Well, Teachers Have Been Profoundly Demoralized In

People Rarely Speak Of Children; You Hear Of 'cohort Groups' And 'standard Variations,' But You Don't Hear Much Of Boys Who Miss Their Cats Or 6-year-olds Who Have To Struggle With Potato Balls.

Young Children Give Us Glimpses Of Some Things That Are Eternal.

The First Ten, Twelve Or Fifteen Years Of Life Are Excavated Of Inherent Moral Worth In Order To Accommodate A Regimen Of Basic Training For The Adult Years That Many Of The Poorest Children May Not Even Live To Know.

There Is Something Deeply Hypocritical In A Society That Holds An Inner-city Child Only Eight Years Old "accountable" For Her Performance On A High-stakes Standardized Exam But Does Not Hold The High Officials Of Our Government Accountable For Robbing Her Of What They Gave Their Own Kids Six Or Seven Years Before.

False Hope Is Worse Than Despair.