What About Kids That Don’t Have a Home?

We are fortunate in our school districts that we don’t have to spend a great deal of time on matters related to homeless youth.  In fact, some would be surprised to know that we actually have had homeless students in the six-plus years that I have worked in this district.  They are not visible to the public because they do not fit the stereotype of the vagrant living off the street in urban parts of the country.  But they are here from time to time, living in a car with their mom or bouncing from couch to couch in friend’s houses.  Or, they might be taking refuge for a while in someone’s home because they were left behind by the only parent in their life.  Overall, we are fortunate that in our community that we know one another and there are a number of people that care, and for the most part the struggles that come with being homeless rarely impede on a child’s life.

However, it is troubling that in the richest country in the world we have children that do not have a home.  A report entitle America’s Youngest Outcasts from the National Center on Family Homelessness estimated that 2.5 million kids in America were homeless at some point during the 2013 calendar year.  That is incredible!  How can a country with so much, a country with excess, not provide for its most vulnerable?  We can argue that it is a parent issue, or we can say we don’t want a country based on socialism, or put forth any number of other arguments.  But regardless, there is no better measure of a society than how it treats its children.  And on that, we get an F.

It would also appear that at the same time we are seeing more homeless kids in our country, the federal government is making progress in reducing the number of homeless veterans and chronically homeless adults.  There have been some very strong advocates for those groups, and rightly so.  But it does not appear that the same can be said for the plight of homeless families and children.

Nationally, child homelessness increased by 8% from 2012 to 2013.  In the North Fayette district this year, 52% of our elementary student population is on free or reduced lunch, the common measure for students living in poverty.  This certainly positions many youngsters in dire circumstances and just one step away from having a home.  This can have a devastating effect on the child’s educational development, not to mention their emotional and social development.  The stress it causes on parents also has a significant effect on the kids.  And again, how can this be in a country that has so much wealth?

The standard of living in rural Iowa is not too high, which is one of the reasons that the problem in the heartland is not to the extent that it is in California and in the south.  But it is a challenge because it is a big change to the status quo.  The strength of our nation has been the middle class with a value system that included a strong belief in upward mobility through education and hard work.  That is not the same today.  Generational poverty is more prevalent and is accompanied by a lack of hope.  The mindset of children coming from a life of poverty is much different, and one that we are going to have to deal with more and more if the current trend continues.  This nation does not have an education problem.  It has a poverty problem.  Let’s challenge our elected officials to place a focus on fixing that.

Is Your Child A Gamer?

I ran across an article this weekend from Tim Elmore's blog about gaming and instantly thought I needed to share this with parents.  I have referenced Elmore in my blog in the past, and also provided links to some of his articles.  He is a leader in the study of adolescents and parenting, as well as developing leadership skills in our young people.  In the article that I am linking you to, he defers to Andrew McPeak, a writer, curriculum designer, and speaker.  McPeak provides some very informative insight into gaming, how it has changed our world and how he predicts it will continue to impact it.  With a gamer of my own, I found this very insightful, and hopefully you will as well!

Five Ways Gaming Is Changing Our World

Why Are We Still So Uncivilized?

Compared to the other industrialized countries of the world we still have strong remnants of the “Wild West” mentality.  There is a lot of “romance” in that tradition and a tremendous amount of patriotism and “American identity”  connected to it.  The reality is that we are a nation that is still in its infancy compared to those we consider our peers around the globe.  Perhaps an analogy is that we going through those “terrible twos” right now.  Like a two-year old, perhaps our society is going to mature in the next few years and we will be more civilized, more kind to one another, and less violent like other countries in the civilized world.  What am I talking about?  It appears to me that we have real problems in this country with violent behavior and I quite frankly wonder when we are going to get past it.

First off, I am comparing us to other civilized countries in the world.  Certainly there are examples in the world where horrendous things happen in their society, like women being stoned to death and Christians being beheaded in the Middle East.  Scores of innocent men, women, and children are mowed down by drug cartels in Central America and Mexico.   In those respects, I believe Americans believe that we are far more advanced than those societies.  What I am talking about are industrialized nations that we compare ourselves to as modern nations and civilized societies.  And it is in these comparisons that frankly, we don’t stand up as very civilized.  Yes, there are terrorist acts committed by citizens in England and France, but when you look at the degree of incidence, daily life in the United States is far more violent. 

When asked in July 2015 what are the greatest threats are to America, President Obama’s nominee to serve as the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford, listed in order: Russia, China, North Korea, and ISIS.  Hard to argue with that from a global perspective, though some members of Congress want to lump Iran into that category.  However, in an article that appeared in The Daily Beast earlier this year, Dean Obeidallah, argues that an even bigger threat lives right here within out boarders: ourselves.  More specific, those of use who are determined to maintain a society based on an extremist view of the 2^nd Amendment.

What I am talking about is not the right to bear arms.  Rather, I am simply pointing out that according to Obeidallah, in the United States of America, more Americans were killed by other Americans with guns in 2013 (33, 636) that all of the Americans killed on U.S. soil by terrorists in the last 14 years (3025).  That includes the 2,977 killed in 9/11 and 48 others killed by terrorists, over half of those by American white supremacists (rt.com).  To me, this is barbaric!  The fact that we are killing more of each other on a daily basis that any foreign enemy has done in years says a lot about how violent we have become!  Whether it is by gun or some other means, killing fellow human beings is uncivilized, and Americans are doing this at a far greater rate than other civilized societies.  The easy access to guns just makes it easier.  Every day over 30 Americans are killed by guns and of those 30, five children or teenagers are included.  This is 11 times more often than children and teens killed by guns in other civilized country (bradycampaign.org).

Okay, I’ll stop on the gun issue because I am aware of the emotions involved.  Bottom line: other civilized countries do not have anywhere close to the number of violent deaths inflicted by members of the citizenry.  Other proof?  How about men killing women?  Every day in our nation, three women are killed by their husband, boyfriend, or a person they had been in a relationship with at one time.  One-third of all women murdered in our country were killed by current or past male partners (cnn.com).  Domestic violence is a term we hear a lot, yet what is being done to reduce it?

Even the most popular sport we watch is extremely violent, some say barbaric.  In fact, it may seem the spectacle of American football is second only to gladiators in the Coliseum in terms of sanctioned violence.  The National Football League had over $9 billion in revenue at the end of  the most recent season with the stated goal of $25 billion by 2025.  And players are dying playing the game.  No, there has not been a death on the field in the NFL for years, and in fact, only one actually died on the field during a game back in 1971.  However, one cannot ignore the deaths related to brain injuries suffered playing the game, nor those of players from youth leagues to the college level.  The rest of the world has moved beyond gladiator contests with soccer being the most popular contest in the world.  You get into all kinds of arguments about the future of football and how long it will last.  Some state that as we evolve as a society it will become a thing of the past and we will move on to less violent spectator options.  Who knows.  But, there are attempts to make it less violent, which begs the question, will it be as popular if it is not?

Maybe what is going on right now is that American is undergoing some growing pains.  The angry, whiney two-year old in us is lashing out against things that make us unhappy and we just don’t know any better.  Maybe because parents are making choices for their children to keep them away from some of the more violent games at a young age will have an impact on our society.  We still have not addressed the issue of mental illness very well in our country and the violence that accompanies it, and that is a worry.  But hopefully this is a stage we are going through and perhaps one day people killing one another in our country will reflect the numbers in more civilized societies.

What Do You Have To Lose?

“Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.” – Steve Jobs

I pulled this quote off an article I read shortly after Apple icon Steve Jobs passed after an incredible battle for a number of years against cancer.  It really struck me at the time and I saved it, coming back to it a number of times to contemplate my life, as well as what it means to me as an educator.  As I thought about what I have experienced with teenage students and see every day when I walk the halls or visit classrooms, Job’s words may in fact be the best advice that I could give to students.  And, after being an educator for thirty years, the reason that I want to send this message is because things have not really changed. 

This is what I have seen.  High school students want to be accepted.  Peer pressure has always been there.  There is no difference today than there was when I was a rookie teacher in 1985.  Teenagers will go to great lengths to be accepted by others.  They get their hair cut or styled like other kids.  Their clothes are basically the same as other kids they hang out with.  The do, say and believe the same things.  With just a few exceptions, there are very few unique individuals among a typical group of high school students.  There are some that like to think they are expressing their individualism and “real-self,” but in reality they are just like other kids that are trying to so the same.  Most boys think about girls, and most girls think about boys.  Some kids like sports, some like cars, and some like hanging out with friends.  Same as when I was in high school.

At the same time, there is a difference between the teenagers we have in school today compared to those when I started out in the mid-eighties.  In my opinion, kids today live under much heavier influence from their parents.  In the past we heard the term “teenage rebellion,” but we don’t hear it much these days.  Parents aren’t as strict as previous generations and thus their kids don’t have to challenge them as much as kids once did.  They also care about what their parents think.  They don’t want to disappoint them and thus there is a fairly high level of conformity.  The young people today in no way resemble the high school students of the 1960’s or the 1980’s who not only challenged their parents but also the status quo.  I am not saying it is an easy job being a parent of teenagers today, but I will argue very strongly that it isn’t as tough as it was for moms and dads in previous eras.  Sure, it is a sign of the times and things are a lot different now, which is perhaps why Job’s made the observation noted above.

We have created a sense in this country that everything is high stakes and every thing our kids do is vitally important to their future.  We have protected, coddled and laid out a plan for their future so that they can succeed.  We have done everything we can to limit risk in their lives.  Heck, even in rural Iowa we have parents reserving spots in the “right” pre-school before their kids are even born!  We have given trophies to all the players so they feel like they didn’t lose.  And we have spent money we don’t really have so our kids have the right clothes.  Moms and dads call professors at college to check and see what their child can do to improve their grade.  This very, very strong environment of conformity and fear of failure has resulted in kids not knowing how to cope or deal with adversity or when life throws them a curve.  

So how does this fit with what Jobs had to say?  It is simple: take a risk.  Take a chance.  Try something just because you want to and don’t worry about what others might think.  No risk no reward!  I read where psychiatrist’s and therapist’s appointment schedules are packed in many parts of our country with twenty-somethings who cannot cope with having to make decisions on their own, or have no sense of accomplishment or self-worth because all they ever accomplished was actually done by their parents.  What I would love to see within our school community is for kids to break out of the mold.  Why does popularity conflict with leadership?  Why can’t kids stand out from a crowd and be a leader without risking negative ramifications from their peers?  What about standing out from the crowd and showing support for a cause that might not be so popular, or defending a peer being persecuted by others?  Or better yet, not being afraid to create and think, and not worry about the grade?

In reality high school is a very brief period in a person’s life.  Some marketers try to convince kids that they are the best years of their life, a sham to get them to spend money on “memories.”  From my perspective, a way to make them better years in one’s life that perhaps results in a more productive and happy life is to take the Apple innovator’s advice and approach every day like you don’t have anything to lose.

Money Does Matter

If you want to argue that money doesn’t matter when it comes to how our students learn and perform, and thus where they get into college and what jobs they get, guess again.  It does!  “That’s garbage!” you say.  “How much money a person has does not effect how smart they are, how hard they work, or the grades they get.”  One might not thinks so, but apparently it does.  As the chart below demonstrates, there is a direct correlation between wealth and performance on the SAT test, that simply mean, the kids that come from wealthy families will do better on the SAT than those kids that come from families with less wealth.

 

 

I admit it.  The first time I saw this chart I thought, “You have got to be kidding me!”  In no way, shape or form did I believe that such a correlation existed.  If you had told me that kids from wealthy families scored better than kids from poor homes, I would have agreed 100%.  However, in my mind the middle class kids would most certainly perform at the same level as those from homes of privilege.   But that is not what the results show.  The more wealth a family has, the better their children will do on the SAT.  There is most definitely an advantage here that adds to the continued inequality in our country, and perhaps serves as a barrier for many to “live the American dream.” 

It isn’t too difficult to understand how the children of the wealthy have an advantage.  They go to private schools with highly paid and highly qualified instructors.  They live in homes that value education and provide learning opportunities out of the classroom from an early age.  They are under a great deal of pressure from their parents to succeed and to continue the family’s success.  Opportunities exist for them to prep for tests like the SAT and ACT.  The list goes on and on. 

When you look at the percentage of students who attend the elite universities, the entrance requirements are very high.  To get in a prospective student must have SAT and/or ACT scores very top end.  And since they are also very expensive, it only makes sense that there is a disproportionate number of students from wealthy backgrounds in attendance.  Sure, there are examples of students from poor homes – heck, even homeless kids – that beat the odds and get into Harvard.  But they are more than the exception to the rule.  Harvard and Yale turn down more valedictorians than most schools have apply, and most of those rejected students are from middle-class families. 

The Puritan work ethic that has been a cornerstone of this country may not be enough to level the playing field.  Wealth is power, and from the data, it would appear that it will be sustained based on how these students perform on an important standardized assessment.  There has been a lot of conversation about the 1%, the growing percentage of children living in poverty in this country, and the huge disparity in the distribution of wealth.  Education remains the best bet for a person to improve their social standing, but it must be recognized that until we have a more equal distribution of wealth, education may not be enough.

Why I Have Those Pictures On My Wall

It has been 25 years since I loaded four high school wrestlers up in my Pontiac Grand Am and headed east to Hampton Sydney College in Virginia for the Granby School of Wrestling.  I was a young high school social studies teacher and wrestling coach and I had some very promising young wrestlers coming up and I wanted a chance to learn more about the “Granby system” of wrestling and to expose these young wrestlers to what I had been told were some of the best teachers of technique in the country.  I could spend a couple of hours telling stories from that trip, but that would bore most of you!  Why I mention this is because of one moment that took place on the trip that changed my life, and it did not take place at the wrestling camp.

I have described in a previous article how my parents always built in learning opportunities for my brother and me when we traveled.  Going to Virginia for the first time, and being a social studies teacher, I could not pass up the chance to spend extra time with the boys going to historical sites in perhaps our most historical of states.  The problem was choosing what to see!  One of the stops we made was Monticello, the home of our third President and author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson.  What an incredibly beautiful home!  And it was less than five minutes into our tour that we were standing in one of the parlors and there were thirteen portraits hanging on the wall.  The guide went on to explain the significance of the individuals featured in the paintings.

Thomas Jefferson was a man of incredible talent with a keen sense of curiosity.  He was also a student of culture and history, and recognizing his role in the creation of a new country, he collected ideas and philosophies from some of the great minds of the world.  In his parlor he had a collection of portraits of individuals he admired and respected for one reason or another, including the “three greatest men that ever lived” – John Locke, Isaac Newton, and Francis Bacon.  He also included explorers Christopher Columbus and Ferdinand Magellan, as well as American statesmen George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and James Madison.  As we continued our tour I remember thinking about who are the people that I would have on my wall, and a number of individuals emerged. 

I’m not going to bore with a list and stories of the people I have on my wall.  It is kind of funny because some of the pictures have autographs and people think that is why I display them.  In reality, each of these are people I have tremendous respect and admiration for, and I do find myself thinking about them from time to time.  Pat Summit is in my opinion one of the greatest coaches of all time, regardless of sport, and her indescribably will and determination to get her players to play as a team is something that few have to extent she does.  Now, the way that she is battling one of life’s most unfair diseases – Alzheimer’s – with class and dignity, only adds to my respect for her.  Hank Aaron was not the first African-American to play in Major League Baseball, but he was one that broke the color barrier in the South playing for the Atlanta Braves.  My reason for including him is because I was very aware of the blatant racism he experienced in pursuit of Babe Ruth’s home run record.  Again, the way he handled unbelievable stress and threats with class and dignity is a lesson for all of us.  Brook Berringer is a young man most of you do not know.  He is the one of two people on my wall that I actually met.  Why a 22-year old college quarterback who died tragically in an accident when he crashed a plane he was flying?  Because Brook met the bell when his number was called.  He stepped up and led Nebraska to a National Championship as the second team quarterback, only to be relegated to backup the next season.  Yet he was there for the team and he put himself second to its success.

I don’t know that everyone needs to have a set of pictures of people they admire on the wall.  Maybe that’s a little over the top.  However, we all have people that have had an impact in our life, and there are those who we can learn from, whether they are role models or a trusted friend.  I just choose to put their pictures on my wall to remind me from time to time of the person I aspire to be.  And, they also serve as a great discussion starter when I have a student in my office, particularly when there may be a few character issues to discuss!

Do We Really Want to Run A School Like A Business?

For as long as I can remember I have heard people outside the field of education say, “schools need to be run like a business.”  Married to an accountant and individual who worked for nearly twenty years for a family business and as a CPA before that, I have heard it more times than I can count in my own home!  It has been said from political circles to barbershops.  Apparently there is a sense that all of the problems in education will be cured if it is just run like a business.  So, for the sake of argument, let’s take a little walk down that road.  Let’s run school like a business.

What business should we emulate?  What business should we model our school after?  Let’s start with Subway, one of the largest restaurant chains in the world.  Talk about a successful company, and one that I patronize regularly for their fresh sandwiches.  Let’s take Subway’s business model and run schools like this corporate giant.  They have a great marketing program that we could emulate that associates Subway with health and wellness, something that many other fast-food chains struggle with.  They have hired former Olympic athletes as spokespersons, and have recently brought back Jared Fogle, the man that lost over 250 pounds eating Subway sandwiches.  Eat at Subway and eat healthy!

Have you ever read the fine print at Subway?  Do you realize that those “healthy” sandwiches are those 6-inch ones with just meat and vegetables.  Start adding cheese, mayo, and other condiments and you have virtually the same type of food available at McDonalds or Burger King.  How about the fact that until a few years ago, the bread used by Subway contained a chemical called azodicarbonamide.  This chemical is also found in yoga mats and the soles of shoes to add elasticity.  How can that be healthy?  Yes, Subway took that out of their bread once it was exposed, but is that kind of business practice that we want to emulate at a school?  Subway and a lot of other businesses have cultivated a particular image that often covers up a lot of things that they don’t want the public to know.  Public schools cannot get away with that, nor should they.

Okay, maybe we don’t want to run our schools like a sandwich business.  How about a different business, maybe a cable company or other television provider?  Maybe schools should operate like Mediacom.  They sell you a basic service and require you to sign an agreement for a couple of years.  Then they come up with new options for new subscribers at a discounted rate, but when those who already have Mediacom want to have those options they can only get them with an upcharge.  With that kind of a model, how will parents respond to upcharges?  And let’s not forget when service is dropped and people who have paid for service have to do without.  Can a school just drop service and do nothing about it?

Maybe we should run schools like Citi Bank or Ameriquest Mortgage or Bank America or Goldman Sachs.  These are businesses that “are too big to fail” despite the fact that they committed fraud and all sorts of other crimes.  If a school follows those same business practices, such as fraud, discrimination, and lying to government investigators, would they be allowed to fail?  Eight teachers in Georgia have significant prison sentences for altering or fixing text scores.  Interesting that African-American teachers are sent to prison for this crime, yet white executives who committed crimes costing people millions of dollars aren’t getting similar sentences.

How about Enron?  How about British Petroleum?  How well have they done with that cleanup in the gulf due to that horrific oil spill?  I would be concerned about a school running with a model that does not take safety and concern for the community seriously.  Or one that sends the message to students that you don’t have to be responsible for damage that you cause.  Maybe American Express, a business that the Consumer Financial Bureau order to pay more than $75 million to settle claims that it charged improper fees and misled customers with add-on products, is a company that school should emulate.

I can remember when you would walk into Walmart and see signs that said “Buy American” and yet today the majority of the products sold in their stores are manufactured in China and most of their employees with children live below the poverty level.  I don’t think this business model is going to be accepted by our community.  We can debate about teacher pay, but what other profession that requires a four-year college degree pays less?  If we were to run schools like Walmart we would outsource all of our purchasing and not support the local economy and businesses, and keep wages for employees at a subsistence level.  Do people honestly believe we would attract high quality people to teach in that kind of school?

It is important to point out that in recent years where laws have permitted, a number of privately owned schools have been open for business under the guise of “charter schools.”  Now we have schools operating as a business.  How are they doing?  Let’s look at a couple of issues with these schools.  First of all, for the sake of comparison, our superintendent would have to be paid a lot more!  Deborah Kenny, who oversees Village Academy Network, Inc., was paid $499,146 last year.  Eva Moskowitz from Success Academy C.S. Inc. was paid $475,244.  To put that in perspective, that is over three-times what our current superintendent is paid.   And when you look closer at some of these privately owned charter schools, such as Kennedy Charter School in Charlotte, North Carolina, you see a student body that has low performing scores on state assessments and the top administrator being paid $187,000 a year.  I am not sure that is a good business model.  Yet if this were a public school, they would most likely be forced to undergo significant reforms outlined in No Child Left Behind.  Also in education look closely at the for-profit colleges and the corruption that has been uncovered.  Corinthian Colleges Inc. has declared bankruptcy “amid allegations that it had falsified grades, attendance, and job placement rates.”  I’m not sure those business models are good for education.  

Politicians and businessmen all seem to think that they know what is best for education.  They all went to school and think they know more about it than those of us who have spent our professional careers in education.  When I look at the mess we have in those two parts of our society, it is crystal clear that the management of schools needs to be left up to the educators.  What two entities in our country have exhibited more greed, arrogance, and corruption than business and politics?  Here’s a deal: If business people will keep their nose out of telling us how to run schools, I won’t tell them how to run their business, even though there are a few things I could teach them!