Update on Pumkins and Other Stuff!

It’s been a while since I have written much. I hope there are at least a few of you out there still checking the page to see what is happening in the Robinson world.

To begin with, I know some of you are probably wondering what all went on at the high school this past week. To be honest, I don’t feel comfortable speaking much about anything that has not been reported, so first off let me link to the Register News site so you can read all the stories about the incident.

http://www.register-news.com/

When I saw the incident occurring, I went to help. I felt that our staff, administration, and police department did an excellent job of ending the incident before anyone got seriously hurt. The following link will take you to some pictures posted on the Register-News forum after the incident had been dealt with:

http://community.cnhi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/231104611/m/8931056301/p/2

It all made me think about the type of environment we have in which we send our kids to school. Public education must accept ALL students. It accepts those who were brought up with guidance and direction from a good mother and father, as well as those who live in much less fortunate circumstances. Public education takes both the rich kids and the poor kids. The state says that even if you have been in trouble with the law, or have anger management issues, or behavioral problems, you are still entitled to an education.

For most of my life, it has always been my opinion that this is how it should be. Now that I am a parent, I find myself revisiting my thoughts. I find myself asking, “Do I want to send my children through public education?” Of course I won’t answer that question today, and I don’t need to yet. But what I do know is that I would like to see definite reform in public education. The “one-size-fits-all” style of learning is not working. Recently I had an upperclassman tell me, “Mr. Robinson, I don’t have hardly any credits. Why am I here?” To be honest, I wondered the same question. This young man is very troubled, and at one point he told me he thought he would end up in prison. I see no way he can graduate. I told him he needs to stay in school and learn what he can so he can pass the GED, and then perhaps get into college or find a good job or think about the military. I explained to him that the choices he made that got him to his bad decision did not happen overnight, and it will take time for him to get back on track. I gave him the nice motivational speech, but in the end I thought to myself, “What would I do in his situation?” And honestly I’m not sure. I hope he makes it, but the statistics are not too good for him.

So what is the answer? For me it is to do the best I can to make a difference, and then wait and see what happens. Things need to get better!

Turning to a different subject now—it has been a long time since I reported on the progress of my pumpkins. You might remember that I planted them way to late, but was hoping that by some chance they would produce pumpkins before Halloween. Below are a few pictures of where they are at. They will have to grow a lot to make it, but the race is now on!