Questions I Get Asked (Part 4A)

“My child is failing. We've had parent conferences. We’ve tried rewards. We’ve tried punishments. We’ve tried everything. Now, after his last report card, he has nothing left to take away. No phone. No computer. We don’t allow him to go outside. We’ve told him we’re gonna send him to a military school if he doesn’t get with the program. Nothing helps. What else can we do?"

Ever felt like that as a parent? Maybe even said those things? Done those things?

It’s a very common tale. Especially in middle school. Even more so in high school. Parents rack their brains, trying to solve this mystery. Yet, everything that logic dictates, everything Dr. Spock—the therapist, not the Vulcan—said was true (and now we’re finding less and less accurate, but the damage has already been done), everything the Ritalin-prescribing doctors out there lead us to believe, the little Johnnys and Little Janies of our American schools still defy the logic and cause us to question the conventional, medical, and psychotherapeutic wisdom of the day.

As a result, parents become exasperated. Threats of military school, going to live with the estranged spouse in another state, or even hollow threats of abandonment become last ditch efforts, “parental shock therapy,” if you will, trying to get Little Johnny or Little Janie to get their minds right.

The problem I’ve found over the years is, none of that works. The rewards don’t motivate. The Ritalin creates a slew of other issues to be dealt with later in life, namely drug addiction. The slow march toward solitary confinement doesn’t even make a dent, either. It actually seems to fuel the fire and turn the seemingly rebellious teen into a warrior, a protestor, almost a martyr. Especially in the eyes of his friends.

So, what’s the answer?

First, you have to diagnose the problem. And in my years of dealing with high school and middle school students, the cause I have found is simple, yet profound. It’s called “Purpose.”

Let’s get into the mind of a student for a moment (scary thought, I know). For most teens, they are trying to figure out how they fit in, as Paul McCartney said way back in the 1970s, “This ever-changing world in which we live in.” For some students, they have adopted the attitude of Live and Let Die. They can’t make any sense of this world we live in. “It’s cruel. It’s harsh. It’s battered my parents. We’re poor. They’re divorced. I hate my stepdad (or stepmom). I hate my teachers. I hate school. We’ve got people blowing up other people all around the world. All politicians do is talk crap about other politicians and look out for themselves. Nobody cares about anybody anymore, except themselves. So, why should I?”

Does that about sum it up? Do you hear your student chant these kinds of words? Do you hear the fatalism? The lack of hope? The lack of purpose? And the resolve to ultimately become just like the problem? It’s almost an “If-you-can’t-beat-‘em-join-‘em” mentality. Hence, the obsessions with video games, for example. Video games accomplish two things in the mind of a rebellious teenager: 1) “I can be by myself. I don’t have to deal with anybody. If I choose to interact with people, I can do it over the internet, and if they bother me too much, I can just shoot them, Call of Duty style”; 2) “This is what I want to do. I want to spend hours playing these games, so don’t come in here and tell me to do my homework or clean up my room or do chores. That’s not what I want to do, and you can’t make me.”

Another issue which often arises is “running the streets” with like-minded souls. In this day and age, the “streets” don’t have to be literal streets. They can be the streets of cyberspace, too, and often are. In any format, the old adage of “misery loves company” still holds true. Students who feel this way always find others who feel the same way. This becomes a wonderful accident, because they never thought anyone felt the same way they did. Nobody understood them. They were the first and only person ever to deal with such deplorable conditions. So, when they find others who hate life as much as they do, guess what they do? Spend time together. Lamenting about how bad life is. And together, they come up with “wonderful ideas” on how to squelch their feelings of loneliness and heartache. Those ideas range from dark poetry to cutting to drugs and sex. All efforts to fill a void they can’t explain but know exists.

The key for parents (and educators, in my opinion) is to help your student find his or her purpose in life BEFORE the bad grades begin and the threats of military school reverberate off the walls of your home. It starts early. In elementary school. Maybe even kindergarten. As a parent, you have to be in tune with your children. When you’re spending time with them, listen to what they talk about. Watch their mind work. Pay attention to what toys and games they gravitate to as they live their lives. These actions will be important clues into the mind and heart of your child.

For example, I was noticing the other day how my grandson likes to build things. Blocks. Tinker Toys. Now, he has one of those erector sets. He loves those kinds of things. I’ve started paying attention to how he processes things. He’s a very deep thinker for a five year old. So, right now (and of course, it can change as his horizons expand), I think he’ll probably be an engineer or a building contractor, based on the “data” I’ve collected so far. Again, that could all change. I know of one person whose spacial recognition portion of the TABE test was perfect. The Air Force recruiter couldn’t believe it. He’d never seem anyone get all of them correct within the time allotted and not be an engineer, a scientist, or work for NASA. So, not everyone with that kind of a keen mind ends up building skyscrapers or designing rockets.

The point is, helping children find purpose in life, opening them up to all the possibilities this world has to offer when it comes to general life, hobbies, and making a living are all important. When you know what your purpose is, then life starts to make sense. Without a purpose, there is no sense to life. No point to it. No reason to care.

I remember working with a middle school student who fell into this category. The mother was beside herself. So, I started asking questions of the student. What did he like to do? How did he spend his time? The answer? Outdoors. Fishing, especially. He lived and breathed fishing and everything to do with fishing. The more I delved into this area, the more I found out about how much he not only liked fishing, he LOVED fishing. Had his own little john boat and everything. Spent his afternoons out on a lake instead of doing his homework.

So, I called the mother and said in so many words, “This is what you need to do. You need to figure out what you and he can do, afford, etc., in your everyday budget of life and start helping your son follow his dreams.”

 So, she did. His reading abilities needed work, so I suggested buying him magazines in those fields, like Field & Stream or some other outdoorsy kind of magazine, even let him pick ‘em to gain buy in. Just keep doing that until you find some he loves, then keep the subscription current!

She also told me of a situation that had happened in the past that could be used to help him get a little part-time job at a bait store. The person who owned the bait store had connections to the professional tournaments for bass fishing.

And. Away. We. Go.

The student’s grades, behavior, even demeanor started to turn around. It was tough sledding for a while, and the road wasn’t always smooth, but it was getting better. I believe the road was bumpy because she didn’t catch on to his dreams earlier in his life. Had she realized what we found out when he was seven or eight years old, middle school may have been an entirely different story. I mean, she knew he loved fishing, but she never put two-and-two together. I guess to her, fishing was a hobby, like building bird houses. He can’t make a living at it, so he needs to grow up at some point. However, once we investigated it, she realized there was more money in that field than the one she was working in at the time, especially if he got into the professional bass tournament arena.

For, you see, helping your student find his or her purpose is Step 1 of the process. A crucial step to a more fulfilling life. However, you can’t stop here.

Next month, I’ll discuss Step 2, which is just as important, and if neglected, creates for yourself a whole different set of issues.

*Generic photos courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

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Short Bio

C. KEVIN THOMPSON is an ordained minister with a B.A. In Bible (Houghton College, Houghton, NY), an M.A. in Christian Studies (Wesley Biblical Seminary, Jackson, MS), and an M.Ed. in Educational Leadership (National-Louis University, Wheeling, IL). He presently works as an assistant principal in a middle school. He also has several years of experience as an administrator at the high school level.

A former Language Arts teacher, Kevin decided to put his money where his mouth was and write, fiction mostly. Now, years later, he is a member of the Christian Authors Network (CAN), American Christian Fictions Writers (ACFW), and Word Weavers International. He is the Chapter President of Word Weavers-Lake County (FL), and his published works include two award-winning novels, The Serpent’s Grasp (Winner of the 2013 Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writers Conference Selah Award for First Fiction) and 30 Days Hath Revenge - A Blake Meyer Thriller: Book 1, as well as articles in The Wesleyan Advocate, The Preacher, Vista, The Des Moines Register and The Ocala Star-Banner.

Kevin is a huge fan of the TV series 24, The Blacklist, Blue Bloods, and Criminal Minds, loves anything to do with Star Trek, and is a Sherlock Holmes fanatic, too.

Website:           www.ckevinthompson.com

Blogs:               www.ckevinthompson.blogspot.com

Facebook:          C. Kevin Thompson – Author Page

Twitter:            @CKevinThompson

Goodreads:        C. Kevin Thompson

Questions I Get Asked (Part 3)

“My child is being bullied. What are you going to do about it?"

It’s not always asked in those exact words, but the meaning is intended and clear.

The issue of bullying has become arguably the biggest topic within schools next to Columbine and Common Core. Programs designed to “stomp out bullying” and make school “bully-free” have become numerous. I get several emails a year from companies touting their curriculum as the one that will do the trick. School districts across the country scramble to find the right combination of curriculum, emphasis, and training to eradicate bullying from their campuses.

However, the push to eliminate a problem that has plagued mankind since man started to coexist seems illogical at its root. People have been “bullying” people for millennia. Everybody from siblings to neighborhood thugs to organized crime bosses to kings bent on conquest, the list of those wishing to abuse others and/or take advantage of others for some kind of personal gain is endless.

Take, for example, a parent—the mild mannered, soccer mom type—who threatens a teacher and/or administrator when she finds out her child is being suspended because he/she got into a fight. This parent says she will “call her lawyer” if the school doesn’t change their mind. What that parent is really saying is, “You had better do something different to my child (i.e., no suspension), or I’m going to manipulate you into doing my bidding.” Isn’t that a form of bullying? Yes. Does she have a lawyer on retainer? Probably not. But within this litigious society we find ourselves, it’s the threat that carries the weight. A classic form of bullying, if you check the definition.

Bullying, according to Merriam Webster, means “to treat abusively” or “to affect by means of force or coercion.” You can see in my example above that Mrs. Soccer Mom would be trying to coerce that teacher or administrator into a different decision. It has nothing to do with, “Should the child be punished?” If the child was involved in a bona fide fight, then the answer is obvious. A loving, level-headed parent should be angry with the student, right? The teacher or administrator didn’t get into the fight. They didn’t force little Johnny to throw several blows. And if level-headedness prevailed, a compromise might be on the table if it is warranted. But when threats are made by the soccer mom, then one has to wonder little how Johnny got into the fight. It’s the “Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree” syndrome. Amazing how those who cry foul and demand a “bully-free” zone are actually pretty good at bullying. I see it all the time.

What about the politician who tells a fellow congresswoman that if she votes for his bill, then he’ll vote for hers, implying that if she doesn’t, there will be negative consequences for her legislation? Isn’t that bullying? Yes. Does it happen all the time? Most likely, and let’s not even talk about lobbyists at this time, okay?

 

Or what about the pervasiveness of treating others abusively across every facet of the entertainment industry? Comedians, rappers, late night talk show hosts, and a host of others are all guilty of using abusive language about others, belittling and dehumanizing others, making fun of others, using others as the butt of a joke, while doing so for personal profit. And yes, I know, it’s a free country with First Amendment rights. Rappers can call women all sorts of derogatory names and sing about how they use and abuse them for the property they really are. Comedians can make fun of people with disabilities, people who they think aren’t pretty or handsome, and people from other cultures, races, or countries, using these folks as punchlines. Movie/TV producers and actors/actresses can make fun of political parties, religions, and what many would consider wholesome living (think Andy Griffith here), and their profits may even suffer as a result, but they have the right to do so.

What’s puzzling to me, though, is we mysteriously support that kind of bullying. We buy tickets to the live shows and movies. We purchase the cable service to watch the TV shows, and laugh at the crude jokes. We purchase the songs, listen to the vile lyrics, even sing the songs out loud, and think nothing of it.

To add to this double standard, we actually encourage all of this by participating in it more and more each year. You never hear of parents saying, “We are going to stomp out bullying by no longer supporting these people. I’m canceling my cable. We’re deleting the rap music. We’re boycotting movies.” For the vast, vast majority, the very people who complain that their child “is being bullied” think nothing of allowing their child to watch the shows and the movies, download the aforementioned songs, or—are you ready for this?—possess a cell phone. Yes, with that device, that same student can not only access the foul and abusive songs that denigrate women, but they can listen to them 24/7, with an earbud hanging from their head all hours of the day. That same student can also view and share the Facebook pictures making fun of people who shop at Wal-Mart. He can share hurtful videos and posts via apps his parents don’t even know exist. These videos and posts make fun of and disparage other students at his school. Often, those same posts even threaten the targeted students with promised attacks upon return to school. He’s part of the problem, but don’t tell that to his mom and dad, or they’ll get a lawyer.

So, before we accuse others of bullying, maybe we should look in the mirror. And maybe we should be more realistic about our abilities to “stomp out bullying.” I wish we could, but human nature has set a precedent over the last several thousand years. Bullying has permeated every country, every kingdom, and every society. There isn’t one group of humans that has existed in human history who lived “bully-free.” Those are just the facts.

I often tell students that they need to ignore those who make fun of them because people who make fun of others are doing it for one of three reasons: 1) They want to make people laugh and cover up their lack of self-esteem in the process; 2) They need to belittle others to make themselves look more important and improve their self-worth in the eyes of others; or 3) They have a serious self-esteem issue and become mean-spirited by attacking others. In any of these cases, the problem doesn’t lie with you, the target. The bully is the one with the problem.

Ignore them. It’s hard to do, I know. But I believe teaching students how to handle it realistically is a better method than promising to do something we all know will never happen, like stomping out bullying. Even making it illegal and punishing it severely won’t work. If it won’t work for murder, probably won’t work with bullying, either. Besides, we all know that the politicians responsible creating that law would find a way to exempt themselves. I mean, how could they legislate our countries and stay in power if they aren’t exempt? (Do you see my tongue in my cheek here?)

Now, should we deal with those who do bully others? Yes. And most school districts have policies in place now which deal with such issues. But not all cases of supposed bullying are actually bullying. They often are cases of both parties exhibiting bullying behavior until one party shouts “I’m the victim,” or one party says, “Enough is enough,” and turns the words into some kind of physical retaliation. In either case, it’s not true bullying. Not when both parties are involved.

Only if one party is treating the other abusively or trying to coerce the other into doing something they would not do otherwise do we have a case of bullying. Sadly, most children retaliate against others who say hurtful things by doing the same. Often using social media to do it. All that does is escalate the matter and involve more individuals, making it harder to ignore.

Be careful when you chant the mantra of “Stomp Out Bullying.” That highway travels north and south. Usually the latter. And usually in a hurry.

Teaching your children to not bully and to treat others with respect (Does “turn the other cheek” and “love thy neighbor” sound familiar?) is the best way to eradicate bullying from our families.

And even that is a tough job to complete.

*Generic photos courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

_____________________________________

Short Bio

C. KEVIN THOMPSON is an ordained minister with a B.A. In Bible (Houghton College, Houghton, NY), an M.A. in Christian Studies (Wesley Biblical Seminary, Jackson, MS), and an M.Ed. in Educational Leadership (National-Louis University, Wheeling, IL). He presently works as an assistant principal in a middle school. He also has several years experience as an administrator at the high school level.

A former Language Arts teacher, Kevin decided to put his money where his mouth was and write, fiction mostly. Now, years later, he is a member of the Christian Authors Network (CAN), American Christian Fictions Writers (ACFW), and Word Weavers International. He is the Chapter President of Word Weavers-Lake County (FL), and his published works include two award-winning novels, The Serpent’s Grasp (Winner of the 2013 Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writers Conference Selah Award for First Fiction) and 30 Days Hath Revenge - A Blake Meyer Thriller: Book 1, as well as articles in The Wesleyan Advocate, The Preacher, Vista, The Des Moines Register and The Ocala Star-Banner.

Kevin is a huge fan of the TV series 24 , The Blacklist, Blue Bloods, and Criminal Minds, loves anything to do with Star Trek, and is a Sherlock Holmes fanatic, too.

Website:           www.ckevinthompson.com

Blogs:               www.ckevinthompson.blogspot.com

Facebook:          C. Kevin Thompson – Author Page

Twitter:            @CKevinThompson

Goodreads:        C. Kevin Thompson

Questions I Get Asked (Part 2)

“Why do schools suspend students so much? All you’re doing is giving students a vacation. It doesn’t teach them anything but to misbehave to get what they want."

With that logic, then adults should come to work and refuse to do anything. When they are told they’d better get to work or they’re going to get written up, then they should cause a scene, maybe call their boss a few unprintable, four-letter names, and then storm out of the office against orders to stay or else.

I mean, don’t all adults want a vacation?

Especially when the going gets tough?

If that’s how it really works, shouldn’t all adults use this method of “vacation acquisition”?

Let’s try an experiment, Mom and Dad. Your next day at work, try acting that way, making sure you call your boss something that rhymes with “trucker,” and then come back and post in the comment section the results. How long of a vacation did you receive? Make sure you tell us. Inquiring minds want to know.

Can you see the sarcasm dripping off your monitor? Do you understand why I am being so acerbic? If this “logic” doesn’t apply to adults, why is it supposed to be different with our children? Our students? Our schools? Are we not supposed to be training them for the real world? Are we not supposed to show them there are serious consequences for really poor actions? That actions have consequences? That respect for people in positions of authority is a good thing to learn?

If schools are “giving students a vacation,” then we have to ask why getting to stay home is so enjoyable. For me, growing up, if I got suspended, I knew life at home would have been a living Hades. School would have looked like a movie theater, a theme park, a football game, or any other place I would have loved to frequent. Therefore, if a suspension becomes a vacation, then we have to ask some tough questions as parents.

Question #1: Am I, as a parent, supporting bad behaviors by being supportive of my student when I know his or her actions are wrong? It’s one thing to support our children through thick and thin by never leaving them nor forsaking them, regardless of how they act, but a parent can still do that and discipline the child. Right?

Question #2: When my child is home because of a suspension, why are they allowed to do what they want to do? Why do we, as parents, allow it to be vacation-like? Should we not reinforce the consequences at home and band together with the school to teach good behavior? When a parent positions himself or herself in-between the student and the school (and we’re talking about legitimate offenses here), all it does is drive a wedge between the student, the family, and the school. This empowers the student’s negative behavior and makes it worse, not better. The goal should be to correct the behavior and promote better behavior for next time. This takes a concerted effort with the school being supported by the parent when the punishment is justified. 

Question #3: When a child disrupts a class to the point where a teacher has to continually stop teaching to get the student with poor behavior to cease and desist, when does the education of the other twenty or so students come into play? When is their education more important than one ill-behaved student who’d rather destroy a classroom than be educated? More and more students are being pulled from schools and placed in private schools or home-schooled by parents who are tired of their students’ education being sacrificed while students who don’t know how to behave are allowed to remain in classes with little or no consequence for their actions.

In education, a teacher must be concerned about his or her students. All of them. Twenty or so at a time. Class by class. An administrator has to be concerned about not just the twenty or so in a particular class, he or she has to be concerned about all the students on campus. That could be thousands.

Logic would dictate that if one student is allowed to conduct himself or herself in a manner that should receive punishment warranting a suspension, then the teacher must allow the other twenty or so to act the same way, get away with the same behaviors, etc. Same goes for the administrator. If one is allowed to curse out a teacher and call them something that rhymes with “trucker,” then he or she must allow the other thousand or more students do the same with no consequences.

Question #4: What kind of school would they have in about two weeks?

I’ll tell you what kind. The kind at which no one would want to teach, administrate, or attend. If you’ve never seen the movie Lean on Me, starring Morgan Freeman, maybe you should. Joe Clark, the real-life New Jersey principal Freeman portrays in the movie, knew what bad behavior allowed to run amuck could do to a school.

He also knew how good the school could be.

So, when your child gets suspended, ask yourself as a parent this:

Queston #5: What do I want my child to learn?

Isn’t that the point of education, after all?

*Generic photos courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

_____________________________________

Short Bio

C. KEVIN THOMPSON is an ordained minister with a B.A. In Bible (Houghton College, Houghton, NY), an M.A. in Christian Studies (Wesley Biblical Seminary, Jackson, MS), and an M.Ed. in Educational Leadership (National-Louis University, Wheeling, IL). He presently works as an assistant principal in a middle school. He also has several years experience as an administrator at the high school level.

A former Language Arts teacher, Kevin decided to put his money where his mouth was and write, fiction mostly. Now, years later, he is a member of the Christian Authors Network (CAN), American Christian Fictions Writers (ACFW), and Word Weavers International. He is the Chapter President of Word Weavers-Lake County (FL), and his published works include two award-winning novels, The Serpent’s Grasp (Winner of the 2013 Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writers Conference Selah Award for First Fiction) and 30 Days Hath Revenge - A Blake Meyer Thriller: Book 1, as well as articles in The Wesleyan Advocate, The Preacher, Vista, The Des Moines Register and The Ocala Star-Banner.

Kevin is a huge fan of the TV series 24 , The Blacklist, Blue Bloods, and Criminal Minds, loves anything to do with Star Trek, and is a Sherlock Holmes fanatic, too.

Website:           www.ckevinthompson.com

Blogs:               www.ckevinthompson.blogspot.com

Facebook:          C. Kevin Thompson – Author Page

Twitter:            @CKevinThompson

Goodreads:        C. Kevin Thompson

Questions I Get Asked (Part 1)

“Why does my child have so much homework? We never had that much homework when I was in school."

I believe the answer to this question lies somewhere between myth and reality. I think we forget sometimes how much homework we had back in the day. I can remember coming home with 40 proofs to manhandle from my Geometry class. We also were given dozens of sentences to diagram (remember that lost art?), books to read and the subsequent book reports to write, and the rules of the sports we played in PE to learn and regurgitate on a test. 

Now, granted, the times, they are a changin’. The level of understanding, or should we say, the bar, is being raised. Much of what we were asked to do back in the day falls under what we now rate as a Level 1 or Level 2 understanding on Webb’s Depth of Knowledge scale (DOK). In other words, we could recall information. “Columbus sailed the ocean blue in fourteen hundred and ninety-two.” Most quizzes and tests we took simply asked us to recall and reproduce material and information, which once was regurgitated on said test, was often forgotten by the end of the week.

We also were required to compare and contrast, summarize, and other such tasks. For example, I had a class entitled Capitalism versus Communism. It was a requirement for graduation. We also had to summarize various things, like the book reports we had to write.

As a result, teachers assigned homework which reinforced these educational requirements. The 40 proofs and the numerous sentenced to diagram, for example.

The question we must ask at this point is this: How well did this type of education prepare us for the real world? Answer? Not very well.

Now, students are being asked to reach Level 3 understanding in any and all material. What does Level 3 understanding look like?

At this level of complexity, students must use planning and evidence, and thinking is more abstract. A task with multiple valid responses where students must justify their choices would be Level 3. Examples include solving non-routine problems, designing an experiment, or analyzing characteristics of a genre (Emphasis added).¹

In other words, students have to already know all the things we had to learn and then take it to the next step. Look at all the highlighted words above. In order to plan and use evidence to back up your ideas and analysis, a student now must be able to interact with the material, solve problems that are “real world,” and be able to reason through those issues. This is what educators call “higher-order thinking skills."

I have to admit that I was not taught how to think like this until I got to college. That’s too late. I should have been taught how to do these things long before my freshman year. I almost quit after the first semester because I felt so inadequately prepared. Sadly, many college students do. 

But let’s not just focus on college. Having these kind of higher-order thinking skills will prepare our students to be better citizens in the work force, too, if that’s where they choose to head after high school graduation. For instance, how many times have you run across this scenario:  A young person is working behind the counter at a McDonald’s or local grocery store. Your bill comes to $12.28. So, you hand the cashier a $20 bill and three pennies. If the cash register doesn’t do the math for the cashier, he or she is lost. You can see them trying to do the math in their heads. Usually, they get it wrong. If I was a dishonest person, I could take advantage of this situation so easily.

Those cashiers are products of a system that only required Level 1 and Level 2 understanding. Heaven forbid if the power goes out or they don’t have access to a smart phone with a calculator app.

Because of this trend, the bar has been raised. Because the bar has been raised, students must reach Level 3 in order to pass many of the tests they will take in their futures, whether they come in the form of a teacher-created test or a state-mandated assessment exam. In order to get to Level 3 (or even Level 4), students will have more homework. That homework will be more complex, too.

Therefore, the attitude we must take toward homework as parents must be a positive one. If we gripe and complain about it, what kind of attitude will our students develop? The same one. Homework is nothing more than practice. I often use the analogy of an Xbox or PlayStation. I ask students to pretend they and their friends are playing a game. They all have equal skills. Their friends (Group A) get to play that game three hours a day. They (Group B) only get to play it three hours a week. At the end of a month, which student is more likely to be better at the game? The students I ask always know the answer. Group A will be better.

Homework is no different.

The problem with homework, as I see it, is there are more demands on a student’s time than ever before. Some are legitimate. Others are voluntary. Everything from travel ball to video games to social networks to television to smart phones and tablets eat up so much time.

The question parents must ask in the end is this: Of all the things clamoring for the precious minutes of each and every day, which ones have the most impact on our student’s future?

Homework, which is related to a student’s overall education, should rank near the top and have a priority above other things, especially those which have little to no bearing on education, like video games and social media.

“I want my kid to have a life” is a phrase I hear a lot. So do educators. The question a parent needs to ask is this: What kind of life do I want my child to have in the future?

¹ http://www.edutopia.org/blog/webbs-depth-knowledge-increase-rigor-gerald-aungst

*Generic photos courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

_____________________________________

Short Bio

C. KEVIN THOMPSON is an ordained minister with a B.A. In Bible (Houghton College, Houghton, NY), an M.A. in Christian Studies (Wesley Biblical Seminary, Jackson, MS), and an M.Ed. in Educational Leadership (National-Louis University, Wheeling, IL). He presently works as an assistant principal in a middle school. He also has several years experience as an administrator at the high school level.

A former Language Arts teacher, Kevin decided to put his money where his mouth was and write, fiction mostly. Now, years later, he is a member of the Christian Authors Network (CAN), American Christian Fictions Writers (ACFW), and Word Weavers International. He is the Chapter President of Word Weavers-Lake County (FL), and his published works include two award-winning novels, The Serpent’s Grasp (Winner of the 2013 Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writers Conference Selah Award for First Fiction) and 30 Days Hath Revenge - A Blake Meyer Thriller: Book 1, as well as articles in The Wesleyan Advocate, The Preacher, Vista, The Des Moines Register and The Ocala Star-Banner.

Kevin is a huge fan of the TV series 24 , The Blacklist, Blue Bloods, and Criminal Minds, loves anything to do with Star Trek, and is a Sherlock Holmes fanatic, too.

Website:           www.ckevinthompson.com

Blogs:               www.ckevinthompson.blogspot.com
Facebook:          C. Kevin Thompson – Author Page
Twitter:            @CKevinThompson
Goodreads:        C. Kevin Thompson

The Outrage over Common Core Doesn’t Add Up

It all started when a group of business leaders and educators got together and lamented about how each state had their own standardized testing. With this system in place, some states fared better than others when it came to college entrance, job placement, etc., all because some states were preparing their students better than others.

You can just imagine how that news played out in the states lagging behind.

As a result, business leaders and educational professionals began dialogue on how to better equalize the playing field and yet better prepare students across the nation for the jobs in the present-day workforce and the workforce to come. A strong emphasis on the “STEM” subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) were promoted for obvious reasons.

In a cursory glance, you can understand why they did what they did. The questions people are having now, after the fact, after these standards have already been developed and rolled out, are curiously late. I’m not faulting Mr. & Mrs. Jones living on AnyStreet USA, trying to put food on the table and raise a family—at least not yet.

At this very moment, I’m faulting our elected officials and the people they supervise, namely, The U.S. Dept. of Education. This department was in charge of developing these standards. The U.S. government was responsible for overseeing those standards to make sure they were the best they could be. However, it seems many a politician had no clue what was in those standards, and it wasn’t until a few Mr. & Mrs. Joneses either read them or dealt with them first hand as their students learned flawed material in class, that the people ultimately responsible for these standards suddenly took note. As a matter of fact, Common Core wasn’t even developed properly by standards developed for standard writing. Those responsible for helping set the standards on standards didn’t even follow their own standards. Wow. I’m shocked. Aren’t you? “Do as I say, not as I do….”

However, before we throw your Democratic & Republican representatives to the wolves, we need to

ask ourselves a good question: “Who elected these officials who apparently didn’t know: 1) who wrote the standards; 2) who was responsible for overseeing those standards; and 3) what they contained?”

“In a democracy, the people get the government they deserve.” No one seems to know who actually said this, but it’s gold, nevertheless. We are ultimately responsible. We, the people. We vote representatives in. We allow them to be swayed by lobbyists. We look the other way when they vote their conscious instead of the will of the people they represent. We often vote them in simply because of name recognition. Yeah, that’s a good reason. Good thing Adolph Hitler and Charles Manson aren’t around to throw their hats in the ring.

I get it. Some material in the new educational standards adopted by nearly all 50 states in the beginning is questionable. Some would argue downright propaganda and determined to indoctrinate students. Those who espouse such beliefs have some legitimate concerns and the material to back up those claims. Their outrage has caused many to put on the brakes to full implementation to Common Core.

Some states, Like Florida, for example, have “gone off the reservation” and created their own version of the Common Core, called the Florida Standardized Assessments, or FSA’s. However, those were created so late in the game, results have been delayed as the validity of the test has come into question.

Parents, upset with the entire process and the fact schools in America are lagging behind their industrial counterparts, are fighting back by pulling their students out of regular, public education systems and opting for home schooling, online schooling, or a combination of the two.

I, for one, have no problem with home schooling or online education so long as it meets the needs of the student and doesn’t serve some other nefarious agenda. Some students work better in other environments. We see it all the time in education. Not every student was cut out for a regimented, K-12, assembly-line kind of format. Some educational professionals would even go so far to say that most students don’t fit that mold anymore and to keep holding to Henry Ford model is antiquated and needs to go. But that’s a different discussion for a different time.

I have one question that keeps coming back to mind each time this outrage over Common Core raises its head. Where has the outrage been in the past? Let’s face it, Common Core, for all intents and purposes, is nothing more than politicians and business conglomerates deciding for the American public what THEY think is best for America. Translation? What makes them more money, gives them more political clout, and helps them maintain the money and power they already enjoy?

And please don’t make this a Democrat versus Republican debate. The Republicans and the Democrats are all in when it comes to Common Core. Very few on either side see issues with Common Core, and if they do, many of them didn’t until they started experiencing political backlash. And even then, they still believe Common Core is the way to go, it just needs to be tweaked or redesigned.

Take, for example, this article on the Republican side of the ledger. Some Republicans changed their views after a wave of outrage hit the news and made them look bad. But many still support it. Some of which are presently running for president.

Same goes for the Democrats. There is definitely bi-partisan support for the new standards.

Big Business is behind it, too. Who makes up those businesses, better known as the Business Round Table? Click HERE to see the roughly 200 represented. And some businesses are not represented but still hold great sway, like Bill Gates and his foundation, for example.

Some would argue colleges and universities have been indoctrinating students for decades now. Opponents have compelling reasons to believe that. Yet, where has the outrage been in those instances? Why has it been allowed to continue?

The simple answer is this: We’re too busy. Too busy living our lives. Too busy enjoying life, making ends meet, spending time with family. I see this in microcosmic form nearly every day. Parents too busy to be involved in the life of their child. We run into this all the time as educators:

Scenario #1: The child is failing.

“So, what are you going to do about it, Mr. Educator? I’m a single parent, and I can’t bring him to tutoring in the morning.”

“Well, it would help if Little Johnny simply came to school every day for starters. He’s missed 35% of the school year so far.”

“I can’t make him come to school. He’s bigger than I am. Besides, I leave for work before he leaves for school. You’ll need to change your hours or send a bus early to come pick him up.”

Scenario #2: The child gets into trouble a lot.

“Mr. Educator, I know. I see the same behaviors at home. She mouths off to me, too. I’ve taken everything away from her. All she has in her room is a mattress and some clothes. No electronics. No cell phone. Nothing.”

“Well, ma’am, the problem is, she put her hands on another child this time. It wasn’t just verbal. And of course, that’s not allowed. That’s why she’s getting suspended.”

“Suspended? No. She ain’t gettin’ suspended.”

“Yes, ma’am. She is. Any child who strikes another student on this campus gets suspended. It’s called Battery, ma’am.”

“You know, that’s the problem with education today. All you want to do is send your problems home to the parents.”

Those were true life scenarios. The names were changed to protect the not-so-innocent.

Why do I bring all this up? To make a point. Any educational change, whether it be a simple tweak in a child’s attendance or behavior, whether it be a wholesale change to nationalized standards, or something in between, it starts with us. We, the people.

And please don’t misunderstand me. I’m not advocating one political party over another (I would hope this article points to the fact that there’s plenty of blame to go around on both sides of the political aisle). Nor am I leading a charge against Common Core or one in favor of it. I see all these things—corrupt politicians, flawed nationalized standards, a sagging economy, a slumping educational status amongst world leaders—as symptoms, not the cause.

The cause is an apathetic public willing to relinquish the wheelhouse of the country to people who have proven over and over again they can’t steer very well. When the captain and his crew keep running the ship aground, shouldn’t we be looking for a new captain and crew?

*Generic photos courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

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Short Bio

C. KEVIN THOMPSON is an ordained minister with a B.A. In Bible (Houghton College, Houghton, NY), an M.A. in Christian Studies (Wesley Biblical Seminary, Jackson, MS), and an M.Ed. in Educational Leadership (National-Louis University, Wheeling, IL). He presently works as an assistant principal in a middle school. He also has several years experience as an administrator at the high school level.

A former Language Arts teacher, Kevin decided to put his money where his mouth was and write, fiction mostly. Now, years later, he is a member of the Christian Authors Network (CAN), American Christian Fictions Writers (ACFW), and Word Weavers International. He is the Chapter President of Word Weavers-Lake County (FL), and his published works include two award-winning novels, The Serpent’s Grasp (Winner of the 2013 Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writers Conference Selah Award for First Fiction) and 30 Days Hath Revenge - A Blake Meyer Thriller: Book 1, as well as articles in The Wesleyan Advocate, The Preacher, Vista, The Des Moines Register and The Ocala Star-Banner.

Kevin is a huge fan of the TV series 24 , The Blacklist, Blue Bloods, and Criminal Minds, loves anything to do with Star Trek, and is a Sherlock Holmes fanatic, too.

Website:           www.ckevinthompson.com

Blogs:               www.ckevinthompson.blogspot.com

Facebook:          C. Kevin Thompson – Author Page

Twitter:            @CKevinThompson

Goodreads:        C. Kevin Thompson