Subscribe to this site Presented by: Three J Keeton Consulting & Productions 
Things in the Education Front are slow right now, so I am using this time to write a White Paper - Creating Commonality In Education Across All 50 States. I am hoping to have this paper completed by the end of March. I personally believe that one of the biggest problems with education is the lack of Common Requirements from not only state to state, but city to city.
So until then, this will be quiet unless something pops up.
KISS, to some it means Keep it simple stupid, but in education it should be KEEP IT SUPER SIMPLE. Simple works more times that trying to take a complicated direction. Oh, it is not a complicated direction to a good teacher, or especially a bad teacher who really does not know the material and is the one that the KISS is meant for.
If you show the simplest way first, then help those that are having a problem after you show that method, I kind of bet that you will not be having that many students needing help. The sad thing is that we are no longer teaching reality classes, we are teaching to an "Idealized State Test" and have forgotten what teaching the basics every class every year and building upon those basic concepts create a better learning environment.
Discipline is missing. Why? The parents are afraid to be parents and threaten the school with legal action if the school punishes their children. If You are not, the school is not, then who is disciplining your child. Believing your student is going to give you the correct information is a waste of time. They are in trouble. Their goal is to minimize.
Parents need to step up and be involved. Hard to say when most of the time both parents are working due to the cost of the "Stuff" we want in our lives. You can tell the students that have parents that do not focus on the stuff and focus on their children, at home, at school, and anywhere else that child is.
I can usually tell you within a few yards where my daughters are because they know that if I don't know, I can not help them. My job as a parent is not to make my children my best friends, it is to guide them and help them become better than we are. I hated the day I first heard about "No Child Left Behind."
Children are going to be left behind. Saying it won't happen means we are not willing to be honest with our children and teach them from day one that there are consequences for their actions. Prisons in this country are filling up with younger and younger prisoners in both sexes. Instead of worrying if they can play a sport, make sure they can read the playbook first.
It is up to you and no one else to be the guide to your children. Guide with positive words, uplifting ideas and setting an example that you know you would be proud of if you were the mom you had or wanted to have. Do not perpetuate mistakes from your parents to the next generation. Make the problems end here and now.
While reading an article on Stephen Colbert's transfer of his Super-PAC to John Stewart on the Time News Feed, I noticed a well placed ad about Time article "TIME's 12 Education Activists for 2012." I decided that that article looked more impressive than what I was reading since as many of you know, Education is a topic on my mind these days.
And I was impressed with the first part of the article was about two undergraduates at Princeton, Catharine Bellinger and Alexis Morin, who decided it was the time out of their education to shine the light on education. These two young ladies started Students for Education Reform. I hope you take a few minutes to read about the work that they are doing. Education is key and we need to bring it back under control in every state and city in this country.
When I clicked on the little arrow at the top, the next part of the story was on Matt Damon who has taken up the call in support of his mother. In reading this part of the article, I felt that for once Time was getting some things right. Study's on the impacts of No Child Left Behind does not cause undo stress on teachers. Maybe their activism as a pooled resource in the elections across the country or forgetting about teaching their students to go out and picket against laws that are needed to hold check the unrestrained Unions across the country.
Then Time became its typical self. The next person is John Danner: The Tech Guy. Not really sure who he is, but what he is doing with his public charter schools in California. Then Time became its typical self. The next positions were really suck up position for the Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan and others in screen and unions. Well, I call a suck up a suck up when I see it. The Federal Government's Department of Education has done so much harm to education over the last 7 years. No child left behind seemed to show that many teachers were left behind.
The rest of the collection was typical. Data Cruncher, a teacher union president, and well you get the picture. What has anyone but the first two ladies, Catharine Bellinger and Alexis Morin, have done with their real efforts to make substantial change to our education system. We don't need movie stars, unless they have a degree in education and have been working in the trenches to better education.
The Real Problem with Education is easy to see. We only hear about it maybe during local elections. It hits the national scene every 4 years as the Presidential Campaigns are in full swing. Liberals think they are the party of the poor and less fortunate, when in fact the Liberals have done so much wrong in their attempts at social engineering with the help of those that claim to be Conservatives all of which are proud to be "Progressives."
Education starts at home and ends at home. The teacher is the guide and the parent is behind them with support. Anyone who got into education to make money does great in the local and state level teacher unions. Teacher should be tested every year to ensure that they have the competency to teach the classes that they do.
While Time thinks that education needs Activist, I am here to say that what we need is the parent or parents or family groups need to step up and take education out of the public hands and begin the one room neighborhood school where real education happened and still happens today. Follow us at AMERICAN: Focus On Education 'F' where we will be posting this article and more articles on how to improve Education in America, one child at a time.
Are you ready for classes to start back? For most students and family's, Tuesday, January 3, 2012 will be the start of the second quarter of school. Are you as a parent and family ready for school to start? Do you have everything together? Do your children know what to do when place in a bad situation? Remember that school is about learning the Facts. Reading, Writing and Arithmetic, not Obama songs, indoctrination, or any class warfare.
If the school has a new handbook and the information inside does not agree with you, don't sign it. They have to educate your child no matter what. They will just have to contact you for everything that they want to do with or use your child in. If they try to force you to sign the school handbook, don't let them.
Know your rights as the parent. I have had one parent that went through and struck out everything that the district was not allowed to do with or to their son. Signed the bottom saying that he only agrees to the areas that are not marked through. That was 15 sentences out of the whole 45 page student handbook.
Remember, you are the parent and the only one responsible for your family. It is up to you to stand tall and fight for what you feel and know are your rights as the parent. If things get abusive at the school for retaliation, fight back even harder.
Make sure that other parents are aware of the bad areas within the school handbook. Just don't refuse to sign a good one. Read it carefully. I would suggest that if there are a group of you that are concerned, take it to a lawyer and have them review the document to ensure that your parental rights are not taken away.
An email suggested that I am a radical. I had to sit there and think about that. Final conclusion I came up with is that is a good name. I prefer to be called an Education Patriot, but education radical kind of sounds nice in its own way. From our family to you and yours. Have a happy, healthy and prosperous New Capitalistic Year.
