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So.
The title of my little bloggerinsky here can be attributed to our most intelligent and rad 43rd President of the United States of America.
Biiig surprise there, right?
As I work hard to teach my students correct grammar each day, I still can't help but wonder how someone who was running our COUNTRY could make such a silly mistake.  I am proud to say that my students would never dream of asking such a poorly worded question.

For those of you who have blacked those years from your memories... here's a refresher:

"Rarely is the question asked; is our children learning?"

Now. I use this for many reasons.  Partly because I have found that be in education, you need to be able to laugh.  Otherwise, ya just won't cut it. Ever.
But also, I think it brings up a really interesting point about education and educational policy.

I would LOVE to sit down with W. and ask him who the subject of this question really is.  WHO isn't asking this question?  Because, I know that this is ALL I think about. Every single minute of my day. I have nightmares regarding this question (these nightmares are TWOFOLDLY related: I fear that my students will one day ask stupidly worded questions such as this, negating the countless games and lessons we've had on grammar, but more importantly is the fear that I am actually not teaching them anything.)
What the hell is the point of teaching but to teach kids.  In theory, in order for their to be teaching, there will also be learning.

But, there are many teachers, who like me, have severe panic attacks over teaching.  Those of us who feel this way, spend hours upon hours trying to figure out a new way to teach such and such topic to some group of students.
Education is a funny thing - it's been going on for thousands of years, there are more resources and lesson plans available than I can count.  And yet, many people still spend their lives modifying and tweaking each lesson until it will fit our own little classrooms.  Many of us are willing to either gain weight, lose hair, forget what the sun looks like, work Sunday - Sunday, and go to bed as soon as we get home; just so that we can hopefully reach all of our students.  To hear "is our children learning" hurts me to the core.
If I didn't think it were completely odd, I would probably get a tattoo saying "all I wonder is 'are my children learning?"
It's all I can think about. It's all we can talk about at school.  Now, how we find the answer to this question is completely different from teacher to teacher. But, overall, this is all that we are working to know.

Now, don't get me wrong.  I know that there are schools where there is no learning occurring.  I know that there are underfunded, understaffed, and completely neglected schools.  Within these schools there are those souls who aren't even overlooked, but rather are completely forgotten.   But the thing is, no one seems to care.   No one seems to be saying "hm, these kids aren't learning, what can we do about it?" rather, everyone likes to write about and talk about and think about just how unfortunate these situations are. And leave it at that.
Everyone wants schools to succeed, at least at some level, but no one seems to know how to do that.  The further that I get into the chaos that is one's first year of teaching, I'm starting to learn that it's not nearly as black and white as I had originally thought.

I have always been a huge proponent of properly funding schools - as much as people complain that money isn't the option, I do firmly believe that it will help solve SOME problems.  Fact of the matter remains, the more resources you have the more you can do.
Is money everything? Of course not.
Is there a perfect way to do anything in education? Absolutely not.
I am learning that things change on an HOURLY basis in the classroom, not a yearly basis.  I've always knows that what works one year will not necessarily work the next year.  What works with one student will not necessarily work with the next.
However, and maybe I'm completely nieve for saying this, but, things change hourly, if not minute-ly.  What works for one second, might not work in the next.

And I think that's the problem.  School is one of the most fluid places I have ever witnessed.  Relationships among staff and students change by the second, curriculums change yearly, "best practices" seem to change monthly.  Everything is constantly changing.
Which, in this case I do think that change is good.  Students are constantly changing and school needs to do the same in order to serve their needs.
However, in looking at things on a national scale... I can hardly plan for my own classroom week to week because so much changes.  I can't imagine the task of finding something that will work for schools in Maine and New Mexico, Florida and South Dakota.  Which is why we have things like state standards, etc.

This is all over the place. Welcome to my life and my thought process.
I guess that what I'm trying to say here, is this:
There really is no perfect answer.  I'm learning that the more that I learn about teaching, the more that it baffles me.  The more that I do it, the more that I wonder if I have any idea what I'm doing.
But, the beautiful thing about teaching is that the more you do it, the more you get to know your students.  The more I know my students, and their lives and their thoughts and their dreams; the more I know that I cannot rest until I know that my kids are learning.  I cannot and will not allow my students to do anything but succeed.