The Elkins High Homecoming Parade down Davis Avenue was a delightful procession of happy young people on Wednesday evening just before sunset. We saw many friends who are parents and grandparents of children in local public schools. Nobody seemed worried that Randolph County Schools were ranked 55th among 55 counties on the West Virginia Balanced Scorecard.

There were two marching bands playing. Elkins Middle School Band led the small procession clad in green and white, and Elkins High School Band came at the end of the parade in orange and black.

Both bands were not in their formal uniforms that they will wear in the Forest Festival Parade in October, but their t-shirts were well-matched, their trumpets and tubas were shining, and their music was appropriate.

I could tell that they had learned something about reading music and working with other students to march to a rhythmic drumbeat and stay in formation.

Fall sport teams were well-represented in groups marching with their coaches or riding on trucks. Wearing matching shirts, we saw cross country runners, football linemen, soccer kickers, and volleyball players. Now there are almost as many girls as boys playing on sport teams, and they are more physically fit than we were in the 1960s.

All the lovely young ladies in the homecoming court rested on the seat backs of convertibles or sat in open skylight windows on car rooftops. Many were wearing formal suits or dresses, and some had large hats. They waved and tossed out candy to children on the street sides as they rode down Davis Avenue. It was reminiscent of scenes from the 20th Century.

After the parade we walked home under a beautiful sun-setting sky, but on the kitchen table we found The Inter-Mountain with mixed messages in headlines on the front-page: “Woman accused of stealing 7 guns,” “Barbour couple facing child neglect charges,” and “WV Balanced Scorecard shows school improvement.”

As I reflect on what I see in community life and what I can learn from the news media, I realize that education in West Virginia is not keeping up with changing 21st Century expectations.

However, I do not know that we have meaningful criteria for making good judgments about what the next generation needs to know and be able to do.

We have real performance assessment for a band or a team that can play together successfully. Although most of us do not earn a living with music or athletic skills, we will be happier and healthier if we continue to enjoy the arts and stay physically active with friends as adults.

What worries me most is that we do not have reliable criteria to judge information and evaluate what is true, right and fair.