This page is all about what Andy thinks about everything.

What is your opinion about teaching creation vs. evolution

At the high school level, evolution should be taught as a theory that many, but not all, scientists support. Teachers should be allowed to give students a chance to explore creationism, intelligent design and evolution and decide for themselves which theory they support.

How would I help close the achievement gap?

This question came to me by a phone call.

I was visiting about this very topic last night with a friend of mine who was a mentor in the automotive classes at Lincoln Northeast about 10 years ago.  He recalled that he worked with countless students who had substantial talent  in those areas and yet struggled to graduate or even dropped out because they had trouble meeting the graduation requirements in other subjects.  Our society needs mechanics, builders, electricians and plumbers as much, if not more, as we need scientists, doctors and laywers.

First and foremost, these students need to be listened to and encouraged to pursue their education.  Teachers play a critical role here, as they work every day with these students and know firsthand their talents and struggles.

Where we have students who excel at subjects they enjoy, and yet struggle to stay in school because of graduation requirements not matched to those fields of study, that indicates a problem.  Years ago, it was common for high schools to have focus areas, almost like college majors, with classes and graduation requirements tailored to those focus areas.  A student wanting to be a mechanic probably doesn’t need to know calculus, and similarly a student wanting to be a mathematician probably doesn’t need to know how a carburetor works.

I would support a hard look at adjusting our high school curriculum and graduation requirements to support a concept like this.