Frogging

It took a lot of thinking before I frogged a project for the first time.  For those of you who don’t knit, frogging means ripping out row after row of knitting…maybe even going back to the original yarn ball.   I’ve asked folks over the years how the process got the name and there is agreement that it’s because you are  going to “rip it, rip it”. (Even wikipedia offers this definition.)  Over the years I’ve been able to see things in the knitting process that I didn’t see as a beginner and even now I find that the more I knit the more I understand the process and what to look for in the details…though I still dreamily drop a stitch here and there.  Luckily I’m better at fixing the omissions along the way.

So, being terribly depressed by all of the flaming rhetoric on what’s wrong with education, I find myself wanting to find a way to “rip it, rip it”.  I want to rip away the uncivil talk that has permeated the bits and bytes dedicated to the topic in the past few years and start a row anew.  I want the fantastic teachers that I work with on a regular basis to feel the radiance of knowing that they are an important part of our society;  I want the students to know that their course through the formative years in schools are so important to our future that we will insure that they have the best teachers, the most creative and visionary leaders. and the most wonderful supplies and tools.  But what can I do to help make this a reality?  I find that I am feeling less and less motivated to do something….kind of like not wanting to get the half done sweater off the shelf to finish….but I know I must.  I have watched, taught, listened to teachers and worked with them for most of my life.  It’s a process I know better that knitting and I know there are many stitches that have been dropped…but it’s not too late.  You can frog anything and make it beautiful.. I’m going to start by supporting those teachers I work with.  I’m going to work with the students I can.  I’m going to become vocal about what we can do to make schools a place we are all proud of whether they are bricks and mortar, on the computer or in a field.  The saddest thing I read today was a blog by a sophomore who wrote that he can’t wait to be in the “real world”.   For teachers, students and all those who work in schools, I would hope that is the REAL world and not just a make=believe waiting room.