I mean, it's not everyday- but it's more frequent now than ever, that I feel a vibration of energy tickling my nerves calling me to wake up, to engage. If I feed it, it increases to a hunger to fight, to climb, to conquer, to learn, to know, to embrace, to swallow whole and then rest with the satiated appetite of nirvana.

Today however, this passion finds its origin in the bureaucratic anomalies of educational policy. So many delicious pieces, so many conflicting messages and missions, so many good intentions and so many bad.

There is the governor who appoints 9 members of the Board of Education. The Board of Education has committees and subcommittees on special education, education improvement, technology in the classrooms etc. Counties each have a School Board- but don't forget the Superintendent- aka the School God. District Improvement companies like CII, research institutions like IEC, private schools, alternative schools, teachers, counselors, psychologists, guidance personnel, scholarship funds, vocational avenues, college prep, reading specialists, speech specialists, behavioral specialists, curriculum development, principals, teacher improvement certifications, the National Education Association, licensure committees, (try to imagine the $$ behind each of these) all kinds of specialists, bus systems, after school programs, grants, athletic programs, music programs................. and that's all before we hit the Federal level of education- ALL of them are acting in the name of "helping the child, the individual student".

But which of them can tell you anything about that child? that one student? Do any of them know a child's favorite color? (Think middle or high school) Find me one of them that can tell you the child's fears about life, the child's enemies and friends. Education is about understanding, learning, growing. Who is spending time learning about the child? Understanding the student? Fostering growth in the areas that really matter?

The truth is that in all the hubbub of government, programs, funding, policy and associations- the child has been consumed by self-interested parties and used as political leverage for private agendas. No. Not everyone within these systems is exploiting the child for personal gain- but too many are, and WAY too many are contributing to the wreckage as unwitting accomplices.

More than ever before, children have information, knowledge at their fingertips. More than ever, sticking with the traditional way information is distributed stagnates the brain, curbs forward thinking and punishes original ideas.

I want to know. I want to know how Jane feels about school, if she understands why she is attending. I want to know if Joe feels like he can learn about things that are interesting to him, or if he feels safe. Does she know why we read this book? Does he know why we talk about minerals and stars? Does he WANT to talk about them? What DOES he want to talk about? I want to give Jane and Joe every piece of information, knowledge, insight, practice, talent and skill that their minds, their hearts crave. And I want everyone else to get out of the way.

I'm going to find out though. I'm going to find out who calls the shots- really calls the shots. And then, I'll know the truth. With that truth, I'm going to try and do something about this mess, so that someone, maybe even myself- can really be educated about Jane and Joe. If I educate myself about them, maybe then they'll feel an inkling of the same hunger- the hunger to know.