‘Pretty Good’ Not Good Enough
Dear Ann Landers: Our school district believes our schools are pretty good. Students score just barely above the national average on standardized tests, which gives administrators and teachers bragging rights.
To me, the national average is a disgrace, and scoring 0.1 percentage points above that is nothing to be proud of.
Several years ago, you printed a poem by Charles Osgood about a “pretty good student” in a “pretty good school.” Please print it again. I hope our school board, teachers and administration see it and take heed. - John in Grand Junction, Colo.
Dear John: Here it is. Thanks for asking. And I hope every student who considers himself or herself “pretty good” will pay attention.
There once was a pretty good student,
Who sat in a pretty good class
And was taught by a pretty good teacher,
Who always let pretty good pass.
He wasn’t terrific at reading,
He wasn’t a whiz-bang at math.
But for him, education was leading
Straight down a pretty good path.
He didn’t find school too exciting,
But he wanted to do pretty well,
And he did have some trouble with writing,
And nobody had taught him to spell.
When doing arithmetic problems,
Pretty good was regarded as fine.
Five plus 5 needn’t always add up to be 10,
A pretty good answer was 9.
The pretty good class that he sat in
Was part of a pretty good school.
And the student was not an exception,
On the contrary, he was the rule.
The pretty good school that he went to
Was there in a pretty good town.
And nobody there seemed to notice
He could not tell a verb from a noun.
The pretty good student in fact was
Part of a pretty good mob.
And the first time he knew what he lacked was
When he looked for a pretty good job.
It was then, when he sought a position,
He discovered that life could be tough.
And he soon had a sneaky suspicion
Pretty good might not be good enough.
The pretty good town in our story
Was part of a pretty good state,
Which had pretty good aspirations,
And prayed for a pretty good fate.
There once was a pretty good nation,
Pretty proud of the greatness it had,
Which learned much too late,
If you want to be great,
Pretty good is, in fact, pretty bad. - “The Osgood File,” copyright 1986, CBS Inc.
Dear Ann Landers: I just caught up with the responses to the column about the topless dancer who roughed up the drunk after he pinned her to an alley wall. I think the no-good bum got exactly what he deserved. And his wife should have finished the job when he got home. - No Name in New Orleans
Dear New Orleans: You and hundreds of others. The mail in support of the dancer was overwhelming.
Dear Readers: I believe in giving credit where it is due. I have just learned that the author of “Rules for Being Human” is Cherie Carter-Scott, Ph.D., a motivational speaker, consultant and author of the upcoming book, “If Life is a Game, These Are the Rules: The Ten Rules for Being Human.”