2006.10.05: October 5, 2006: Headlines: Speaking Out: Education: Wayland Town Crier & Tab: Gary Burton writes: I am an unabashed admirer of Peace Corps volunteers. I like what they do, and more importantly, I like their attitudes toward solving problems and overcoming seemingly impossible challenges
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2006.10.05: October 5, 2006: Headlines: Speaking Out: Education: Wayland Town Crier & Tab: Gary Burton writes: I am an unabashed admirer of Peace Corps volunteers. I like what they do, and more importantly, I like their attitudes toward solving problems and overcoming seemingly impossible challenges
Gary Burton writes: I am an unabashed admirer of Peace Corps volunteers. I like what they do, and more importantly, I like their attitudes toward solving problems and overcoming seemingly impossible challenges
"Unlike others, Peace Corps volunteers, when faced with adversity, are not easily discouraged. I'm told there is a reason for this. The Peace Corps, as an organization, conscientiously seeks out individuals who literally and figuratively see a partly filled glass of water as half full, not half empty. Those who select new volunteers choose only recruits who are naturally optimistic about life. Given the jobs that most Peace Corps volunteers will be assigned, no time, money or energy is wasted training pessimists."
Gary Burton writes: I am an unabashed admirer of Peace Corps volunteers. I like what they do, and more importantly, I like their attitudes toward solving problems and overcoming seemingly impossible challenges
Burton: Optimism goes a long way
By Gary Burton/ Your Public Schools
Thursday, October 5, 2006
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times ...."
Charles Dickens couldn't have possibly been referring to the year 2006 when in 1859 he penned this opening sentence in "A Tale of Two Cities." Still, his observation seems unusually appropriate when commenting on life in many U.S. communities today.
One needn't speak with many people, listen to the nightly news, or read the local newspaper for very long before realizing that, for many, these are troubling times. The war, threats of terrorism, and the bird flu are all unsettling. The local economy, while not terrible, is certainly not good. Across our nation, too many Main Street shops stand vacant, and in many regions real estate isn't selling. Many working Americans are nervous about losing their jobs, while retirees worry openly about vanishing pensions and outliving their resources.
For many families, young and old alike, the rising cost of health insurance and/or the expense of their children's college education are disconcerting. The whole country, it seems, is encountering a multitude of problems that it hasn't faced in a long time - if ever!
According to some, America's public schools are certainly not immune to these uncertainties. Numerous educational reports and some very knowledgeable people claim that too many schools are failing in their attempts to educate children. These are difficult times for public schools, and unfortunately, for our children and grandchildren as well.
At the other end of the spectrum, opportunities abound for some people - entrepreneurs, educators, inventors, students, and virtually anyone who has an interest in a particular idea, business, school or community. Yes, the times are troublesome, but the opportunities to bring about positive change, to get involved and make things better, to clean up the environment, to help your neighbors, to improve an individual school, or to use newer technologies to perform a task or enhance a service are almost unlimited. For people who are willing and able to meet today's challenges, these may well be the best of times.
I am an unabashed admirer of Peace Corps volunteers. I like what they do, and more importantly, I like their attitudes toward solving problems and overcoming seemingly impossible challenges. Unlike others, Peace Corps volunteers, when faced with adversity, are not easily discouraged. I'm told there is a reason for this. The Peace Corps, as an organization, conscientiously seeks out individuals who literally and figuratively see a partly filled glass of water as half full, not half empty. Those who select new volunteers choose only recruits who are naturally optimistic about life. Given the jobs that most Peace Corps volunteers will be assigned, no time, money or energy is wasted training pessimists.
The tasks confronting most volunteers are, without exception, overwhelming. Many people, realizing the magnitude of the challenges in a village hamlet of a developing nation, would probably shake their heads and walk away. Peace Corps volunteers, first by aptitude and then with appropriate training, optimistically tackle one seemingly impossible challenge after another. I suspect that for these volunteers, the opportunity to improve lives makes these the best of times.
In 2006, our nation's public schools are faced with numerous challenges and a seemingly endless list of unmet expectations - No Child Left Behind and Adequate Yearly Progress, student safety and wellness, shifting academic priorities, and rising school expenses. Calls for greater academic and fiscal accountability, user fees, and even the privatization of entire public school systems are heard repeatedly in cities and towns across the country.
In some locations, educational problems are so serious that Teach for America, a program much like the Peace Corps, has been established for chronically under-performing school systems.
Do all schools need Peace Corps-type volunteers? No. In fact, most public schools, including ours, are running smoothly and doing exactly what they were designed to do. Still, in 2006, significant changes are taking place inside most schools. For reasons that are primarily financial, schools that served generations of citizens well may not be capable of maintaining the same level of service in the years to come.
If this is true, then local residents must actively come together to confront the challenges of redefining and redesigning their local schools. To do this successfully, this task must be undertaken optimistically and by residents of all ages and backgrounds.
Personally, I'm convinced that in the years ahead opportunities will abound for those who want to help change and improve our public schools. The work ahead may be daunting, but for our children and grandchildren's sakes, we must believe that these are the best of times.
Do you agree? I'd really like to know.
Gary Burton is the superintendent of the Wayland Public Schools.
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Headlines: October, 2006; Speaking Out; Education
When this story was posted in December 2006, this was on the front page of PCOL:
Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
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Monthly readership on "Peace Corps Online" has increased in the past twelve months to 350,000 visitors - over eleven thousand every day - a 100% increase since this time last year. Thanks again, RPCVs and Friends of the Peace Corps, for making PCOL your source of information for the Peace Corps community. And thanks for supporting the Peace Corps Library and History of the Peace Corps. Stay tuned, the best is yet to come. |
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PCOL is proud to announce that Phase One of the "History of the Peace Corps" is now available online. This installment includes over 5,000 pages of primary source documents from the archives of the Peace Corps including every issue of "Peace Corps News," "Peace Corps Times," "Peace Corps Volunteer," "Action Update," and every annual report of the Peace Corps to Congress since 1961. "Ask Not" is an ongoing project. Read how you can help. |
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Story Source: Wayland Town Crier & Tab
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Speaking Out; Education
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