And, I digress...

While I want to stay focused on business issues in this blog, it will often come up that inputs to business behavior are far beyond day-to-day retail, wholesale or distribution processes. Utimately, the whole thing revolves around human behavior and that is what makes it really interesting.

So, on with the fun.

Last night was "back to school night" for my eighth grade son. My normal cynicism aside, I have to say that I was VERY impressed. Typically, I consider the public school system to be far more an indoctrination than education. However, the group of individuals who will be instructing my son this year are an amazing bunch, and I couldn't be more pleased. I feel very fortunate to be living in this area and have the opportunity to send my son to this particular school. Having been with this school from its inception, I credit its differentiation to its founding principal and her educational philosophy.

Some notable observations:

• His math teacher for Honors Algebra is nothing short of absolutely engaging. She is bright eyed, energetic, obviously loves what she is doing and shows it.
• His Social Studies instructor is hilarious. It was more like watching a stand-up than a typical eighth grade U.S. History instructor. My boy has indicated a great deal of respect for his teaching ability, and humor, and I couldn't agree more.
• English is being taught as a holistic curriculum with an eye toward the importance of vocabulary, grammar and structure as a means to more effectively communicate within our species. ;-)
• Every teacher, including his P.E. teacher stressed the importance of personal (pet peeve: they called it responsibility when they actually meant accountability) responsibility. They reminded the parents that all required information was posted on web-sites, boards within the class, etc. and that if a child was absent, that child was accountable for the class/home work completion and to seek the teacher out for any make-up tests or quizzes.

Overall, I couldn't have been more impressed, nor happier about eighth grade for my son. In spite of himself, he is enjoying school and learning. And, as for me, I've become just a little less cynical regarding our public edudoctrination system.