Teacher, Teacher, I Declare

[Education] Since state governments these days are so busy looking for new ways to give our money to rich people, they've stopped worrying about all the little things--especially, educating those little things. (Maybe uneducated adults are more easily exploited by corporate bastards.)

But, it doesn't look like the numbskulls on the hill are going to be giving us any love anytime soon, so maybe we should leave them to debate exactly what it is they think we should all be doing in the bedroom, while we take matters into our own hands. So to speak.

I'm intrigued by the microfunding model at DonorsChoose.org. Teachers write proposals for classroom projects, books and equipment, and then the magic of the Intertubes takes care of the rest--donors can give any amount they choose toward any any project they favor.

If you'd rather your largess apply close to home, it's possible to search by state. One junior-high-school teacher in Ogden really seems to want a $1,100 "document camera" for some reason. (It's to get kids excited about historical documents. While I don't begrudge educators anything, with my own limited funds, I'd have to think hard about that one.)

But others are more comprehensible to my mind, like the elementary school teacher in Davis County who needs a "root farm"--I think it must be a kind of a glass case where kids can see the creepy root systems of plants growing. Pretty cheap at less than $150 for two of them. (A lot of people don't realize that the part of a plant you can see is actually only half the plant. The rest is underground.) The root farm sounds so cool I think every school should have one. And DonorsChoose.org is so cool, I think everybody should see it.