TV and Little Kids

11.24.2010

I’m curious what parents think about TV in general and “educational” television. We didn’t own a TV until I was 8-years old and then it was only because my sister’s dad and stepsister moved to the US from Lithuania and my mom felt a TV would help them learn English (which it did). But I didn’t grow up watching Sesame Street or any cartoons, though I don’t know how many educational cartoons there were back in the ‘70s and ‘80s. When I visited a friend last year who had a 3-year old at the time, we’d watch the Disney channel and I thought I'd shoot myself if I had to listen to one more high-pitched sing-a-along.

How do today’s parents deal with TV when the kids are little because I know it’s easy to prop them in front of the tube for free babysitting. What gets approved for “educational” purposes, what is used for “babysitting,” and what is used for “the hell of it,” if anything?

I’m quite against little kids watching TV…but I understand that that’s easy for me to say. Thoughts?

Mark Twain on the School Board

11.15.2010

“God made the Idiot for practice, and then He made the School Board.” – Mark Twain.

…and I would add, “followed by anyone in politics who claims to have education as their top priority but conveniently forgets about it the day after elections.”

My AI Moment. What's Yours?

10.28.2010

Last week, I went to my elementary school for an open house. Not only am I an alumnus but I also taught there for a year. This school is part of the Archdiocese and so it's on the brink of being closed down due to all the financial issues the Church is having; therefore, I try to support any activities they have whenever I can.

At the open house, two students took me on a tour of the premises, although most of it looked the same from when I worked there 10 years ago which, at that point, hadn’t looked much different from when I graduated. Both the 7^th and 8^th graders flooded me with questions about my experiences there as a student, and it was during this spontaneous Q&A that I was reminded of what it is exactly I miss about teaching. It’s also the only thing.

One of the questions posed was whether or not there was anything I missed about the school. This gave me pause. I then began my answer with, “I know this won’t mean much to you but what I miss is being your age and having time. Time to play, time to be with friends and having one of my biggest worries be about completing my homework.” There were, of course, other things going on at home that I don’t miss but I miss having two hours to write in my journal, for example.

I never appreciated all that my mom did, and as a single parent at that. There are choices she made that I certainly wish she made differently, but, today, every time I have to stop a project to make dinner, I think about how, as a kid, I could just keep going.

Parents bring a child into this world and raise him/her, teaching him/her how to be self-sufficient and productive (or at least they should be). Parents parlay their values and have hopes and dreams for and expectations of their child only to often become disappointed with the choices that he/she has made (because it wasn’t the vision that they had for their child). Parents invest so much of themselves physically, emotionally and spiritually into these little carbon copies of themselves who will end up maybe never appreciating, let alone aware of, all the sacrifices they, as parents, made and continue to make. Isn’t that painful?

I’d like to return, even for an AI-like moment, to a time when I was working on some school project while my mom prepared dinner (if she was home) and, instead of being annoyed by or annoyed with her, I’d like to appreciate that for that moment in time she was letting me be a kid.[1]

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[1] I am referring to the Stanley Kubrick/Steven Spielberg movie AI (Artificial Intelligence), 2001.

Nonprofit Makes Science Hot

10.21.2010

I read an article in Sunday’s paper (10.16.2010) about a nonprofit that recently opened whose focus is on engaging children with science. A woman, Tara Chklovski, founded Iridescent while pursuing a doctorate in aerodynamics at USC. She is 32-years old and what an inspiration… I have had many kid-oriented nonprofit ideas in my head but have always talked myself out of exploring them because of fear.

What Ms. Chklovski has done is recruit surrounding-area schools to come to the complex and learn different things about science taught by volunteer teachers who are USC engineering students and the like. One little girl was so enthralled with a workshop where she got to pull things apart that she asked her mom if she could pull apart the family car. The mom didn’t think that was such a good idea, of course. (But hey, a kid excited about science!? And a girl at that!? Yay!)

These are the kinds of things we need more of and it also serves as one more example that it truly does take a village to raise a family. We all have a part in raising the next generation whether we have kids or not.

If you’re looking for a place to donate, I’m sure Iridescent could use the help. www.iridescentlearning.org.

They Call Me Mister Fry

10.07.2010

I wanted to put up one last education-related video; however, They Call Me Mister Fry isn’t a movie but a one-man play so it doesn’t have a trailer. What there is up on YouTube about it is kind of, uh, not done very well, in my opinion. The video that’d be equivalent to a movie trailer drags and I don’t think does it justice.

The play stars Jack Fry who re-creates his experience as a first-year teacher in an urban elementary school. I usually don’t look at or read reviews but for those who care, it has received good ones including multiple rave reviews from audiences. Fry has performed this show all over the nation and will be in town this weekend on Sunday, October 10^th at 3 pm and on Sunday, October 24^th at the Fanatic Salon Theater in Culver City.

Here is the website for more information: www.theycallmemisterfry.com.

Pressures to Succeed Becomes a "Race to Nowhere"

10.06.2010

“In America, if you don’t earn a lot of money, something went wrong.” – Student.

“How do you expect us to do well when you can’t even make mistakes?” – Student.

“Produce, produce, produce.” – Teacher.

“I think the United States needs to rethink how we do schooling. The economic future of the country depends on our addressing this.” – Adult.

“We need to redefine success for our kids.” – Adult.

Keeping Racism Alive in Education

10.05.2010

When the first Europeans arrived, they raped the land and killed Native Americans, the people they perceived to be the enemy.

Then the Europeans brought over slaves to do their work for them while reaping the profits. Hatred for the black person grew.

Men feared women for a number of reasons and did what they could, by law, to suppress them in every way possible making sure that a woman knew her place was in the kitchen and with the children.

The Chinese and the Irish were soon feared, despised and killed but not before their services were used to build the Transcontinental Railroad. During this time, the blacks and the Irish were very good friends resolved to living in the slums. Though the minute the Civil War ended, the Irish would now compete with blacks for jobs and so they turned against their neighbors.

At the turn of the 20^th Century, Italians were now despised and white people's hatred for blacks continued. Eugenics was brought into American culture too where minorities, the mentally disabled and anyone else perceived to be “different” was sterilized under the auspices that “white is best."

By mid-century, Latinos have entered the equation and not because of their spot in America’s economic wheel but because hatred toward them now was going strong.

Today, all of these emotions toward these different ethnic groups still exist except for maybe the Irish and Italians. Funny thing. What’s the color of their skin?

The Cartel - Trailer

10.04.2010

“Education is a business that has a monopoly. When you have a monopoly, you can whatever you want.”

“It’s a sad scene but they’ve been pimping on children for a long time."

http://www.thecartelmovie.com/

Holding Parents Accountable

09.18.2010

The topics of education, our children’s future and our investment in it have been a passion of mine since I was a kid. Part of the reason is because my mom was a teacher. I grew up witnessing the demands, pressures and rewards that come with serving in education. I myself could only handle it for two years, and the only thing I miss is working with students, though, I try finding different ways of working with them.

As a former full-time educator, and one who still teaches once a week, I think it’s outstanding that steps are being taken to hold teachers accountable. Yes, the current steps don’t take the entire picture into consideration but they’re steps that can re-shaped and reconfigured. Think of all the teachers you’ve had and I’m sure you can think of at least one that should not have been teaching. We make sure that our educators are properly trained and certified so that they can enter a classroom but there’s no guarantee that how they pass along the information will be successful.

Now, what about parents? No one wants to touch this issue but I will. Anyone can be a parent. There is no class you have to take, no lessons to prepare, no certification needed. I understand that enforcing this is impossible because there’s no way to have one manual on parenting, but when are parents going to take responsibility for their and their kid’s behavior? It starts with admitting to who your kid is really. Too many parents convince themselves their kid can do no wrong or has no challenges.

As a teacher, I can immediately figure out what parents value and I can tell what’s going on between them (whether they’re getting along or not). The only other person your kid spends a huge amount of time with (if not more) is a teacher. I’m not saying teachers know it all; they don’t. But the issues you have at home play out in the classroom and a teacher has to deal with it throughout the school day. If you had a bad morning and took it out on your kid, the teacher will have to console or discipline. Abuse happening at home? The teacher deals with it by either trying to get a withdrawn child to focus on his/her work or stop him/her from bullying other kids. Do you know how much time and energy this takes up often during class time? Because of one child’s misbehavior, 20-30 students pay the price.

I’m so tired of teachers getting spat on and looked at as having the easiest job in the world based only on the facts that the day “ends” at 2:30/3 o’clock and that they get so many vacations. You know what I did Thanksgiving 2001? Graded papers the entire 4 days. My 10-day Christmas vacation? Filled with researching projects and lessons. A typical week was 60 hours and my annual salary was $25K with no pay during the summer. This isn’t a “woe is me” story. I would just like to see parents be held more accountable and admit if their kid is having problems (emotional, a learning disability, or something else) because if you don’t try to fix something, it’ll get worse. I promise you. Look at the state of our education system now. No one wants to step forward and say, “Enough. We are in this together. Who is with me?”

Schools Kill Creativity

09.17.2010

I long ago came to the conclusion that society stifles creativity and, as we get older, sucks it dry so that by the time we reach the age of 18, we’re conditioned to think that only the math and sciences = good and that the arts = bad.

If the world were run by the likes of Vejune, I’d make those in college follow one of these two formats:

1. Pick a major in the sciences or business
2. Pick a minor in the arts

Or

1. Pick a major in the arts
2. Pick a minor in the sciences or business

I don’t think enough people with a job-guaranteed major like pre-med have a balanced background in the creative arts just like I don’t think those who major in the arts think about their financial future and take enough classes in economics, marketing, or business.

In the following video, Sir Ken Robinson speaks much more eloquently on this topic than I ever could and even though it is 20 minutes long, I highly encourage taking the time to listen to what he has to say. He’s funny, engaging and makes a whole helluva lot of sense.

Teens Don't Have to Be Aliens.

09.11.2010

Today was the first day of Lithuanian school, and I decided before summer to go back and teach because after a year’s break, I missed the routine (even though every Saturday morning as I rush to get out the door I ask myself, “Why am I doing this?” Although I use more colorful language.) But most importantly, I wanted to go back because I’m realizing with each year that I’m losing more of the language.

I’m teaching 8^th graders and I’m at the point where I chuckle to myself each time I tell someone because the commons response is, “Ugh, how can you do that?” When I taught full-time, I taught junior high and absolutely loved it but, at Lithuanian school, I always taught 4^th graders because I didn’t trust my language skills to be able to communicate appropriately especially if there would be disciplinary issues.

Anyway, I couldn’t be happier with my decision and am thrilled to pieces to be working with the group of kids that I have this year (whom I had as 4^th graders). The thing that people forget about teens is that if you reason with them, if you put yourself out there to see them eye-to-eye, they will return the respect. Think about it. What do teens want? They want to be heard and understood and if you provide that kind of an environment for them, they will work for you. As long as they know that they are safe and there is no judgment, they will open up and it’s precisely that opportunity that I like to provide for them. Teens are just awakening to the world around them and are learning to experience so many different emotions that I relish in being able to help guide them into helping them find their identity.

And a little thing I learned about myself today…to trust myself more and to give myself a bit more credit than I do. I even had the boys raising their hands and willingly participating in class discussion…in Lithuanian! That’s pretty damn good, if I may say so myself. It almost makes me want to have a teenager…

…I said almost…

Waiting for "Superman" (movie trailer)

08.23.2010

I will eventually write a rant about our education system especially in light of the heavy coverage by the Los Angeles Times; however, I haven’t been able to contain my anger and frustration enough to be able to put everything into words and to make it a manageable read.

But until I can sit down and accomplish that, please watch the following trailer and seriously consider going to see this movie when it comes out. Whether or not you have a child, you owe it to yourself to know and understand the dire straits that America is in. Our future depends on our ability to invest in it.[1]

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[1] Waiting for “Superman” official website: http://www.waitingforsuperman.com/

The Dangers of Education, Part III

06.05.2010

[I promise that this will be my last entry using the Mother Jones article on the crisis of overpopulation.]

I understand that organized religion can provide many benefits. Those who truly heed Jesus’ call or any other prophets to whom they pray really do do good in the world and help those less fortunate, provide an education, and try to help develop a positive self-esteem. But I believe that organized religion can fall into the same trap that many governments fall into: a need for control and power. The Catholic church is absolutely no exception to this and, I think, this comes out with issues about children and birth control.

Using the Philippines as an example, Whitty, the journalist from the Mother Jones magazine, states that birth control was once very high in the predominantly Catholic country. However, because of its religion, in 2003, the Philippine government “bowed to the church demands to support only ‘natural family planning’ – otherwise known as the ryhythm method, and grimly referred to as Vatican roulette.”[1]

“Today more than half of all pregnancies in the Philippines are unplanned – 10% more than a decade ago..the Guttmacher Institute [a think tank] calculates that easy access to contraception would reduce those births by 800,000 and abortions by half a million a year. Furthermore, it would deliver a net savings to the government on the order of $16.5 million a year in reduced health costs from unwatnted pregnancies, including the brutal medical consequences of illegal back-alley abortions.”[2]

So an education about birth control would:

1) REDUCE unwanted births by 800,000. REDUCE UNWANTED BIRTHS!

2) REDUCE abortions by ½ million a year. REDUCE ABORTIONS! Isn’t this what we ALL want regardless of where we stand on the issue?

3) saving money. Saving Money. One more time: SAVING MONEY!

So an education Reduces unwanted births, Reduces abortions and Saves money. What is the problem?

Ronald Reagan instigated the “global gag rule” in 1984 prohibiting the US funding of any foreign family planning organization to provide abortions which also, as a result, slowed and even stopped these organizations from providing health care to at least 26 developing nations, primarily in Africa. STDs skyrocketed along with unwanted pregnancies. I’m not advocating abortion as population control by any means. I’m advocating education of contraception and the dangers of sex when not careful. “The UN estimates that at its height in 2005, the unmet demand for contraceptives and family planning drove up fertility rates between 15 and 35 percent in Latin America, the Caribbean, the Arab states, Asia and Africa…”[3]

I get that Catholics want to advocate life and I don’t have a problem with that. But why can’t a woman (and a family) decide WHEN they want to bring a child into the world? It all comes down to sex and how it’s so “taboo.” An act that is innate and natural is taught that it is wrong and is used by the church to ensure control. This, in my opinion, is a crime against humanity. Accept that people have sex, provide them with the necessary information and celebrate the joy of a birth even more because you know that it was not only planned but that the parents have done what they can to prepare themselves to properly take care of the child. This could lower child abuse statistics, it could lower our overpopulation statistics and, in the end, contribute to raising happy, healthy and successful individuals. How is that so wrong?

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[1] Whitty, Julia Mother Jones Vol. 35, No. 3, San Francisco, CA, June 2010, pp. 40.

[2] pp. 40-41.

[3] p. 41.

The Dangers of Education, Part II

06.04.2010

One of the solutions that the journalist in the Mother Jones article that I referred to yesterday wrote about is “education.” Ironic, of course, because I opened my entry yesterday about how depressing it can be when one is educated and able to think critically.

There have been a number of studies that have shown that when a group of people is educated, the benefits of living rise exponentially. This is self-explanatory, I think, but what surprised me greatly was the fact that most illiterate people in the world are women. Actually, that fact alone doesn’t surprise me. Men, who make up most of governments, have always tried to suppress women and a lack of education is a very good way to suppress anybody. But I digress.

I’m sure we’ve all heard of microloans where a person in a poorly developed country, mostly a woman, receives a small scale loan of some sort to help her provide for her family. It can range from a monetary loan to being provided with a goat or some other animal to help her make some money.

A Bangladeshi man by the name of “Muhammad Yunus founded Grammen (“villages”) Bank in 1983. His revolutionary model was to loan to the unloanable poor – notably women – who lacked collateral, enabling them to develop their own businesses and free themselves from poverty. This radical innovation won Yunus the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.” Next is the clincher: “Empirical studies now support his intuition of 27 years ago: Women make better loan recipients than men if your aim is to increase family well-being. Compared to men’s loans, women’s loans double family income and increase child survival twenty-fold…[In other words,] The best 21^st-century contraceptive is a Yunusian device, a microloan.”[1]

When a woman is educated enough at least to take a loan and support herself, she sees the world a little differently and may have fewer children so that they can have a better life than she growing up. More money provides an opportunity for a better quality of life.

Many Americans have a better quality of life, but I think what’s happened is we’ve become greedy. We want 4 cars for a two-adult household, we want to be able to take whatever we want and use it because, by golly, we’re entitled to it. Right? But our selfishness and greed is destroying our future. But, I guess, because we don’t immediately feel the affects of our actions daily and right away, we choose to ignore it. And as long as we keep popping out babies, the notion is that we won’t be around in 100 years to feel the affects of our decisions of today, so why should we care? Our great-grandchildren won’t know who we are personally so there’s no deep investment that far down the line. What matters is that our emotional needs of having babies are satisfied now.

I leave with the following to think about:[2]

[1] pp. 41-42.

[2] p.31.

The Dangers of Education, Part I

06.03.2010

I sometimes feel a burden of being educated and being able to think critically. I know how that sounds. I know it makes me arrogant and self-righteous. But education does bring an extra layer of worry. Keeping up with various topics and, for the purposes of this blog, keeping up with the issues of children, it’s exhausting to read an article and look into our future and see how grim it can be.

I picked up a magazine that I never read called Mother Jones. I’ve heard of it and seen it at my mom’s house before, but I’ve never actually read it. I picked it up because the cover page was titled “Who’s to Blame for the Population Crisis? A) the Vatican B) Washington C) You.” Under each choice is a sketch of the Pope covering his eyes, Uncle Sam covering his ears and a woman covering her mouth (based on the famous “See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” motif). I immediately picked up the magazine because the issue of our global population crisis is one of the top reasons why I still have no child.

The article is mainly about India and I suppose the reason for that is because the population crisis there is emblematic of what the future holds for us. Much of India’s farmland has become desert with others in the process of becoming a desert. Topsoil in the US has long eroded shrinking our own farmland because of irresponsible farming practices as well as the demand for food outgrowing our ability to produce it. This prompted companies like McDonald’s to go to South America and start destroying the Amazon in order to graze cattle for beef to feed the need for our demand of fast food.

Globally, the tipping point came in 1983, “when our population of nearly 4.7 billion began to consume natural resources faster than they could be replenished – a phenomenon called ‘ecological overshoot.’ Last year, 6.8 billion of us consumed the renewable resources of 1.4 Earths.”[1]

What scared me immensely is the following statistic. “Planned or not, 139 million new people are added every year: more than an entire Japan, nearly an entire Russia…Countered against the 56 million deaths annually, our world gains 83 million extra people every year, the equivalent of another Iran. That’s 1.6 million more humans alive this week than last week and 227,000 more people today than yesterday – all needing food, water, homes, and medicine for an average lifespan of 69 years. We are asking our world to supply an additional 2.1 trillion human-days of life support for every single year. Eventually, most of these 83 million new people added every year will have kids, too.”[2]

How do I justify in my head bringing another human being into this world that is drowning in human population? How do I justify it?

The common misconception is that we are killing the Earth and one day, species will be extinct and we (humans) will all become extinct too. But the fact of the matter is that while we are killing parts of the Earth, she will survive. WE are killing ourselves and our future by overpopulating the Earth and using and abusing her resources for our own selfishness. Earth will figure out a way to survive. She has done so for decades and decades and decades. One of the ways she pays us back for our abuse is providing droughts. About 50,000 Europeans were killed in 2003 because of a heat wave while also slashing crops harvest by as much as 36%.[3] India is now experiencing a drought and we have begun to experience one in the US. Ever notice the water conservation ads that have started to hit the ad waves both on TV and on billboards? By over consuming and by the grace of our arrogance, we are killing ourselves. Not the Earth.

Do I want to bring a child into this?

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[1] Whitty, Julia Mother Jones Vol. 35, No. 3, San Francisco, CA, June 2010, pp. 27-28.

[2] p.34

[3] p. 31.

Least Likely Surprise

05.28.2010

Now that I no longer have my Friday morning class, I can return to my regular Friday meetings and hopefully start getting back on track with my weight.

I’ve been attending the same Friday morning meeting since 2003 so I knew it would be challenging to attend a new meeting and I can’t explain how much I had grown dependent on that Friday routine. Even though I chose to go to another meeting with the same leader, the dynamic of the group was different which affected everything for me. I suppose I went in with a fairly negative attitude ahead of time because I knew it was just temporary so every set back I had made it easier to blame on this new meeting.

Well, when I left last August, the Friday meeting was filled with people of different ages but most people hovered somewhere in their 30s and 40s. Now, 9 months later, I found myself surrounded with women who were in their 60s and above. I couldn’t help but look at these women and be amazed.

See, aren’t you supposed to have it all figured out by then? Aren’t you supposed to know what you want out of life and why? Don’t you know why you are the way that you are by that point in your life?

I’ve heard people with children say, “I wish I had it all figured out.” This constantly surprises me because I’ve always thought, “Wow, I don’t have kids because I don’t have it figured out and I’m waiting for that to happen so that I’ll be ready.”

But seeing these women humble enough to accept that they need help, unwilling to give up on their lives and on who they are and, on the contrary, willing to invest in themselves and find out who they are now gave me so much inspiration.

It doesn’t matter who you are, what you do, how old you are, whether you have kids or not, or how you choose to live your life. The point is to choose: to live your life. The point is to choose: to be the best that you can be. The point is to choose whatever is in your heart because if we’re lucky, we’re all going to reach the age of 60 or 70 and, along the way, keep trying to figure it all out. Each stage brings a new set of challenges and once one issue is solved another challenge is eager to find its way to your doorstep. No one has all the answers and most of us work with only the knowledge we have at that moment in time.

And the point of that: is to never stop learning.

Thank You Budget Cuts

04.25.2010

We went out for my mother-in-law’s birthday today and she and I caught up on some of the insanity that she faces at work. She is a counselor at a public high school with LAUSD and the story she parlayed to me made my blood boil. (I am so happy I didn’t pursue the teaching route. Oh my, am I happy.)

Thanks to the budget cuts, her counseling department is losing 2 people. So instead of 6 counselors (which already was pinching them), they will have 4. Each counselor will now be required to take care of over 600 students each, checking their class status, grade status, career and college preparation, keep up with any probations, IEPs (special ed requirements), etc. Whoever’s reading this imagine yourself in that position please. In an 8 hour work day, you’re required to deal with all of that (not counting any interruptions you might have when a student is acting out in class and you are called to handle the situation). And you must deal with all of this, including a hazardous work environment, all of this for about $40,000 a year to $60,000 (depending on your status with LAUSD). Attractive, eh? My former boss makes about $70K - $80K to sit on her ass all day…I’d certainly choose that over the above choice.

So the story my MIL told me was about how 2 different students were giving her a whole lot of attitude with statements like, “I don’t have to listen to you” or “Who are you to tell me what to do?” or, even better, a student defiantly eating an unfinished box of pizza that he illegally got delivered to school by his homies because he didn’t want to throw it away. And apparently that was more important than getting to class – for which he was already late. He just stood there in front of her stuffing his face with the pizza refusing to throw out the box.

What do you do? How the hell to you deal with this? How do you go through the motions at work, deal with the stress of everything involved and go home in a good mood? We are creating a sick, toxic-filled environment for everyone involved.

This kind of shit drives me crazy especially because it contributes to a vicious cycle. These kids come from damaged families and are filled with hate so they’re taking it out on other adults because they’ve learned to not trust them.

And these kids come from families who keep having kids. And they keep having kids because the god damn Catholic church refuses to accept contraception. Or parents are in denial that their kids are having sex and so they don’t arm them with the knowledge about contraception.

Now the school budget is being cut even more decreasing the amount of security on campuses, the amount of administrators, teachers and support staff. And my mother-in-law predicted, and rightly so I think, that they’re going to keep cutting it over the next few years and won’t stop until another Columbine occurs. It’s going to take a mass shooting where mass amounts of death occur for people to wake up and realize how broken our education system is. And who knows if even that will happen because all that ever seems to ignite is “Who cares that people died? Don’t take away my 2^nd Amendment right to bear arms!”

You Are Not Your Child's "Friend"

04.24.2010

Sometimes I get a little tired of all the parents who are trying to be their children’s friends. We all want to be liked and we all convince ourselves throughout our lives that once we’re gonna be parents we’re gonna be the “cool” parents and that our kids won’t be embarrassed by us like we were by our parents.

Well, that ain’t ever going to happen. Kids are going to be embarrassed by their parents no matter what. So I think it’s better to acknowledge that you’re a parent and that you’re the adult so it’s your job to set the rules, the boundaries, and, in order to instill these rules and boundaries, you’re gonna have to be the “bad cop” sometimes.

As a full-time teacher and then 7 years of teaching at Lithuanian school, I have seen too many parents care more about pleasing their child in the world of extra curricular activities than in education. Why can’t there be a balance and rules and consequences set up?

There are plenty of kids whose grades are falling to the wayside and yet there is absolutely no price to pay for that. Kids still get to go to b-day parties, field trips, or other such extra activities that, when I was growing up, were reserved as extras once certain responsibilities were taken care of. It’s kind of like doling out trophies to everyone who participated in a sports event because it’s politically correct. We don’t want to “offend” any child and make them “feel badly” about themselves. Give me a break! If a child doesn’t learn priorities and that certain things are rewards for working hard then how is that child going to become a productive and responsible adult?

Grades aren’t everything, I certainly know that. And Lord knows that I was such a poor student that I nearly failed 3^rd grade, 5^th grade and 6^th grade. And high school was a challenge too. But poor grades weren’t rewarded and I certainly wasn’t allowed to do everything under the sun. I see too many children learning that a heavy social calendar is more important than an education and, in an educational system that is already failing, parental attitude is certainly not helping the situation.

The Teaching Profession: Once Upon a Time

04.23.2010

[It’s hard to believe that April is almost over and that 1/3 of the year is practically gone!]

Food for thought: At one point in US History, only men were the educators and teaching positions were one of the highest paid salaries in the nation. Gradually, as the Industrial Revolution provided more technical opportunities and required knowledge of machinery, more men left the teaching profession to jump on the Revolution’s bandwagon.

Teachers were still needed and women wanted to work. So more women took the positions that the men were leaving behind…but it wasn’t really considered “working” if a woman was doing it and so, what was once a highly lucrative field, dropped in economic value and hasn’t recovered since.

Once starting school, a child spends more time at school with teachers than at home with parents. We instill our trust in a different individual each year and instill our trust in an institution to partner with us as parents to raise and shape a little person. Why did we consider education to be more important when men operated it?

Public vs. Private: An Education

04.20.2010

Continuing with my education topic for the week, I’ll briefly talk about the issue of a public education vs. a private one. Here’s a funny side note on this very topic. About 2 years ago, I came across this list of questions for couples to discuss with each other in an attempt to get closer. As I’m always trying to find ways to keep open Rob’s and my communication, I jumped at this opportunity. The questions were ones like, how you view money, what do you personally wish to achieve in the next 5 years, what’s your view on religion, spirituality, etc. I made a nice dinner for us, had a bottle of wine, and we’re great company (for each other)! What could go wrong? The question that Rob and I got into a knock down, drag out argument over was the one about what kind of an education we would want for our children. It became a public school vs. private school debate as he’s a product of public school and I’m a product of private school.

He felt that I was critical of the education he got and couldn’t understand why I, the one who is most vocal about the hypocritical nature of the Catholic Church, would want to send my kids to a private, religious institution.

My argument wasn’t about what kind of a religious institution the kids would go to. Cause I don’t really care. Rob was raised Lutheran and so I’m perfectly OK with them going to a Lutheran school. One of the biggest reasons for me has to do with uniforms, silly as that may sound. It is only recently that people are finding that when kids, especially high school students, are in uniform, the behavioral problems decrease significantly. Students become more focused and are less inclined to dwell on brand competition. If public schools had uniforms, I’d most likely change my tune. I ask, what is the first change implemented in a public school when the State takes it over? Uniforms are brought in and test scores go up. The scores may not go up dramatically within that first year but, let’s face it, they go up. But it’s the changes in the needed disciplinary actions that significantly decrease once uniforms are implemented.

There’s also something to be said for when you (directly) pay for an education. You can have more of a direct say with how it’s being handled. With public schools, you may complain to the principal, but because of bureaucracy you’re going to be knocking your head up against a brick wall much sooner than you would in a private school.

Having said that, I have a thing or two to say about private schools too. I attended them most of my life and worked for 2 years as a teacher in private schools. There are definite drawbacks (like the stupid rule: no co-ed parties in junior high. Really? Cause what I do at home is not a part of the school’s jurisdiction). In the end, whether we send the kids to a public or private school (and I haven’t even discussed tuition here), I already know that I’m going to be my child’s school’s worst nightmare because I know exactly what to look for (textbook publication dates, extra curricular activity availability, homework assignments, e.g.) and, most importantly, how many new teachers the school has and what is the turnover rate.

If you’re gonna do it (be a parent), then, well…do it right. Right?