Mark Francis
Bio
Published translator of verse and original writer of haiku, senryu, lyric, occasional and genre poetry and speculative fiction.
Stories (83)
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Spring Crossings
The umbrella yawed sharply to one side, then suddenly to the other, making little progress against its thronging siblings caught by the same gusts. Their bearers were all generously sprinkled by the heavenly spray, but one in particular, under the most pliant spring mushroom, seemed hardly shielded at all. Rather it was as though he fought off creatures of the storm. When the soggy crossing was finally to be breached, bobbing along to the general wave he muttered, “‘Walk.' ‘Walk.' As if I might try anything else!” Immediately, like a moist gloved hand, a second umbrella brushed his face.
By Mark Francis3 years ago in Fiction
What's "Really" Wrong with American Education?
For several decades now American education has been the object of keen criticism, if not scorn, from every quarter. Employers claim recent graduates lack required skills. Professors complain similarly of underprepared collegians. Parents feel the system fails too many and may not serve their own children well. Politicians on the right rail against ideological content and political correctness, as those to the left protest for more equity and inclusiveness in hiring, support and curricula. High school students doubt the very worth of higher education. Measures on national and international tests suggest that American students, relative to the rest of the world and now even the nation's own recent past, are at best mediocre performers, after years of experiment and reform still stagnating and even falling further behind.
By Mark Francis3 years ago in Education
