I went to a relatively poor high school in South Tacoma, Washington long ago. I had my choice of Spanish, French, Latin and I think German. But my high school was intent on delivering a solid Classical education. What are we delivering today? If the answer is college and career readiness, I’ll submit I was far more college and career ready than the vast majority of students from the test-factories of today. I could easily write an essay and calculate a mortgage. I also graduated high school able to speak Spanish and a fair amount of French. That senior year in Latin classes proved surprisingly useful too. I’m a top-notch word guesser.

Most importantly, as I look back, I can say that my high school experience was both FUN and educational. My teachers often seemed inspired by their lessons and materials, materials they themselves had created to match ideas they wanted us to learn. Not all my classes were fun, but I loved languages and people left me alone to learn them at the end of my high school career. No one worried that my test scores might suffer. I’m sure my scores suffered, especially that year when I skipped a section to hang out with friends in the park. But I have two master’s degrees and an absurd number of college credits, especially when extra teaching and endorsement classes are added.

I strongly believe that if we teach love of learning, learning will take care of itself.

I also believe those teachers were lucky. They got to teach in a time when they were expected to write whole portions of the script instead of reading someone else’s sometimes unfortunate — at times even incoherent — lines. Does incoherent sound too strong? When our parents need special tutoring classes so they can help their children with elementary school, Common Core math, incoherent seems to me to be the word of choice.