Drinking and Drugs and the Reality of Kids Using Them

I haven’t focused previously on the topic of teenage alcohol or drug use in large part because it is a topic that gets a lot of attention elsewhere, and because quite honestly, I am tired of people giving the problem little more than lip-service. Do we have a problem with alcohol and other drugs at North Fayette High School? Absolutely! We have about 300 students and statistically, we have students that use and abuse alcohol and other drugs. I am not going to condemn or scold. What I want to focus on is a newspaper article from the Des Moines Register that I have been dragging around since November 21 by Rekha Basu. I don’t always agree with her position on issues, but I must say I learned a lot from her article on this day, and have re-read it a few times.

There was a lot to the article that I think is relevant. For example, brain research, which has shed a great deal of light on learning, has also opened our eyes to a number of other things as well. What we now know for certain is that an adolescent brain, since it is still developing, reacts much differently to drug use than an adult brain. Thus, a 15-year old that starts drinking is five times more likely to become addicted than a 21-year old. Young adolescents are “wired” differently and the developing brain is more susceptible to this kind of stimulus. Is your 15-year old drinking? If so, are you prepared to have an alcoholic in your family because you don’t step in and do something about it? Basu attended a conference for journalists in San Diego focused on addiction studies and came away from it with a firm belief that the longer we keep kids away from drugs, alcohol, and tobacco, the better. Just a few years of brain development makes a world of difference and this is one of those instances when we must as parents do everything we can to convince our kids that they can wait, and perhaps save their life.

Addiction is a tough thing, and if the likelihood that we will be addicted increases dramatically based on when we start using a substance, then as parents shouldn’t we pay very close attention to what our kids are doing? Let me demonstrate. I started chewing tobacco when I was in fourth grade. I didn’t chew snuff as my preference was leaf tobacco. My parents were aware of it, and actually I started because my dad started using smokeless tobacco to wean himself from cigarettes. Anyway, when I finally quit, it was after so many attempts that I cannot count. It has been almost three years since my last chaw of Redman, but just this week I had a craving and fought going to the store and buying a pouch. I can imagine what it is like for smokers and drinkers. My point, and the research supports it, is that I was nine or ten years old when I started chewing tobacco. Had I not started until later in my life, perhaps I would not have become an addict. Think about that with children in high school that start drinking at such a young age. Lives are severely damaged due to alcohol and drug use. What might your child’s life be like if you talk to them regularly and take a tough stand against the use of alcohol and drugs. Maybe they will live a long and fulfilling life.

Is 99.9% Good Enough?

A lot has been said over the years in high schools about high expectations, usually accompanied by comments along the lines of how grades today are inflated and the quality of student work isn’t what it once was. I know a number of veteran teachers feel that way, but when one steps back, perhaps there is a lot more to the conversation than what is on the top layer. From my own background, growing up I was always challenged to do my very best. I can still hear my mom tell me “if it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well.” My dad did a lot of work as a professor with Deming’s focus on total quality and continuous improvement. All this takes me to a list that I pull out every so often to put in front of people when the conversation turns to effort and quality.

In most schools, grading scales are generally somewhere along the lines of 90% and above an A, 80% for a B, and so on. In this scale, 60% is good enough to pass. Now I have real issues with traditional grading, which is something I will address at length in future posts, but regardless of that, can we be satisfied with 60 out of 100 being good enough? Well, let’s take a look at that, and just to make it interesting, let’s look a little higher. How about 99.9 times out of 100? If we get it right than many times, shouldn’t that be good enough? Let’s see!

If we “settle” for 99.9% accuracy, that would mean:
• 22,000 checks would be deducted from the wrong bank account in the next 60 minutes.
• 12 babies would be given to the wrong parents each day.
• 107 incorrect medical procedures would be performed each day.
• Two airliner landings each day at O’Hare Airport would be unsafe.
• 291 pacemaker operations will be performed incorrectly this year.
• Southwest Airlines would have 702 planes crash annually.
• 20,000 incorrect drug prescriptions will be written this year.
• 32,000 missed heartbeats per person per year.
• 103,260 income tax returns will be processed incorrectly during the year.

So, should we allow our students to settle for 60% correct as a passing grade? I would argue “No!” From my perspective, it isn’t so much about what individuals are capable of doing, and it really doesn’t matter in terms of a grade. What it is about is self-respect and pride; a willingness to do one’s best. I think that is the difference between our current generation and one’s in the past. There needs to be a focus on doing one’s best rather than enough to get by. Otherwise, is it worth doing?

Veterans Day => It’s A Wonderful Life!

As I watched a bit of the matinee for our schools Veteran’s Day program, a coincidence occurred to me. In the same auditorium on the same day, our students were gathered to pay tribute to our nation’s veterans as well as to watch a matinee performance of our fall production of It’s a Wonderful Life. The coincidence? One does not come without the other. In this great nation we live in, we in fact live a wonderful life due to the men and women who fought for it. The irony that both programs took place in the same room within a few hours of each other caused me to reflect a great deal on our current status in the world. It troubles me at times that we have thousands of soldiers deployed in harms way, yet it is often quite easy to forget that we are a nation at war. It is like we have decided to go on with life and let those folks do what they do. I know it can’t be that way for the families of those men and women. It makes me question how we can be so focused on issues like getting rid of judges in our state, fighting over issues related to tolerance, and pointing fingers across the isle at one another in Congress, yet soldiers are placing their lives on the line every day and many of us hardly seem to notice. I remember the body counts announced every night during Vietnam, and while I am sure no one wants to return to that time, it makes me wonder why we are not more focused on the faces of those that serve. Yes, we live a wonderful life, but I think it is imperative that we constantly keep in mind those that have given it to us.

Brain Matters

Three years ago I attended a general session at the NASSP National Convention that featured Daniel Pink as the keynote speaker. I have referenced him in other posts and strongly encourage you to read his two most recent books Drive and A Whole New Mind. In each of those he addresses how he sees us moving ahead in the future and how we will need to interact in the American economy if the United States is to remain the leading nation in the world. I have included a clip that features Pink on how we need to look differently at how we train individuals to be contributors in our new global economy.

It’s a Wonderful Life!

Not only the title of the play our students will be performing this fall, but I have to believe that it is one of the codes that Julianne Meyer, our play director lives by. She overflows with enthusiasm and passion whenever you engage her in conversation about students and education, as well as any of the multitudes of interests that she has. What will strike you when you meet her, and get to know her a little bit, is the optimism she expresses. That coupled with a very quick wit and one cannot help but fell comfortable that their child has her for a teacher. And there are also those wonderful colloquialisms that flow naturally from her in conversations!

Mrs. Meyer is not new to the high school, as she has worked as a paraprofessional prior to being hired to teach in our special education program. She has also been involved in our theatre and speech programs as an assistant, providing a great deal of support and guidance for our students. She brings a perspective to our program that is different from most new teachers as she is, how should we say it, more “mature” than most rookie teachers. It is my opinion that this is a huge advantage for the students. Mrs. Meyer is not the first “non-traditional” teacher that I have had the pleasure to hire. It seems to me that their life experiences bring a knowledge base to the classroom that twenty-something teachers simply have not had the opportunity to learn.

With all her responsibilities, I know at times she believes that she is in the middle of a hurricane. Special education teachers have responsibilities that go far beyond those of their colleagues in other content areas. The paperwork is excessive, and the preparation time to meet the individual needs of their students can take a tremendous amount of time. Throw in the fact that she is directing her first major production at N.F.H.S. and you have a very busy lady, not to mention the fact that she is a mom and spouse and has all of those things going on in her life! But, I bet if you ask her, she wouldn’t have it any other way! Yes, it is a wonderful life!

Strike Up The Band!

In the process of interviewing Mr. Ted Schacherer for our band position at North Fayette High School, one of the questions that I asked was “what will be your first halftime show?” His response surprised me a little bit as I had expected every young director with a liking of marching band to have that “dream show” that he or she had thought through night after night when they struggled to sleep. However, I didn’t get an answer like that. Rather, he responded, “Geez, I would have to get to know my band and their capabilities before I can make that determination.” Right there, I knew we had the right guy. He did share what his program at Tri-Center was last year, but this was a young director that was going to come in and see what he had, rather than force something preconceived. The analogy is the basketball coach that designs his offense or defense based on the abilities of his players, rather than force a specific type on them because that is his preference. His answer was one of an individual who has years more experience!

Mr. Schacherer joins us from western Iowa, teaching a year at Tri-Center Community Schools. For those of you unfamiliar with my old Western Iowa Conference stomping grounds, Tri-Center’s school is located right along Interstate 80 out in the country, and is made up of the towns of Neola, Persia, Minden, Beebeetown, and the surrounding rural areas. Why they didn’t call it Quad-Center, I don’t know! Anyway, he was there one year after graduating from Luther College and attending high school in Knoxville. From my South Central Conference days, Knoxville was a strong rival of my former Chariton Chargers! I guess when you have been as many places as I have, you can lay claim to all kinds of connections!

The band program at North Fayette is off to a flying start with Mr. Schacherer. He is enthusiastic and has hit the ground running. Students have already learned a lot of new things, particularly aspects of marching band. He has been able to build on the outstanding program Mr. Greg James has built over the years and is adding something new. The halftime program is “Journey,” and when you watch and listen, people from my generation can reminisce about that incredible voice of Steven Perry and those high school dances when if you got lucky, there was at least one girl left to dance to “Open Arms” with. A lot has to go into building a marching band, and you can see some of those initial steps being taken. Though he doesn’t have them roll-stepping yet, the band is starting to get comfortable showing a little of that “swagger” that marching bands have in their performance. They are taking it one step at a time (pun intended)! We are excited to have Mr. Schacherer leading our instrumental music program and look forward to an outstanding future!

The Future of Farming/Agriculture

“I believe in the future of farming, with a faith born not of words but of deeds . . .” That’s all I remember from those six weeks of learning the FFA Creed my freshman year at Oakland High School. Now even what I remember has changed as the opening line goes: “I believe in the future of agriculture; with a faith born not of words but of deeds . . .” Agriculture has changed dramatically over the 30 years that have passed since Mr. Kearney made us memorize one stanza at a time during that first week of my voc ag experience. And now, after nearly thirty years, a change has taken place in the vocational agricultural program at North Fayette High School.

Ryan Holthaus is a graduate of Decorah High School and Iowa State University (where else do ag teachers graduate from!). He has taught previously at Anamosa High School. When he applied for our position, an all to common thought came across me: why would he want to move from a school the size of Anamosa to one smaller, like North Fayette? Then, I looked in the mirror and realized that I had a similar answer almost a year before. In Mr. Holthaus’s case, Brian Harper had built a very strong program, making it an attractive place to teach. Believe me, when I saw the principal position opened up, North Fayette was an attractive place to me because of the quality people that work in this district and the quality families that send their kids here to school. I also know it was a plus that he was able to move his family closer to where both he and his wife grew up. In this respect, luck on our behalf doesn’t hurt!

This is my fifth school district that I have worked in, and the eighth Iowa community where I have lived. I have a pretty good handle on this state, but must admit that our move to northeast Iowa has been a great new adventure. Every trip we take north and east of West Union seems to expose us to something new. This is also the most agriculturally intensive place I have lived in years. What I mean is that the agricultural industry has a greater impact on our local economy and culture than it did in the other places I lived in Iowa. A lot of that is due to the changes that have taken place over the years, but what I see here is still a strong attachment to the family farm. Because of the dairy industry, farming here is still labor intensive, much more so than in the western part of the state where many livestock operations are a thing of the past and what huge hog confinements do exist are highly automated. In other words, farming is still a way of life here, not simply an occupation.

So what does this have to do with Ryan Holthaus? I believe that he is the right person in the right place at the right time for North Fayette. He is a young man committed to students and the future of agriculture. From what I have seen, he brings a solid focus and balance to production, business, and scientific aspects of the industry. And most important, he shows a passion for what he does. If you have not had the opportunity to meet him, please take the time to seek him out and introduce yourself. You won’t have to look far because he is out and about all of the time. Welcome to North Fayette Mr. Holthaus!