Parents across the region are rejoicing this morning as our area youth head back to school. For the last couple of weeks, kids have been trickling back into action but today finds the largest majority returning.

Our students in public education will face even more rigorous testing and exams that ensure they are “qualified” to move forward and allow all of us citizens to measure their success. We wish the students and teachers the best of luck as they struggle to “prepare” for the endless testing in the schools. We can also cross our fingers that teachers get to do what they do best, teach, along the way. Students could learn as well.

While testing serves its purpose, we ponder whether some of the fun of learning and the ability to think critically are missing from the school system now. Teachers have always been able to teach students their subjects and to help them to learn to “think” and process along the way. Simply memorizing a math formula doesn’t teach you the relevance or importance of the formula. Memorizing grammatical rules does not necessarily make a great writer. Open a student’s mind to allow them to “tell a story” helps their writing skills.

More and more employers are expressing concern about the “thinking” skills of both high school and college grads. Once in the workplace, these grads will not be spoon fed and asked to rinse and repeat. They will need to be able to tackle and solve problems without being handheld every step of the way.

Education has always been a grand experiment. Maybe it is time we evaluate the latest experimentation.

Look out for those school buses and school zones today!