Early accomplishments

Miles, following in his older brother’s footsteps, was officially recognized as an Eagle Scout this week. This grandpa could not be more proud.

Only 10 short years ago Miles began his Scouting adventures:

My “involvement” with both Paul and MIles membership in Scouts began when I called to ask my daughter if a certain weekend in early November was a good time to come to their home in the Kansas City area for a visit. “Awww, Dad,” she said, “that happens to be the weekend of the joint Boy Scout/Cub Scout campout that I will be helping with… Say, YOU wouldn’t want to be the boys’ chaperone that weekend instead of me?” Much to her relief, I said yes.

Thus began a multi-year annual event of going with Paul and MIles to a camp where the Boy Scouts provided a camping experience, activities, and food for the Cub Scouts in their area. We shot bows and arrows, threw axes, did compass navigation, cooked over open fires, and had evening campfires of ceremony and song. Miles and I usually shared a tent - I remember waking up in the middle of the night and not finding Miles or his sleeping bag beside me! It took a few seconds to realize he and the bag had scooted to the very bottom of the tent where he was curled into a little bundle.

Over the years, both boys made solid progress in achieving Scout goals - ranks, merit badges, leadership positions, and Order of the Arrow awards. They went to camp each summer. They participated in Boundary Water Canoe trips and hiking adventures including Philmont and Rocky Mountain National Park.

I would like to think these early accomplishments have given these two young men the mindset that they are capable of accomplishing challenging goals. Caring parents, good health, strong values, and superior intelligence are a dealt-hand that all children should be able to play for a long and fulfilling life. Paul and MIles experience with the Scouts is just one more card in that winning hand.

Oh, I was also a Scout in my misspent youth. I never made it to Eagle but as I once reflected…

… Boy Scouts did teach me a lot that I still value. I learned that a little hardship while camping or hiking is survivable and makes a good story. I learned that good people always leave a campsite better than they found it - and that perhaps we should all leave the world a little better place as well. The laws of Scouting “A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent” are still my moral compass, even if I can no longer recite them from memory.

I'm glad I retired when I did

Once upon a time, there were fairies, knights in shining armor, Amazonian warriors, and dragons - and places where being a school technology director was really fun and rewarding. I remember those mythical years quite well.

I have now been retired for nearly four years and when I see headlines like the one above, I feel lucky to have left the profession when I did. Remote learning over the past couple of years must have placed a huge amount of pressure on technology departments nation-wide. Security concerns were real and growing. Technology, what had once been a wonderful, exciting enhancement to F2F instruction in K-12 schools, suddenly became universal and mission-critical. 

1991,after teaching 14 years in the classroom and building level libraries, I became the “AV coordinator” for Mankato schools which at the time had an enrollment of about 7000 students and about a dozen school buildings. To the duties of the retiring AV guy (running a film library, supervising the AV equipment technician, and developing B&W film), I was given the task of being library supervisor. Oh, and the half-time math teacher, half-time computer tech was also thrown in my department, much to his dismay. 

This was all in the early 1990s and we all know what happened in the following years - computers, networking, information systems, and that new thingie call the Internet exploded. We put computers on all teachers’ desks and gave training on how to use AppleWorks. We helped teachers get email addresses and use gradebook software. Soon the student information system, now networked throughout our buildings and district, didn’t just allow, but required that all teachers use their computer to report attendance and submit grades. 

That was the start of when being a tech director started to become serious - when technology was not just a nice extra, but a vital component of a well-run school district. When the tech didn’t work, neither could the humans in the district. Tech directors now had to be able to communicate effectively with other administrators about why a good budget which afforded redundancy, adequacy, security, and replacement was essential.

For the most part, however, I loved my job. New and exciting tools were available almost every year and there were alway technophiles in the teaching ranks who were eager to try them out. My staffing levels, budgets, responsibilities (and salary) grew. And for the most part, I really liked my staff and co-administrators.

But over the final few years, the problems surrounding the financing of “redundancy, security, adequacy, and replacement” overshadowed the excitement of the new, even as we rolled out Chromebooks for every student. Expectations, accountability, and managerial tasks leeched the educational aspects out of the job.

The news story above made me shiver remembering an incident when our student information system went down for a few days. School went on, but I was quite certain that my boss was going to put a hit out on me. Having increasing expectations of an already overworked staff was not a pleasure. 

So in 2019, after 28 years in this exciting field and at 67 years of age, I willingly stepped away, happily knowing that younger, brighter, more enthusiastic leaders would easily fill my shoes. (And they have.) 

There seems to be a worker shortage in many, many fields today - especially in education. Are others leaving the field as the joy of education is replaced by exceptional expectations? 

Disengaging from the news

I find myself skipping a lot of articles as I read the newspapers each morning. I don’t read news from social media. I even turn off NPR now and again as the news stories become redundant. I don’t have cable TV and I mostly watch the streamed local newscast just for the weather.

Am I becoming a less caring person in my old age by disengaging from national and international news?

Part of my disengagement is made easier by the sheer repetitiveness of mass media. Just how many stories about new military actions in Ukraine do I want to read? How many shootings in Minneapolis should draw my eye? How many idiotic things said by Trump, Greene, or Santos should I spend time engaging with? Should I be tracking daily the rise and fall of COVID cases, stock market changes, or legislative actions (or inactions)? How important is it that I, as a Minnesotan, should be watching weather events in California?

OK, for the people directly involved, most of these are things they should be well aware of. As they impact me or those about whom I care, now or in the future, I should maintain factual awareness, if for no other reason than to help inform my vote in the next political cycle. But am I an unfeeling thoughtless human for just skimming the headlines and not reading every paragraph of every story?

One concept that may apply to what one should read is the relationship between one’s “Circle of Influence” and “Circle of Concern” described by Stephen Covey in his book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Most people’s Circle of Concern is far larger than their Circle of Influence. (I am concerned about global warming, but my ability to stop it is relatively small.) Covey states, “Proactive people focus their efforts in the Circle of Influence. They work on the things they can do something about.” Should this advice also apply to what one spends time in information gathering?

Perhaps “disengagement” is not a fault, but a strength. Why waste one’s time and emotions on things which one can do little about, have little impact on one’s life, that have no purpose but to rile the masses?

I will probably read the daily newspaper on my deathbed if newspapers still exist. I will keep listening to NPR news until my children take away my car keys. But I will continue to be selective about what I spend my time trying to comprehend.