Great Atlantic Seaboard Bicycyle Tour: Glendale Springs, NC-Asheville, NC 10/29 140 driving miles; 7.6 walking miles

We had a lot of time to talk to day, since we drove most of the day Southward cruising at thirty-five miles an hour on the Blue Ridge Parkway. We've covered quite a bit of the 479 odd miles and we're not done yet. We'll travel through the Great Smoky Mountains on our way to Atlanta. The vistas we saw again today were simply stunning. I wish the photos could do them justice. Suffice to say, the parkway is well worth the visit. We talked quite a bit about the viral video now being bantied around like the toxic hot potato it is. Our consensus ended up being gratitude. To quote Joe Bonino, "These are no longer our concerns." But the action troubles me, though along with an incorrect focus (My opinion), the main stream talking/bobbing heads have also cropped the video ostensibly to protect the innocent. But I ask you to go to YouTube and take a look at the body language of the other students in the class, and more troubling, the body language of the teacher. Here we are focusing on cops in schools, proper responses, etc. And before I proceed on my rant, In no way am I condoning the policeman's actions. What I'm questioning is our decision to NOT focus on what happened in the classroom. In three days, we've seen an adnaseum loop of the take down, and we've heard a few platitudes promising better training for school personnel, but we've heard nothing of the student's "sin" and nothing specific about the teacher's actions. What we have seen is an abridged video. When I look at the other kids in the class who are completely disengaged, completely passive, my radar starts beeping. What is the climate like in that classroom, in that school? What support are teachers given? What emphasis is there on protecting the learning environment? What techniques did this detached teacher use before administrators and a resource officer were callled? The focus should be on creating a willing learning environment, and as a teacher, I always felt that fell squarely on me. I can sympathize with teachers who feel they have no support, but what happens in MY classroom is what happens in MY classroom. Having said that, I don't know the climate in South Carolina, but I do believe that kids want to learn, and given a chance, most will blossom. I also know (From hard experience) that no one wins in a "power over" situation. My bottom line for disciplinary action always started at the point a student took time away from the class (I didn't let kids sleep, elther), so what disturbs me the most is the focus of the discussion is on the "role" of cops in school. Cops in school!!! Goodness!! Let's focus on learning in schools. Let's focus on getting students involved in ways meaningful to their lives. Let's focus on training teachers to effectively manage classrooms. Let's focus on building the three legged stool: student, teacher, parent. Let's focus on teaching kids istead of rousting them like criminals. Finally, let's hear some honest talk from the actual players: the student, her classmates, the teacher, the administrators, and the cop. Instead, it seems like the easy answer is to villify (I admit, it looks easy) the officer, while the others duck, dodge, disclaim, and disappear. All I can say from my retired rocking chair is that life is good, especially today.

The sun came up with its usual promise.