A top headline in the news today is that the local schools performed to some degree with respect to an amorphous parameter, which, of course, can all be framed in a positive context.

One thing I dislike about school board meetings is the way they speak in the latest public school jingo, and everything and everybody is award-winning. Recently, a remedial English instructor informed me that half the teachers didn’t know how to use adverbs. She also shared that one technique she likes to use to teach reading comprehension is to ask students to draw a picture of the text.

Try that the next time you’re reading a government staff report, an economic development proposal, or even a legislative bill. As a theoretical mathematician by training, who only wanted to grow up to be a philosopher, I can respect the abstract. I just don’t know how to quantify it in taxable terms.

Now, back to the initial topic. Criminal and violent acts are reportedly up in local schools. Criminal has a definition, though we are not told if the acts led to arrests. Do violent acts in school include affronts like the infamous drawing of a picture of a gun or the similarly infamous toting of a one-inch-long GI Joe plastic gun to class? Not too long ago, four police officers were assigned to city council meetings after the mayor, an English major, allegedly received death threats.

I’m not saying that kids aren’t more disrespectful and unruly than they were a generation ago. I just don’t find a rate of undefined acts helpful. In summary, why am I rambling about rambling?