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why did you get tested

Five-days after I met with a client for 20-minutes, I learned he tested positive. Later that 5th day, his wife who was present tested positive. I met in their home. I had a mask on, they did not. They exhibited no symptoms. I tested the 6th day after I met them with the swab up the nostril.

There is some fairly significant chance it was a false positive, unless you were retested.  Saban had one.

I still don't know how often that happens, and it depends on the specific test used.

I have thought about this, and with the type of test I had I read, from not a reliable source, but I think it was an article about Nick Saban retesting 3-straight days, that there may be a 5% false positive rate on this, the most reliable form of testing. They don't really know - it's more of an estimate.

With the disruption this caused in my office, - it effects my secretary, my wife, and me, and my parents calling everyday to be sure I am still okay, when I reopen there will be a sign on the office door, "By appointment only." And another sign, "No Facemask, No Entry."

Glad you are doing well. Thank you. I'm sure the positive result freaked you out a bit, so it's good it didn't develop into something severe. I was surprised and shocked. I reflected on the test result every time I cleared my throat. I called the doctor's nurse to ask her to recheck my chart. I thought the message they left must be wrong. I was afraid to get out of bed in the morning for fear this was the day I'd have a massive headache. As the days went on, I gained confidence nothing would happen and I'd have the advantage of being immune 3-9 months.
The first few days my wife scolded me and put me in the doghouse, but it's better than no house at all.

Two things from me today--neither political (I think).

First, with two teenagers in public school right now, I have a pretty good sense for the education they receive. It's good. If anything, I think they over teach things, meaning they feed too much information, not too little. That makes it hard for the kids to remember a lot of it. Still, the teaching standards are good. What students do with that information is the key. There are plenty of people who have access to good education that don't seem to take much of it in. That's just as true (if not more so) of the older folks.

Second, on the coronavirus front, I'm in the office today, for the first time since March. Downtown ess-eff is pretty dead. It's weird. I also realized its the first time in nine months that I've been looking at a significantly elevated view of the landscape from a tall building. Also weird. But it's still a good view. :-)

Are your schools open?

That OAN "report", as I presume we all know, was garbage, entirely.

That OAN "report", as I presume we all know, was garbage, entirely.

nah, I'm not going to post what I was thinking

Are your schools open?

Our schools are remote right now. It's looking like the middle school will include some, small in-person component after Thanksgiving.

It's a drag. They are doing a much better job now than they were doing in the Spring, but it's still a hard way to learn. And even so, the kids are getting a lot of good information--my kids are in "science" in 8th grade, and chemistry in 10th, both of which are solid; pre-algebra in 8th, and Algebra II in 10th, currently getting (yet another) lesson on the formation of the nation as a nation (the Revolutionary war, etc), and modern world history (currently focusing on fascism, but with an interlude for U.S. elections, including the Constitution), etc., etc.

The content is good. The delivery mechanism sucks, but is understandable. It's not for lack of teaching that many people don't know a lot of the information that this group would consider basic.

The content can be the best ever, but the delivery mechanism is so woefully insufficient, I'd say that it's only about 25% effective.  And that's with my kids who are both straight-A+ students.

For disadvantaged kids, they're not moving forward at all and in many cases, are regressing.  Badly.

I was talking with my wife about just a complete do-over. Skip the year, and start over next year.

I'm not sure that's a great idea, but it's an idea.

I was talking with my wife about just a complete do-over. Skip the year, and start over next year.

I'm not sure that's a great idea, but it's an idea.

This is a really interesting question. I've spent a lot more time recently thinking about the goals for K-12 education. How much of what is taught in any given year is critical to every student's life.

As a simple example, if a teenager goes a year without PE, do they really need to repeat the year to make that up? What about other electives?

Surely a high school graduate needs basic math skills, but do they need trigonometry and algebra 2 (let alone calculus)? How much English/literature learning do they need? What base of history/government does a high school graduate need?

Surely many students who go on to college will require more math, more literature, more civics, but are those things really required for a high school diploma? If so, why?

I'm not sure what the answer to this is. You can tell from my question that I'm not sure "repeating a grade" necessarily makes sense. But I'm not sure how you decide what is critical, and what can be left off. And once you've made that decision, what does it mean about the high school curriculum going forward? Is this a moment that will be a catalyst for a significant re-thinking of the education system?

 A high school diploma is a gatekeeper for a lot of jobs that will never rely on most of what the curriculum includes. Emancipated adults (e.g., 18-year olds) should have what they need to live independently/make their own choices.

Anyway, it's an interesting thought piece.