Michael F. Shaughnessy Senior Columnist EdNews.org
Eastern New Mexico University

Over the years, I have read, heard, and seen many other commentators across America offer various types of things for sale. Some of these commentators have radio or television shows and they seem to have a number of items for sale. I have to give you my pledge now for 2007 that I will not offer any T-shirts, coasters, coffee cups, calendars, placemats or beer mugs with my name on them or the www.educationnews.org emblem on them.

I think that the idea of having "Mike's Gear" or "Mike's Stuff" is a little preposterous and ludicrous. I would hope that people would read www.educationnews.org to find out what is happening in elementary, middle school, high school and at the college and university level, not to find out if any stuff bearing my name, picture or likeness is for sale.

So, there will NOT be any mouse-pads, or screen savers for sale (as far as I know) during the coming year. We do hope to bring some thought provoking commentaries and interviews, and book reviews to you in the year 2007.

I want to thank all of my colleagues, fellow columnists and writers who have been cordial and congenial in their feedback over the last year. Further, I want to express my appreciation to all who have offered their opinions and insight about a most complex intricate topic and that is the education of our children.

Of course, Jimmy Kilpatrick deserves a great big hand for all the work that he does, and he may in fact, receive a 8 by 11 ˝ sheet of paper with my hand outlined on it!

We hope to bring more insightful commentaries and interviews to you next year as well as keep you informed about the subtle nuances of education, and discuss the various challenges that face us in helping our children to be literate. We hope to keep you informed about the latest legislation out of Washington that may affect teachers, principals, guidance counselors, and school personnel. ( By school personnel, I mean the cafeteria workers, bus drivers, occupational, and physical therapists as well as speech language pathologists and audiologists and diagnosticians !)

We hope to bring the latest news from across the United States about the pending issues that those concerns that seem to be pervasive in our country.

We hope to continue to discuss the cutting edge issues and bring information about new books, new ideas, new concepts and new theories.

So, again, there will be no pencil sharpeners with www.educationnews.org emblazoned on the side. There will not be any t-shirts or baseball caps with pithy sayings.

(I like Bill O' Reilly and his television. show and his books; I guess I just couldn't resist one little pithy barb). So, there will not be any coffee cups with EDNEWS emblazoned on the side, and no ties or pocket protectors bearing the EDNEWS emblem.

We all wish you the best for the coming holiday season and look forward to the New Year!