A welcome, an introduction, and an education story
Welcome all. Let me begin with a huge thanks to the friendly folks at the Arkansas Times for allowing me the opportunity to blog on their website.
My plan for this space is to link to articles in the many wonderful newspapers across Arkansas. I hope to have this blog serve as a one-stop-shop to Arkansas newspapers (kind of like a Get-n-Go or a Toot-and-Moo). My general thesis is that with the absence of competitive state-wide newspapers in Arkansas, there are many great Arkansas stories flying under the radar and totally unnoticed by a larger state-wide audience. Yes yes, I know: most Arkasas papers are rual. But news coverage in rural papers is not entirely composed of social pieces about visiting relatives and photos of the local school’s honor role students. There is a good bit of this that still exists mind you—and it’s a lot of fun to read—but there are also very substantive articles in these papers that I think will be of great interest to the readers of this blog.
With more and more Arkies moving to town (meaning Jonesboro, Mountain Home, Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, Fort Smith, Little Rock, Hot Springs and El Dorado) the contrast between “rural” values and “urban” values increasingly comes into play. As an example of this I offer the Lakeview School funding case and the fall-out from it. I continually hear my friends in Central Arkansas noting the obvious economies-of-scale to be had from consolidating resources and facilities as irrefutable proof for the consolidation of rural schools. In contrast, I hear my friends and family in Northeast Arkansas telling me that this is an attack upon the rural way-of-life. As a product of a small town, I understand the concern of rural folks. The fabric of many rural communities is held together by their local school system. However, as a resident of Conway, I've seen how important an excellent school system is to our state's economic development. In the end, I’m of the opinion that it’s possible for us to provide an excellent education to our rural communities. I’m not sure we are willing to pay for it, but it’s certainly possible. I believe that the question we must ask ourselves is this: what level of rural life are we prepared to pay to protect in lieu of our duty to provide an EXCELLENT education to our kids?
So as my inaugural story, I do hereby link to an education article from the Forrest City Times Herald, where they contemplate the merits of allowing parents to opt-out of an advanced curriculum for their school-age children. Is this an example of parental control run amuck? As a product of a rural school where teachers encouraged me to take vocational training instead of College prep courses, I can't tell you how scary this program is to me. That being said, what do you think? Where do we draw the line between the larger interest we have as a state in a student’s education and a parent’s right to choose the course of their child’s future? I look forward to your comments.
http://www.thnews.com/article.php?id=420
AGW
agweeks@ualr.edu
My plan for this space is to link to articles in the many wonderful newspapers across Arkansas. I hope to have this blog serve as a one-stop-shop to Arkansas newspapers (kind of like a Get-n-Go or a Toot-and-Moo). My general thesis is that with the absence of competitive state-wide newspapers in Arkansas, there are many great Arkansas stories flying under the radar and totally unnoticed by a larger state-wide audience. Yes yes, I know: most Arkasas papers are rual. But news coverage in rural papers is not entirely composed of social pieces about visiting relatives and photos of the local school’s honor role students. There is a good bit of this that still exists mind you—and it’s a lot of fun to read—but there are also very substantive articles in these papers that I think will be of great interest to the readers of this blog.
With more and more Arkies moving to town (meaning Jonesboro, Mountain Home, Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, Fort Smith, Little Rock, Hot Springs and El Dorado) the contrast between “rural” values and “urban” values increasingly comes into play. As an example of this I offer the Lakeview School funding case and the fall-out from it. I continually hear my friends in Central Arkansas noting the obvious economies-of-scale to be had from consolidating resources and facilities as irrefutable proof for the consolidation of rural schools. In contrast, I hear my friends and family in Northeast Arkansas telling me that this is an attack upon the rural way-of-life. As a product of a small town, I understand the concern of rural folks. The fabric of many rural communities is held together by their local school system. However, as a resident of Conway, I've seen how important an excellent school system is to our state's economic development. In the end, I’m of the opinion that it’s possible for us to provide an excellent education to our rural communities. I’m not sure we are willing to pay for it, but it’s certainly possible. I believe that the question we must ask ourselves is this: what level of rural life are we prepared to pay to protect in lieu of our duty to provide an EXCELLENT education to our kids?
So as my inaugural story, I do hereby link to an education article from the Forrest City Times Herald, where they contemplate the merits of allowing parents to opt-out of an advanced curriculum for their school-age children. Is this an example of parental control run amuck? As a product of a rural school where teachers encouraged me to take vocational training instead of College prep courses, I can't tell you how scary this program is to me. That being said, what do you think? Where do we draw the line between the larger interest we have as a state in a student’s education and a parent’s right to choose the course of their child’s future? I look forward to your comments.
http://www.thnews.com/article.php?id=420
AGW
agweeks@ualr.edu
Comments
Adam, great idea. When I was a college journalism student, I had a work/study job for two summers requiring me to read every newspaper in Arkansas, weekly. I think I was performing a clip service to note when these papers mentioned the University of Arkansas or picked up the stories disseminated by the University News Service.
I found it fascinating. It really didn't take long to find all the pick-ups of our stories (after all, we knew where the UNS sent them) so I had plenty of time to enjoy the flavor of each individual newspaper. I mentally divided them into two categories: those papers that did print large, dead snakes and oddly-shaped vegetables, and those that did not.
While mentally vowing to aspire to work for a paper that did NOT print snakes, I still very much enjoyed finding the photos of the whoppers. The standard measure of snake length was not the yardstick or tape measure, but the tailgate of a pick-up. You knew it was a big 'un when the head AND tail hung over either end of the tailgate. I gave extra points for including the dog who helped the shooter get the snake.
Let me stipulate that I did not look down on the papers who published snake photos - they were in many cases printing the biggest news story in town that week. I just didn't want to work for one. For one thing, I'd be working where I had to fear monster snakes!
I also enjoyed the small "community news" columns published weekly, invariably written by older ladies. One week, Mrs. Thus-and-so crossed the road to visit Mrs. So-and-thus for iced tea and pie. The next week, the recriprocal visit was noted. Brides were showered, babies christened, deaths of former residents were noted. Keen and interesting news indeed for a select group of readers. Today, they'd blog, I guess.
I enjoyed those newspaper. I hope Arkansas' rural papers still present that sort of flavor. They really were serving their own specific readership. If you run onto any good snake pictures, I hope you'll post them. I'll be reading.
Posted by: mag | September 26, 2006 06:36 PM
Mag:
Thanks for sharing. I'll be sure and keep a look-out for any snake pictures. I'm with you though. I can't stand snakes. I have a visceral reaction to them; I think its in my bones.
I am limited, unfortunately, to the Arkansas papers that are online and listed at the webpage linked to my name below. So by all means, if you-or anyone else for that matter-finds a great story in a local paper that is not online, please do scan and send it. I'll be more than happy to post it.
Walnut Ridge Arkansas is my home town, where I grew up reading the Times Dispatch. It is a wonderful paper published by John Bland. In fact, John is a third generatioin publisher of the Times. The paper really is a family affair. John's wife Renee works for the paper. As does John's mother Virginia. As a further testiment to the family atmosphere of the paper, there are three employees that have been with the paper over 30 years. Folks that's nothing short of amazing.
I have found memories of reading the "and a good time was had by all" section. That's what I call it. You know the drill: "Ruth and Roger Anderson of Walnut Ridge received their son Adam Weeks and their granddaughter Clementine Weeks into their home this past weekend. They attended the Portia Picnic Friday evening, had Banana Splits at the Polar Freeze Saturday afternoon, attended church at First United Methodist Sunday morning and all reports indicate that a good time was had by all." That's my best imitation. I don't do it justice. The pieces are always written in that beautiful country elegance you just can't fake. Oh, and the best part is: you don't usually know how the paper found out about such visits; it's just the nature of livin' in a small town. Folks just know things.
Posted by: Adam Weeks | September 26, 2006 10:35 PM
as a parent, i am very concerned about the loss of childhood. we expect so much from our children, and i can see the stress in my six year old as he does his homework every night. how important is early education? i never went to kindergarten... and in 1st grade, my dad was murdered so i missed nearly half the year. my mom pressured the school to pass me on... they did. i was behind until 9th grade. i barely made it through each year, and should have flunked most. i worked in a factory after highschool, and realized i wanted more. i joined the army and in there, i was at the top of my class. so in spite of a horrible education in grades 1-12 i was successful in the army... after, i started college in a community collegte, after two years i earned a scholarship to uca. i graduated from there. i was dumb as a rock for my first 17 years, and my grades reflected that.... i went from that background to where i am now.... so how does one account for that? i want my children to enjoy their time as children. i feel that arkansas' place in the educational spectrum of america has brought upon our law makers an unnecessary need to over compensate, and i think they are forcing these improvements more to make themselves look better than for our children. i want my children to be happy, and i want them to be comfortable within themselves. i refuse to push them into some educational competition because i feel it would only be detrimental to them. they will come into their own at their own pace. i would rather have them playing in a treehouse than reading a book. let them be children and they will be ok.
hi adam.
Posted by: kevin c. | September 26, 2006 11:53 PM