excellence

"An excellent plumber is infinitely more valuable than an incompetent philosopher. The society that scorns excellence in plumbing because plumbing is a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy. Neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water."--John Gardner, Excellence, 1961

Today I celebrate with thousands of other teachers across the US. No Child Left Behind Legislation is being radically altered by the current administration to allow the arts and history to be considered important components of school curriculum.