The Sooner You Guess The Smarter You Are

They bear the names of girls

Or girls were named after them,

If the latter is correct

I would have no problem.

The first relates to showers

The third always comes too soon,

The second drops in the middle

We don’t have to assume.

As for the names of girls

I’ve checked but there is no other

And regarding their positions

They follow one another.

The sooner you guess

Then the smarter you are,

If by now you’ve worked it out

You have got to be a star.

One is found in a rhyme

Another in a Judy Garland song,

One speaks of possibility

Do not be afraid to be wrong.

They are a closely-knit quarter

And here is a good chance to see,

While a quarter can be four

This quarter is actually three.

One of these is position three

But usually it’s position six,

If by now you have not guessed

Then you are really in a fix.

I put you in so I’ll get you out

You need not panic yet,

Do not give up at this time

Or you are likely to regret.

Remember the sooner you guess

The smarter you are

So by now

The answer cannot be far.

I’m at the end, I must confess

I am nearly out of clues,

If you find just one of them

The other two would be a cruise.

To be of help in this regard

I will send you to YouTube,

2-thirds of the answer you’ll find right here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfymGlI_M_8

Follow this link if you choose.

Now that you know their names

I am glad you came along,

Tell me at what point you guessed

Was it the Judy Garland song?

Stewart Russell © May 2019

The Common Entrance Trap

Trapped in a hole

Unable to get out

And in another couple of days

Another bout.

Of stresses and fears

Of disappointments and tears

Of selection and rejection

And dejected stares.

“D” day it is called

When this scourge comes around,

No bad schools all good schools

But disparities abound.

The crème de la crème

Guaranteed the top

And many of the less privileged

At the bottom left to rot.

A real trap it is

Can we not see it?

Maybe, a useful tool in the past

But should now exit.

Mixed abilities we advocate

In our primary schools

But bright ones here and others there

Via the Common Entrance tool.

No bad schools all good schools

Yet there’s a pecking order

And for every secondary school

There is a specific border.

From the top to the bottom

Determined by the scores

And secondly the choices of parents

Nothing less nothing more.

Whether perceived or real

A trap is a trap

And the Common Entrance is,

It’s definitely a trap.

  

It preempts best practice

Forcing teaching to the test

Where students with good memory

Always do the best.

It thwarts problem-solving skills

There’s so little time,

Formulas are memorized

And critical thinking is left behind.

Keeping those at the top

Which are off to a quick start

And maintaining the status quo

With which we dare not part.

After all, there is a tradition

And tradition must be maintained

And if you happen to be down

That too must be sustained.

“My Father went there

And I went there too,

That is surely the best school

And so must you.

“When I look in the tabloids

For the ten at the top

You must there my son/daughter

Right in that top spot.”

Education is about equality

But all are not equal,

No bad schools all good schools

But some for certain people.

Leaving no one behind

Has been a declared policy

But some schools have been left

What abject lunacy!

Perceived ‘good teachers’

Depends on where they teach,

The otherwise are blamed

For every rule their students breach.

Surely at certain schools

Such a problem will not occur,

Thereat are the ‘good teachers’

Whom nothing can deter.

A teacher feels victimized

If transferred to a certain school,

And this sometimes happens

When teachers flout the rules.

At both primary and secondary

The perception is rife,

Some schools are inherently good

While others are not so nice.

The Common Entrance is a trap

In the way that it is used,

While in itself it could be useful

Currently, it is abused.

Being the sole determinant

And premised on a single score

Makes it a high stakes exam

Fraught with problems galore.

It would be so much better

If the exam were used for teaching

Instead of the trap it now is

Here is where I end my preaching.

Stewart Russell © April 2019

Understanding People

What a humongous undertaking!

That of understanding people,

Just take a look at the Biblical twelve

Known as Jesus’ disciples.

What a motley group they were

Yet being with the Saviour!

But that is the human nature

Out of which comes such behavior.

They contended with one another

For the highest rank

And when the pressure was on

To the lowest they also sank.

Judas betrayed the Master

And Peter denied him too,

The other disciples stood afar off

Opting for the distant view.

Even a mother was involved

Concerning her two dear boys

And requested the highest positions

In order to complete her joy.

Look at the Israelites’ unbelief

After all the miracles,

By now you see how difficult it is

Trying to understand people.

Adam and Eve in the garden

With everything that they need

Gave it up in a fleeting moment

When overcome by greed.

And just in case we forget

Lucifer with his position in heaven

Threw it all away

When by selfish ambition-driven.

And I could go on and on

Through the Bible, Old and New

Of the many similar instances,

We know they are quite a few.

  

And then we come to our time

With all the stuff we’ve got

But understanding people is no easier,

We have a mental block.

The heart of man is deceitful

So says the Word of God

And the desperate wickedness that’s in it

Has been engineered by the Fraud.

It’s Satan’s way of destroying us

And that we must understand

And he is bound to succeed

Unless we take the Master’s hand.

An impossible task it is

To understand a human soul,

We would never understand people

Even if we grow to be very old.

But God knows the human heart

He is the one that understands,

And one day we will know one another

When we reach the heavenly land.

Until then it will be impossible

To even nearly understand people,

For sure, if you ever understand me

That would be a colossal miracle.

One can only understand people

When he gets to understand himself

And that undertaking is so huge

It will destroy his mental health.

So stop moaning and groaning

About this special inability,

You are no less an achiever

Than those that practise psychiatry.

They too are immense failures

At trying to understand people,

Having never understood themselves

They too are part of the trouble.

Stewart Russell © April 2019