patio furniture, under the roof tucked up against the house in the bark dust, on the skylight (nothing weirder than seeing a cat staring down at you), under the Japanese maples in the front, and when it was cold on the heating ducts into the house (our furnace was outside). Even though we brushed him regularly, that long fur of his would get knotted together in the winter so badly we would practically have to shave him naked in the spring. And every morning he would drag an assortment of bark dust and slugs and worms and bugs into the house that had nestled in his fur at night to keep warm. (When I say every morning, by the way, I mean it. By 7am every day Morning was at the back door waiting to come in to get some breakfast.)

The rest of the time he disappeared into the neighborhood. I came to call him the Godfather because, for a while there, we would see him patrolling a three-house radius with other neighborhood cats coming up to talk to him, giving him the latest scoop, we imagined, on a rival gang. And like any good cat mafia member, he got in his share of scrapes.

We tried to keep him inside sometimes at night but there was no winning that fight. He would cry all night and if you didn’t react, he would mark his territory even though he was neutered. One time he peed in the heel of one of my flip flops so perfectly that he didn’t leave a single splash on the ground around it. He had a way of telling you when he wasn’t happy. Even when we would leave on vacation, Morning would be content outside with a big bowl of food and Greg across the street keeping an eye on him. He’d be perfectly fine for the week (although he would torture us endlessly when we got home, walking around the house crying for no reason, crying to go out, crying to come in).

In the evenings Morning would love to climb on my lap and get scratched behind the ears or under the chin. Sometimes, if he was really happy, he would drool up a storm. When he was young he loved to hide under the bed and attack your feet when you walked by. A few times he would climb on the bed when we were asleep, ever so gently, and touch his nose to yours. He only did that a couple of times, though, as he kept finding himself clear across the room after doing it.

He slowed as he got older, lost his Godfather street-cred, lost his ability to jump up on the couch, but he never lost his zeal for the outdoors. Even after he was hit by the car one and a half years ago, only making it with a surgery and a few weeks in the hospital. He was supposed to stay inside for two weeks. He made it three days. (Although afterward he was a lot more affectionate, clearly realizing we saved his life.)

We were worried about him and the move to the new house. The old neighborhood was his neighborhood for twelve years of his life. But he adjusted very quickly to the new circumstances. We tried to keep him in at night but again he rebelled so we let him out again. He really loved the new doggy door that let him come and go as he pleased. At first he didn’t wander as much, preferring to stay in the backyard or sit on the fence and watch out into the field behind the house. (He wasn’t much of a birder or mouser but he loved sitting under the bird feeder, making little kitty noises as he murmured at the birds overhead.) Eventually we would find him exploring the front yard and he kept coming home all banged up, a scratch here, a little blood there. He even had a couple of abscesses that just didn’t want to heal.

One night about three in the morning, shortly after we moved in, Grace our dog started going crazy in her kennel and Morning started moaning outside. I let Grace out and she charged toward the front fence. Morning went the other way, cowering under some plants and eventually getting over his fear enough to come inside for the rest of the night. There are coyotes, foxes and bobcats all over up here. There are even pumas in the more sparse areas. We are guessing one of those spooked him.

Maybe he should have remembered the fear some animal put in him that night, but it didn’t work. His nature was to wander and that’s what he did, definitely traveling north of our house, past the neighbor’s, closer to where coyotes and bobcats are known to live. It was probably inevitable that he would disappear eventually.

And three nights ago he did.

In the end he left as he came: mysteriously, one day. And after knowing him for all of his life and one-third of mine, I think that’s exactly how he would have wanted it.

My eldest daughter started Kindergarten today. Laura is an exceedingly bright child who couldn’t be more excited about going to school. She is a fast study, has a strong memory and makes friends easily. I think she will do well both academically and socially.

This past year, my wife and I have made a number of very conscious decisions regarding our childrens’ educations. We considered and applied to a well respected private school but had decided, before she was wait listed, that it wasn’t the place we wanted her to go. At the same time we sold our house and moved to a better school district with a very well regarded public elementary school. She just left for her first day a half hour ago.

School has been a topic of conversation for the two of us ever since we had kids. My wife  is a retired elementary school teacher and I spent five years working with middle schools and high schools in math education. Each of us has a unique view of both the academic world and the business world.

As we have thought about this day, we have come to realize that the modern public education system, as it is today and will likely be over the next twenty years, is not a bad system. It does some things well and some things poorly. Most importantly, though, it must be treated as one piece of the puzzle. Unlike my parents generation Esther and I can’t drop our kids off in the morning, pick them up in the evening, and expect them to receive the breadth of education required to be productive members of society. We need to take charge. We need to be actively involved. And we need to make sure that what they aren’t getting in the classroom they are still getting.

This is a responsibility I am happy to hold.