In Love

Be still my heart. When George Stephanopoulos announced he would be leaving This Week for Good Morning America I was devastated.  Almost as much as when Alison Becker was replaced on VH1 Top 20 Countdown.  But my heart started to beat slightly when it was announced that Christiane Amanpour would be new the host.  This morning it was full on pitter pat when the topic was the Race to the Top and her guests included none other than Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education and Jamie Oliver, host of Food Revolution.  She had me at, "Today we'll be discussing improving America's Education System."  I've always been a one issue girl politically and when my favorite Sunday morning news highlights my one issue it's hard to stay miffed.  Now I'll be late for church, but I'll still be wondering about performance pay, and what I can do personally for my school.  I'll also be googling Finland to check out what they've got going on -- my guess, small class sizes, quality early childhood education, arts instruction by qualified individuals, and a system for dealing with misbehaviors in the classroom.  Oh yeah, and parent involvement accompanied with respect for education.  Not just respect for educators, but truly people who see education as a step up.  This is something we are seriously lacking in America.  If we're serious about improving education, we have to put our money where our mouth is and vote for politicians who will do it.  Take that Jeb Bush -- class size doesn't matter?  Try and teach 25 2nd graders how to play a 15 minute math game by yourself in 100 degree temperatures at 2:00p.m., while an autistic child makes bird calls in the background and tell me that class size doesn't matter.  Go ahead, tell me.