When I was a teacher, I used to love the period of time between when the state-mandated tests were over and the end of the school year. No longer held accountable to the standards of the state, (read: relegating at least a 25 minute block of time per class for multiple choice strategies and rote knowledge review) I was able to be more creative with my lessons, gearing them to more relevant topics than those included in the state mandated curriculum (which, shockingly do not focus too much on the hispanic or black experience in American History). There were some teachers, however, that viewed this precious amount of time as a precursor to summer break: a time for worksheets, meaningless projects and lax expectations. The students in these classrooms, in turn, considered their academic year 'over' and time that could have been spent learning and growing was spent wasted.
The Bush White House has taken the attitude of the undedicated classroom teacher. Coasting into lame duck statues, they are allowing the fight for the 44th president to overshadow their mediocre performance and lackluster dedication to domestic affairs as they struggle to leave some semblance of a 'legacy'. Headlines are grabbed by the latest, offensive off-the-cuff-remark from the Clinton or Obama camp while Bush's team attempts to keep him from saying any non scripted, as his off-the-cuff statements are those that usually end up in Bush-ism calendars.
Unfortunately, President Bush saw his greatest test to be that of September 11, however nonstandard that test may be. Since then he has been coasting, and it has taken a long time, inclusive of a reelection, for the American public to wise up and realize that they were being left behind from years of leadership's coasting.
The American public are sick of being left behind in the classroom of the Bush 43 years. They are cramming into the arenas and rallies of the new, more energized teachers that can change the face of America from Bush dismay into tomorrow's change. This election will continue to be a change election so long as 81% of the American public believes that this country is being set in the wrong direction of our current 'post test' president.
