Our Kids Are Too Fat!

A headline in the Des Moines Register last week caught my eye: Child obesity called national security risk. I wrote about this earlier in the year in one of my newsletters from some information that had been released earlier on findings from the Department of Defense. Now that it is front-page news and our Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack weighs in, I think that more attention needs to be given to this epidemic.

A report was released by a group called Mission: Readiness. That report claims that 75% of all Americans from 18 to 24 cannot be enlisted in the military because they are overweight or have other issues that would disqualify them, such as a criminal record or inadequate education. While the current recession is making it easier for the military to find recruits, the obesity problems will create some long-term challenges. Statistics from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention state that in our country, 42.5% of men and women in that age bracket are either obese or overweight. To add a little more perspective, the average young man or woman would have to lose about 34 pounds to be at normal weight, and broken down further, the average young Iowan would have to lose about 40 pounds. Both the military and the U.S. Department of Agriculture are pushing Congress to deal with this national security threat.

Already we have seen changes at school. We can no longer sell certain kinds of beverages through our vending machines, and there are also restrictions on food that can be sold, such as regular pop and candy. Our food service program has specific guidelines that they must follow in terms of food, preparation, and portions. At North Fayette, we have made the adjustments in our beverage machines as well as what we make available to our kids through our BPA program, which provides snacks to students. Carol Stanbrough, our food service director, has also worked hard to put better nutritional choices in front of our students. And, Brenda James and Trudy Campbell are working with a group of students to establish some grassroots efforts among our students to make better choices. And, more is ahead as stronger restrictions of what we make available to our students will be in place.

While I did not get to watch every episode, I did catch a few of NBC’s Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution. I also have bookmarked his website and have checked out a number of the interesting pages and links that are included. One of the things that this world-renowned chef is trying to do is change the eating habits of Americans. This is a challenge that many believe to be impossible, but Mr. Oliver has started by working with the Huntington, West Virginia schools and their food service program. Working with many skeptics, he has attempted to put quality, fresh food choices in front of the students. It has been inspiring to watch his efforts and commitment. This has become somewhat personal with me as well because I am at that stage in my life where my bad habits have caught up with me. I am easily 40 pounds overweight and after recent physicals, my blood work has come back with some scary realities. As a teenager, I had no problem passing the physical for acceptance into the United States Military, but now I am hard pressed to exert a great deal without being fatigued.

So where do we go? As parents we need to get back to preparing fresh food for our children and help them established good eating habits. We also need to make certain that they are engaged in exercise on a daily basis and appreciate the benefits that healthy living will have for them in the future. I am a skeptic right now on whether changing school lunch programs will make a huge different in the obesity levels of our youth. Once again, public schools are being required to take on parenting roles. However, we are educators and we must continue to prepare our youngsters for their future.

Driving Ban, Texting, and Facebook

A few weeks ago our state legislature passed a ban on the use of cell phones while driving for teenage drivers with restricted licenses, and forbids adults from texting while driving. It may sound kind of dumb, but as the media covered this issue as it was debated, it struck me that so much of the conversation was on the younger drivers. Obviously they do not have the experience behind the wheel that we older folks do, but when it comes to texting . . . kids rule! If anyone can multi-task with one of the tasks texting, it’s a teenager! My texting skills have improved a little bit, but I am a Rookie Leaguer compared to the average 15-year old! And, once I started using a Blackberry I have successfully texted while driving. Yes, I have done it and frankly, it may have been one of the dumbest things I have done. I cannot do it and maintain necessary control of the vehicle. So, while I have texted while driving three or four times, I have stopped and am no longer texting behind the wheel. The law is a good law, but you know how it goes. People still speed in spite of the posted limits. I hope people internalize how dangerous it is, and I know our students are getting a good dose of information through driver education about the potential perils. I hope that parents are serving as positive role models for their kids because they are the strongest teachers they have!

Not many people have asked me one of the standard questions that are commonly asked teachers: what has changed since you started as a teacher? This year I cannot believe how many problems we have had with Facebook. I’m not blaming Facebook! I have an account and earlier today I found that I have 18 fellow Oakland High School alums seeking to be my Facebook friend. I am not passionate about Facebook, nor do I spend a lot of time on it. But it is a way to stay connected to friends that I do not see very often, or have not seen in a long time. (My wife still says that the telephone works just fine!) They call it “social networking” which is a term I don’t really understand, and frankly, I have never liked the term “networking” applied to human interaction, but that’s for another article! I think Facebook is pretty nifty, but like a lot of things, it can be misused.

The problems we have had at school are no different from the pencil and paper note passing that has gone on in schools for a hundred years. It is just a lot quicker and it can reach a lot more people in seconds. Problems happen when an adolescent’s bad judgment collides with technology and they fire something hurtful toward someone through Facebook. And then their target quickly fires back. And, all of this is happening while others online are being entertained and reading along and then some of them join in and away we go! I cannot believe that kids fail to recognize that if they send it out in cyberspace, they cannot take it back and it is there for everyone to read. There have been some very serious harassment cases in parts of the country that have involved cyber-bullying, but up to this point what we have are basically two kids that are mad at each other fighting their fight through a Facebook account. By the end of the year I bet we have nearly a ream of paper of Facebook copies that have been brought into us by students who are upset about what was written to them or about them on Facebook. One thing I haven’t understood it why they continue to include the person posting hurtful things on their account as a friend! Makes sense to me that if someone is running you down that you get rid of them from your list of friends!

Brain research has shown through studies of CT scans and other studies of the brain, that the adolescent brain is not fully developed, particularly that part that is involved in choices and judgment. Many kids are very responsible and make good choices on what they put out on the Internet. But there have always been those kids that do not handle things well and make bad choices; those that lack responsibility and tend to act before they think. Now, when they do something stupid on Facebook, it’s out there for everyone to see. Maybe like the cell phone ban while driving, there could be some regulation on cyber-communication. However, that is not really practical or necessary when all that really needs to happen is that parents require their child to include them as a friend on Facebook and monitor what they are putting out there for others to read. Not a bad idea!

It’s Like A Kick In The Gut

Last night I received a phone call from Larry Otten, good friend and middle school principal at Creston. Larry and I worked together for nine years and worked with a lot of the same kids. The phone call last night was not one with good news. Larry told me that they found Travis Henry dead. He had killed himself. Travis was a freshman this year, and while he was not one of “my kids” since I moved to North Fayette this year, I knew him because he attended the same church as we did when we lived in Creston. And, his mother was a teacher for me at the high school. The irony is that earlier in the day, the family of James Kosman held his funeral in Creston.

James graduated last year, but apparently was hanging out with a bunch of high school students when he made a real bad choice and was electrocuted before he dropped 35 feet to the ground. I got to know James pretty well almost exactly a year ago when I went on a trip with him and 41 other students to Washington, D.C. and New York. One of my jobs on that trip was to keep and eye on James and a few other young men because they were a bit ornery. We didn’t have any problems, and I got to know James a lot better than I had in the nearly four previous years of high school. In particular, we had a real good talk on the bus between Washington, D.C. and New York.

It may sound a bit callous, but I am to the point in my life and career that I can say that nothing surprises me any more. But death at such an early age under the circumstances that they two boys died does cause me to pause and wonder “why?” I am not going to provide commentary on the conditions under which each of the deaths occurred, nor ponder as to why they happened. I am going to state how I feel and why.

Before I do that, I also have to add that back in October, David Reeves, took his own life. Compounding the sadness was that only months prior, David’s mother Lynn lost a valiant battle with cancer. Of the three young men, I knew David the best, as did my daughter, who used to play in the saxophone section with him. Like the others, David was a young man with a world of potential and unlimited opportunities in front of him.

The staff and students at Creston are hurting. I don’t think anyone can truly understand the challenges of conducting school each day under such a cloud of grief and sadness. But I know the teachers there work very hard every day to keep school in front of the kids. The problem is that a lot of the emotion is gone because in so many respects, it has literally been sucked out of them.

Now I am four hours away. I have a whole new group of young people that I have responsibility for here at North Fayette. But as I said earlier, nothing really surprises me anymore, thus in a strange sort of way, my worries seem to only have increased. When I heard about David, that painful lump immediately found its way into my throat and I fought back tears. However, they streamed down my face when I shared what I knew with my daughter. Actually, my wife Tammy had to speak the words because I could not. I knew that the pain that had to be felt by his dad, brother, and grandparents, as well as close family friends had to be unbearable. Just a week before they buried David, he had been playing the drum with the Panther Marching Band in a snowstorm in Des Moines. And now he was gone. I still find myself thinking about David and pondering how a young man with so many gifts got to the point where death was a better option than life.

When the emails and texts started coming in about James, my initial response was “Dammit! He pushed it too far!” In recent years James had tested the limits in many respects and I know that his parents and others had concerns about risky behaviors that he was experimenting with. When I heard that there were about a dozen high school students out and about at 2:00 in the morning with James, I thought what the heck is going on! And then, just today, I was told that only three of the group stayed with James after the fall waiting for an emergency vehicle and the rest of the kids ran. Now I asked “why?” What was going on that kids would scatter when their friend was lying on the concrete either dead or dying? Why?

And then it was Travis. Many people in Creston attended the funeral for James only to receive text messages a few hours later that another young man was dead. What worries me, it that that lump in my throat is not quite as painful, nor the pain in my stomach quite as bad. I am afraid because I hope that I am not getting used to this! But, that lump and sick feeling in my stomach does grow when I think of the folks on the front line at Creston High School. The principals and counselors, teachers, secretaries, custodians, cooks, and aides. Those folks are carrying a heavy burden on their shoulders. More than anything else, I really feel for Tammy Riley and Angie Bolinger, the guidance counselors. Those two wonderful counselors are hurting. They are the ones that have to be strong and have to be there for the kids, families, and everyone who comes to them. Their jobs are so complex in this day and age that they are stretched when things are normal. And now, everything else gets put on the back burner because so many people need them. And I am also angry because some people have the audacity to throw criticism their way. The critics don’t have a clue. I’ll leave it at that.

Life is precious. Like is tough. Life is worth living. David, James, and Travis, I wish you were still here to give it another shot.

The Sound of Silence

A couple of months ago I attended the monthly Ministerial Association meeting and as we were discussing some issues early in the meeting, one of the pastors made a comment that really struck me. He stated, “When the sounds of children are absent from worship the church dies.” For some reason, that comment really caused me to think and reflect. I certainly understand the impact of a shortage of young people in church. It is no secret that many congregations are getting older in terms of their members and that younger families, for what every reason, do not attend church, as did previous generations. I also thought it a bit ironic because I have been in church when young children were making a little noise and older folks were visibly agitated because of the noise. I have even seen a couple of elderly people “shush” some little kids and tell a young mom that she needed to “quiet her children.” And then, I thought about school. What about school and the sound of silence?

In a number of classes that I have taken over the years as well as workshops and training focused on school improvement and better instruction, a common theme that is being expressed runs along the lines of “when I walk down the hall I want to hear noise from the classrooms.” Now, that runs counter to some of the “old fashioned” methods of running classrooms where students did not speak unless they raised their hands and were acknowledged by the teacher. But what research tells us is that students learn best by doing, and in many respects they have to talk to one another, collaborate and problem solve as a team rather than in isolation. If the only one talking is the teacher, then we should wonder how much learning is going on. Yet, that is still the case in some instances.

For many, many years, teachers have been viewed as the “sage on the stage,” and were the primary source of information. Perhaps you can remember one that was full of wisdom that shared it with you. I certainly can remember Mr. Cannon and those wonderful stories he told in my history classes, as well as Mr. Kenney who was the first to really point out that there was truly meaning in pieces of literature beyond the words that were in print. Today, that role of teacher has changed. No longer are teachers the purveyor of information that they once were. Our culture has changed so much that we do not need to rely on their wisdom. This is not to lesson their importance. On the contrary, they may even be more important! What has happened is that content information is more readily available than ever before. Students can access information faster than a teacher can tell a story. The “sage on the stage” has had to transform to the “guide on the side,” navigating young minds through the minefields of misinformation and training them to use their minds to develop greater understanding. It is no longer good enough to learn content.

The engaged learning environment is one where noise is the norm. Dialogue takes place between teacher and students, as well as student to student. Teams are created much like the workplace where collaboration is necessary in order for a task to be completed. Of course, this transition has not gone as smoothly or as quickly as it should. There are some that remain resistant to “giving up control” over their classroom. And honestly, as I remember back to my teaching days, I know that I needed a little peace and quiet! However, because of the power of collaboration and the sharing of ideas, as well as the need for students to “do” in order to learn, I need to hear noise when I walk down the hallways. Otherwise, I must question whether or not students are learning.

What We Can Learn From Jerry Seinfeld

On Valentines Day I read an article in the Sunday paper about Jerry Seinfeld and thought, “Wow! This is what I have been saying all along!” Now, I watched a number of episodes of Seinfeld though I would not describe myself as a big fan and certainly am not one of those that remember specific dialogue or episodes. However, I have read a number of things about him and his life since his television show and have found that a number of our values and beliefs are the same. I realize that there are a number of experts out there with qualifications that far exceed Seinfeld in the area of parenting, but I found his “Three Rules of Parenting” about as good of a common sense list that I have read.

Seinfeld refers to his rules as “the poison P’s.” The first is Praise. How often have we heard in recent years that we need to praise on our kids? We need to build their self-esteem! In order to motivate them we need to focus on the positives! Truth be told, I have always been skeptical of this and everything I have been reading in recent years from child and educational psychologists tell us that we have way overdone it. Young people need to develop intrinsic motivation and a sense of doing something for personal satisfaction, to serve others, or because it is the right thing to do. The phenomenon of layering praise on top of praise has had some consequences that are hard to fathom from my perspective. Go to any kids sporting event and in many instances the child receives a medal or trophy for simply showing up! And, take a look at those trophies! Some are taller than the little shaver that carries it off the awards stand! Grade inflation is something that has made its way into school. My goodness, the quality of an “A” paper is not close to the level expected for an “A” paper back in the day. A challenge for our teachers is to restore that level of excellence and raise the quality bar. Simply completing an assignment is not good enough and we should quit pretending that just because something is done does not mean it has been done well! In some respects it seems that kids are immune to praise. They hear so much of it that is carries little meaning to them. We need to offer encouragement and support, but make certain what we praise is truly worth praising.

Problem-solving is the next of the poison P’s. Seinfeld was quoted as saying, “We refuse to let our children have problems. Problem solving is the most important skill to develop for success in life, and we for some reason can’t stand if our kids have a situation that they need to ‘fix.’ Let them struggle – it’s a gift.” To borrow a quote from another individual, Steve Deace from WHO radio in Des Moines, “Students need to experience disappointment. It is part of life. They need to learn to overcome adversity. It is part of life.” How can we possibly believe that we are preparing our children for life’s struggles when we solve all of their problems for them? Whatever happened to requiring a son to go in an confess his missteps over the weekend to the principal rather than a parent doing everything possible to sweep it under the carpet, or taking the position of “it isn’t wrong unless you get caught” and then hope that Junior doesn’t get caught! What is up with that! I believe that in the classroom teachers have become so concerned about moving through content that they do not allow students to struggle and solve problems before they rush in and solve it for them. Kids do not stick with it and give up when something gets tough because they have not developed the skills of persistence and fortitude. Call me mean but both of my kids have sat in tears trying to get something right with their homework, and I have not rushed in and helped because one day I am not going to be there for them. I often wonder what “helicopter parents” are thinking by swooping in and rescuing their child. Let them skin their knee, bump their noggin’, pick themselves up and dust themselves off! That is learning! It is okay to fail! What is important is what one does after the failure. That is perseverance and problem solving.

The third poison P is giving your child too much Pleasure. Seinfeld didn’t elaborate much on this except to share an example of a young mom who bought her daughters huge cookies at 5:00 in the evening rather than saying that dinner was at 6:00. I would say that this is probably the “P” I struggle with the most. Maybe it is that “I want my kids to have what I didn’t mentality.” But, on the flip side, I do not have a problem saying “No!” I believe that we don’t say “No!” enough. Perhaps it is part of this consumer society that we live in where so many parts of our lives are lived in excess that we buy, buy, buy. Or on reflection, our kids are so tuned into video games, texting, and those things that when we hear them say they are bored that we rush to entertain them. I buy into the idea that our kids have far more than they need and that they do not do a very good job of entertaining themselves like we did when we were kids, so the challenge is to figure out how to bring back a sense of value for our kids because that is something that I don’t think they truly understand. By the same token, why are so many 16-year olds quitting sports and music program so that they can work to pay for a car? What’s wrong with riding the bus or walking to school? I bought my first car when I was 23 and finished with college and needed something to move to the town where I acquired my first job. Some may argue, but I think I turned out okay!

I am not saying the Jerry Seinfeld is the end-all, be-all when it comes to parenting. But like many in my generation, we are looking at what is going on around us and for whatever reason, common sense and sanity are starting to kick in. Look at the three P’s and do a little self-assessment as to where you are. You know, teenagers need parents more than they need an adult friend. I have read a tremendous amount of research where teens have said they want structure and expectations in their lives. How about we get it right before it is too late!

Snow Days

When I was a kid there was nothing better than a snow day. In my memory I can recall snow piled as high as the roof of my house and sledding down hills that seemed the size of a small mountain. It was great to wake up to KMA radio and hear Oakland or Council Bluffs schools included on the list of those that were out for the day. We were always early risers, so generally once we heard the announcements, we started planning for the day. There were a few times that a neighbor and I would go door to door in the late morning trying to earn a few bucks shoveling driveways. Mom would usually fix soup and grilled cheese sandwiches, which were a welcome break from school lunch. When the news would come on at six that night, we watched the weather hoping for more snow in the forecast and the potential for another day off.

The worst sound that you could hear after going to bed with the hope of a day off due to a few inches of that wonderful white stuff was the rumbling sound of the snowplow. We all knew that if the plows got out early in the morning, the chances of the longed for day off diminished significantly. The dad of one of my classmates in elementary school drove a plow and I remember that we would often shun him when we had to go to school and there was snow on the ground. Like it was his fault!

Thinking back to those days sledding down the hills on the Oakland golf course or the one on the side of Abraham Lincoln High School in Council Bluffs bring back a lot of memories. However, I no longer have that same warm place in my heart! Now I go to bed when there is snow in the air dreading the phone call that I know will come early in the morning. I also have to share the news with my wife who is sick and tired of kids being in the house all day rather than at school – where they are supposed to be! I am really tired of the color white because that is all I see outside. I am not opposed to going to school in June, in fact, just the opposite. I have maintained for years that I would rather have kids in school in June than in August. So it isn’t the whole “have to go to school in June” thing with me. No, I’m just tired of short weeks and the inability for our staff and students to get in the flow of school. And, did I tell you that I hate the color white!

Can We Do This Together?

At a town hall meeting for high school students on December 15, 2009, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan asked his audience what they are doing now to take responsibility for their own education. At that same meeting he pointed out that taking Advanced Placement classes, getting involved in extracurricular activities geared toward college majors or areas of interest, and volunteering are definite steps in that direction. The issue of taking responsibility for their own education is a topic people outside of the education field have also started to ponder as well, including Richard Doak from the Des Moines Register, who a little over a year ago basically told folks to back off on pointing fingers at the schools and level them at the conditions of poverty. As an educator, it was nice to read someone from the media who wasn’t blaming us!

In reality, the success that a student has in school is dependent on many factors, but basically, there are three: the student, the family, and the school. There are exceptions, but if all three do not contribute equally, then the chance of academic success is diminished. Or, in some instances, one or two of the factors have to compensate when another is not “pulling its weight.” I have seen some remarkable kids overcome horrible lives at home to become great students that give themselves the opportunity to live a much better life than their parents provided for them. I have also seen tremendous kids challenge themselves to be better when the school does not push them hard enough. But, I have also seen far too many kids that do not push themselves, and have dealt with more parents than I would like who do not hold their child accountable and find it easier to point their fingers at a teacher than at their own child. And, as sad as it may seem, I have dealt with parents who place a very low priority on their children and put up huge obstacles for them.

This working relationship is critical on a number of levels, but one that has me very concerned has to do with what our students today are going to face in their future. I know that part of my job is to educate parents and the community on things that are going on in this world that we are preparing their children for, and to some degree I question whether anyone is listening. Our children in school right now are going to compete with kids all over the world for jobs and yet why are we not making the necessary changes that need to be made to better prepare them for this reality? For instance, students in other countries are going to school 25 to 30 percent longer than we are. In a global economy, we are not playing on a level playing ground! Yet when are legislators and other leaders going to recognize that we have to have longer school years and compensate the teachers accordingly? However, it isn’t only them. I know that in this part of Iowa we still have a strong agricultural economy, but it is not the same as 100 years ago when school calendars were developed to meet the labor demands for farming. We must look at expanding our school year and get beyond the perceptions that have existed for so long that in our new information economy are terribly outdated.

From the perspective of a principal and a teacher, I know that we can continue to improve our instruction and the way we work with young people. It is a huge responsibility and mine to oversee on behalf of the students who attend our school. But I also agree a great deal with Secretary Duncan, an outspoken advocate of rewarding teachers based on student success, but who also has stated that teachers cannot do it alone regardless of the rewards. He made it clear that "students must be serious about their own education.” Honestly, on a daily basis this is what troubles me the most. I see kids every day that do not accept the fact that they must put forth their best effort to improve themselves, to develop their skills and expand their knowledge base. Many are only concerned with a grade or “passing” and do not seem to be interested in learning. We know from sports and the arts that in order to develop a skill it has to be practiced over and over again. The same is true for learning. Instead, many kids cram for a test to get a good grade, but do not internalize the important aspects of what they are supposed to learn. A recent Des Moines Register survey of nearly 13,000 educators showed that 79% of them do not believe that students want to learn. That is a troubling statistic! It is imperative that students listen in class, ask questions, make homework a top priority, put forth their best effort, get enough sleep, and take responsibility for their own learning.

Back to Doak’s position, teachers in Iowa also see the impact that poverty and life at home has on the children that arrive in their classroom each day. The same survey from The Register shows that 67% of Iowa teachers say that children in school are hungry or tired, and 88% stated that situations at home distract kids from learning, including anything from drugs to alcohol abuse by parents, constant moving, or a death in the family. What bothers me so much is that in some of these situations, parents are not making education a priority for their children. From the survey, it was stated, “Rich or poor, parents must instill in their children that it is their responsibility to get a good education.” There was a time in our history that parents living in tough situations wanted better for their children and knew that education opened those possibilities. Many parents must ask themselves what they can do differently to better prepare their children for school. According to The Register survey, “Parents have been let off the hook because we don’t want schools to use problems outside their door as an excuse.”

It seems that right now there is a lot of finger pointing, but the reality is that in order for my children, and other children, to be able to live the life they hope to live, we must figure out a way for everyone to be on the same page. There are times that schools are expected to solve problems that should be handled by parents. In some respect, we have taken the position that since it isn’t getting done at home, then we owe it to the child to take care of it at school. But when I really think about it, we cannot continue to do this. Where will it end? We have to communicate more with parents and in some instances help them so that we can all do a better job preparing children for their future. The idea of “it takes a village” is still very true today. Which brings us back to the question: Can we do this together?