Posted: Sunday, October 14, 2007 12:00 am
A mind, the African-American author and activist W.E.B. DuBois wrote, is a terrible thing to waste.
With that foremost in our minds, we pay homage to education in multiple forms, even if the vehicle has less to do with education than the quirky things that happen to icons of education.
Hop on the school bus, because we're going for a ride.
Our first stop is in Cody, where the Cody Enterprise reports in its October 3 edition of 10-year-old Dane Dvarshkis and his new ride. Yes, young Dane isn't even old enough to drive - and who knows, he might not be able to see over the giant wheel of his 84-passenger bus. Yes, young Dane purchased the 1977 Bluebird bus for $500, the paper reported. His dad, Dick, is the only one who's licensed to drive it.
"It was fun thinking of the possibilities," he told the paper. "The first thing that came to mind was a road trip," he told the paper. "I also want Dad to give me a ride to school on my own bus."
He also wants to take the bus to Livingston School for show-and-tell, the paper reported.
Not exactly educational
A new sign is beckoning Interstate 80 travelers through Sweetwater County.
The problem: It's on a school bus, and it's advertising something that they don't teach in school.
"Adult Arcades: Exit 165" bellows the sign along the highway near Wamsutter, the Green River Star reported in its Oct. 10 edition.
"It's disgusting. A school bus? Give me a break! Whoever did that should be ashamed of themselves," traveler Simone Keevert told the paper after seeing the sign.
"Somebody's got no class using a school bus to advertise a school bus," Sweetwater County School District 1 transportation director Pete Rust told the paper.
Unfortunately, the bus isn't owned by the school district, and therefore has no control over what its owner plasters on it, Rust told the paper.
How's this for a homework excuse?
Some students in Park County can actually use this as an excuse now: The horse ate my homework.
It's true, according to a report in the Oct. 9 issue of the Powell Tribune.
Several months after Powell High School students came to a field to study the effects of combating Canada thistle on the environment, the students returned to the field recently to find the thistle all but gobbled up by horses, rendering their long-term project moot.
"It's one of those projects the kids enjoyed doing, and we were going to get some useful data from it," said Josh Shorb of the county's weed and pest division. The students used a global-positioning system to map the area, introduced rare insects to try and kill the plant, and were due to collect the data.
Now, unless the horses are descendants of Mr. Ed, they'll never speak to tell the tale.
Want to educate Night Editor David Mirhadi with a tip or item for this column? Call (307) 266-0616 or david.mirhadi@casperstartribune.net