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EDUCATION -- American students score poorly in math compared to other nations, and have shown a sharp increase in attention deficit disorder. Are the two related?
   NBC reported that American students ranked 14th in a study of math proficiency at an advanced level. In the same broadcast, science reporter Robert Bazell cited research showing a 22 percent increase in ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) since 2003, resulting in a full 10 percent of American kids being treated. What's going on here? The view from this corner is that the two are related. The reason students do poorly in school is that they're bored. And rather than cure the boredom, the system claims it's a medical condition, and pushes another pill. Consider also that the average starting salary for teachers is less than $30,000, and tops out at an average below $50,000. Is it any surprise that the kids are bored?
   In a related matter, the governor of New Jersey wants to put a cap on salaries of school superintendents, some of whom make more than $150,000 in districts with only a few hundred students.
   Solution: If you want better student performance, hire better teachers. To get better teachers, offer higher salaries. Money talks, or somebody walks.

TRUTHINESS -- If you sound like you know what you're talking about, people will assume you do. Politicians have used this principle for centuries, and part of a reporter's job is to give both sides, so the reader can decide who's lying. Note: Maybe they both are. It's not always our job to say. However, political candidates often use half truths and are selective in their choice of facts in their talks, emphasizing some and ignoring others. Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank cited the case of Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who writes in his memoir that the government is trying to tell Americans "how much salt we can put in our food." That allegation is based on a program dealing with processed food, and how the industry and government are cooperating in an effort to develop standards. The medical evidence is clear that too much salt is hazardous to health, but Gov. Perry's alarums ring out the danger of salt police.
   It's been said that everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts. This is true, but it's critical to remember that of the myriad of facts available, deciding which pieces of information are relevant and important involves selectivity and opinion. In journalism, this is known as news judgment. History is written by the winners.

TAKING SIDES -- One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. This applies to the IRA, the Israeli Irgun, the 18th Century Boston Tea Party, the 19th Century Quantrill's Raiders (Jesse James was a member) as well as to modern day activists.
  
DROPPINGS-- Leaving out a letter or a syllable, even one of only two letters, can change the meaning of what you write. Consider the words mediate and meditate. The loss of a single letter changes the meaning radically. Here's another instance where spellcheck won't help; you must look at each word separately as well as in context.

IMAGINE -- With increasing specialization, doctors know more and more about less and less, so that eventually they will know everything about nothing.