Monday Morning Headlines

As a kid, we drove down Central Avenue in Wichita all the time.  There was a Catholic High School there called Kapun.  My dad told me that it was named that after a Priest that died in Korea.   Not much was ever said that I heard.   Today, the paper had a good article that tells of his exploits and the announcement that he will be awarded the Medal of Honor.  As I read the story, I hoped that the previous recipients of the Medal feel like I do and they will be honored to have have Father Kapun in that august group.   He truly lived and died in the highest traditions of the Medal.    

Army Medal of Honor

One misconception is that the awarded persons  "wins the award."   The person is awarded the honor after he or she conspicuously  performs an act of that is above and beyond the normal scope of duty.  In the case of Father Kapun, he was captured by the North Koreans and died while administering to the soldiers in the camp.  The stories of his bravery and sacrifice brought tears to my eyes as I read the story this morning.   It has taken from the early 1950's to today to have his story brought forward.

As much as I have laughed at some of the antics the Kansas Congress has tried, they have at least done one thing right.  The other article in the paper was that the National testing caused by "No Child Left Behind" has finally been laid to rest.  I fully support the goal of having the best educational system we can have. I want every child to be given our best and I want there to be no child not provided our best.  With that said, there are kids that won't get it no matter ho much we give them and that isn't the fault of the schools.

There are homes across the Nation where the parents just don't give their children the support to help them learn.  If the parents buy computers games for the kids to play and don't stress reading they will not be as successful as children that read and learn at every opportunity. 

Barbara was a Special education teacher for a lot of years and I saw how hard she worked to help those kids do their best.   She tested each child and from the results built an individual education plan for them.  I saw the results of her hard work and saw many of her kids go on and do well in school.  I remember one year when she was so proud of one of her students when they passed the State Assessment.  

So, every once in a while there are articles to make my day and today there were two.  

MUD