It’s refreshing to hear something about why government is getting something right, and I would argue, important that a distinction is made on why it’s happening—competent decision-making that avoids demagoguery vs the heated and empty rhetoric in politics we so often hear.

I still have a lot of worries about how “teaching to tests” and/or “rote memorization” does not serve students well in their futures when they will need skills in research and critical thinking more and more, and how I believe standardized testing encourages that sort of education. However, it does seem that perhaps Virginia, because of the sound and competent decision-making of its leaders, has actually found a way to accomplish these standards without leaving out the teaching of “learning how to learn”, effective communicating, and most importantly, critical thinking?

At least I’d like to think so. And if so, perhaps our political future will have less of that demagoguing and more thoughtful proposals based on facts, not rhetoric, spilling over as a result of that better education.

I’d sure like to think so.