Thomas Paine

Thomas Paine influenced the American Revolution greatly with the publication of his Common Sense pamphlet in 1776.  This was his call to arms for Colonial America.  He challenged the authority of the British monarchy and openly urged independence from Great Britain.  The rest is, pun intended, history.  He argued that America had lost touch with the land across the pond and that independence was eminent.  It was “common sense” to separate.  Common Sense sold approximately 500,000 copies, which was a remarkable number considering the population of the entire “country” was 2.5 million.  Paine wrote that we must earn our liberty to truly appreciate it.  We sow what we reap.  No one should be handed anything – you have to earn it.  People must raise themselves up to liberty.  Liberty is to be earned.  “What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly.”

As we prepare for the first round of ISTEP next week, no one could ever accuse us of taking this too lightly.  All of the preparation that was provided, the remediation, the enrichment, the lesson planning, the adjustments in instruction, the collaboration, the professional development, the professional practice,  the Marzano elements…none of those came cheaply.  Short story – we have worked hard to assure that these test scores are where we want them to be.  The videos, the announcements, the breakfasts, the t-shirts…yep, not cheap, but well though-out strategies that we call “carrots”.  So, when these scores do come out, we will value them because we worked really hard for them.  It is so much harder to give up something that you have worked so hard for.  That’s why it will be special.  It’s common sense.  We aren’t obtaining anything cheaply; thus, we won’t esteem the results lightly.