The current buzzwords in the educational community are "effectiveness" and "data-driven," as if students are robots that can be programmed to crack codes.  We quanitfy them and categorize them until they are androids who fill in bubbles on mindless tests.  I for one don't believe that students are androids.  I don't believe that the bottom line is being effective or raising student achievement.  I don't even believe the goal of education is a better living but rather living better. 

So, we do a car wash on Saturday.  Thirty of the one hundred students volunteer.  Most go to the dollar store and buy supplies ahead of time.  I'm impressed that low-income students don't always see themselves as poor.  I admit that there are the junior high moments of spraying one another with water. Yet, when it's a hundred and eight outside, this is understandable.  I watch them laugh and play and I feel sad that I won't teach them next year - like I am leaving a community just when it's finally a true community. 

In the end, we make a measly ninety bucks.  We were hoping for two hundred.  People seem surprised to find that it's a car wash to raise money for mosquito nets in Africa and not for a field trip or a piece of equipment.  I leave feeling a little dejected until I remember that it's not about results.  The car wash was a success because people showed up and because students worked hard and chose to sacrifice an afternoon with nothing in return for them - no extra credit, no money, nothing. 

I think the world needs a paradigm shift.  The answer is to be faithful, to stick it out, to do what is right rather than what works best. 

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