TURNING SAWDUST INTO GOLD: The Struglle of Inner City Educators

Sawdust unlike gold is an organic compound, composed of molocules and atoms of many materials, the residual of shaven wood inanimate it has no mind, feelings or thoughts.  Gold is a precious metal a pure element composed of nothing save itself... pure...but dead.. without emotion or any human sensibility.  Students are living, thinking, impressionable humans shaped and defined by their environment they can change, they can grow, they are infinitely more miraculous than wood or gold.  An artisan can craft wood or gold into wonderous things but they can never talk to us or fell our emotions...they will remain cold and unresponsive.  Students can not be carefully shaped through love and education but at some point they will begin to take our teaching and transform them into newer more intricate ideas...  Wood and gold can be subjected to tests that define their strength, purity, weight and value but humans must interpret the data... wood and gold will never have the capacity to analyze or communicate in the sense that we do.   Students can be tested to determine how much knowledg they have retained and how they can manipulate knowledge to solve problems and they can communicate this knowledge in various ways.  A student who reads, writes, thinks and performs on a 5th grade level will read, write and perform on a 5th grade level.  A Student in the 10th grade reading, writing and performing on a 5th grade level will read, write and perform on a 5th grade level...  Teachers are knowledgeable superheroes who fight in the trenches of Americas inner city schools without any support and with sqalid pay.  Of the many miracles they perform daily they cannot turn wood into gold nor can they majically endow a 10th grader reading, writing and performing on a 5th grade level  with 10th grade reading, writing, and performance skills during a semester of 45 minute classes...  Can you?  Can the Principal?  Can the Superintendant? We all know that the answer is NO!  So what is the moral of this story?