(1) The Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal should be one more nail in the coffin of high-stakes standardized testing, but it won’t be. I have seen everything from teachers’ unions* to desegregation** to parents blamed for the decline in American public education, but I still lay most of the blame at the feet of the Testing Über Alles mindset.

(2) I had the opportunity to audition for a Big Name Game Show! this week, so I drove up to Lexington, KY and used the opportunity to see some old friends and visit my Alma Mater. What a good trip! If you’re my friend on Facebook, you’ve probably seen the pictures. I may post some on here later. Thanks to Tom Musgrave and his lovely wife Julia for the room and board on Wednesday night.

(3) For unrelated reasons, I spent most of the week of July 4 up in Indiana visiting family. That was most relaxing as well, and the visit inspired Jawa Girl to come up with a new band name – Acidic Lard Water. (That’s why I married her, kids.)

*even though states with teachers’ unions invariably have stronger education systems and higher graduation rates – and yes, higher test scores – than nonunionized states.

**I actually can make this argument, but from the other side; when the schools were desegregated, many school districts here in the South intentionally let their public schools fall apart while the white kids were all whisked away to “private academies.” Anyone who says racism is dead need only read the comments to any blog post in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

WF