Choose Carefully! As published in Sunday Eunice News on November 30, 2014

As the holiday season begins, our television stations, movie theaters and sales racks are filled with touching holiday stories that melt the heart, and sometimes, make you think about how you could be a better person.

Already, we're watched our umpteenth rerun of “The Wizard of Oz,” “Charlie Brown's Christmas,” “The Christmas Carol,” and maybe even some of the crazy comedies, “Home Alone,” and “A Nightmare Before Christmas.”

Adults may be watching “The Preacher's Wife,” with Cary Grant as the preacher. I have to admit, I really enjoyed the version with Whitney Houston as the preacher's wife.

All of these movies have a redeeming message – even if there may be a gory moment or two in the story line.

Which brings me to question the current rage for “Hunger Games” books and movies. I've listened to my students describe their class-assigned “Hunger Games” often enough to NOT want to read the book or watch the movie. Students recount their memories as we walk from building to building, but, I hear no redeeming value or myth in this series of young adult fiction. All I hear is: do whatever you have to do to survive. Kill or be killed. Trust no one.

For some reason, the third movie of the “Hunger Games” series was released last weekend – not what you would expect for the start of our Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday seasons. But, how is it possible, at a time when our purpose should be the teaching of human values that helped our first American settlers to survive, that “Hunger Games” grossed the highest earnings of the year?

I finally decided to watch the movies, read the books, and consult with colleagues to determine whether I was too biased to make this claim. But, my colleagues agree with me: “Hunger Games” has no socially redeeming value. The novels and the screenplays are franchises, business entertainment ventures designed to be as depraved as necessary to rake in profits.

“May the odds be always in your favor,” that cynical phrase spoken to young teens who are forced to kill each other if they want to survive, truly epitomizes the “dystopian” future depicted in this story. The story teaches our youth that cooperation, support, interdependence will get you killed. Social manipulation, cunning, ruthlessness, and the willingness to kill first will keep you alive. Worst of all, the books teach our youth that this is the only way you can survive.

The American Thanksgiving legends that we celebrated this week are the healthiest antidote to this sick futuristic vision. Europeans would never have survived their first years in America if they took up the “Hunger Games” mentality.

I come from the state of Pennsylvania, Where William Penn and his wife Hannah established one of the first colonies, embracing the Quaker philosophy of brotherhood and peace-making. We never see adequate portrayals, but, the first Thanksgivings were celebrations with Native Americans who helped Europeans to adapt to their wild, but harsh new surroundings.

As a Philadelphia native, I was raised to believe that cooperation and interdependence are key to survival. Our very own Benjamin Franklin established the nation's first cooperative fire stations, libraries, hospitals, universities, post offices and an insurance company. Ben Franklin not only helped birth the United States of America by signing the Constitution – he helped it survive by teaching us to cooperate, share, and distribute burdens and risks in a way that ensures the survival of all who strive.

These are the stories our children need to be taught during our Thanksgiving holidays, and throughout the year.

But, alas, I am told children do not want to learn about their history. They want gory, futuristic science fiction or dystopian fairy tales.

Really? Then why, when we watch “Frozen,” do our kids watch with apt attention? Why, when the nation is torn apart with racial strive, do our kids watch “Hairspray” and lip-synch to the lyrics? Why, when we sing the Chipmunks “Christmas Time is Here,” do the kids laugh with warmth and the feeling of safety?

No one can force us to read the books or watch the movies, thank goodness, because we do not live in the totalitarian state depicted in “Hunger Games.” But, children really are healthier when they are steered away from this sick, anti-human philosophy of life towards stories that affirm humanity despite its flaws. Because, when we learn how to live cooperatively, despite our flaws, the odds are good that we will not only survive, but we can all thrive together.

Speaking of flawed mythical characters, have you seen “Fred Claus?” I can't imagine a better movie for families who cope with sibling rivalry. Here's to your family friendly viewing!

Sugar Loading At Recess - Eunice Sunday News Commentary Published Aug 24 2014

No matter where your child goes to public school these days, there are all kinds of restrictions about what they can eat during the day.

Typically, students can not bring their own canned or bottled beverages.  But, they can bring their own sandwiches or packed lunches. They can not buy bottled water in the lunch room. If they are thirsty, they must sip from the school fountain before they sit down with their peers.

Classic lunch favorites, such as green beans dripping in bacon fat, or nachos with generous helpings of cheese and sour cream disappeared from school lunches years ago.  Tacos and burgers are now made according to strict dietary guidelines - both are dry and crumbly as if our school children were already diagnosed as cardiac patients.

Last time I taught in New Orleans, fresh vegetables were not served to students.  One advantage of teaching in rural schools is that we usually have real vegetables on our menu every day. But, according to new guidelines, fresh salads will typically consist of a few lettuce leaves and a slice of tomato.  A fruit serving typically consists of a condiment cup filled with a few slices of orange or apple.

I haven't seen bacon bits in my school lunch vegetables in a decade.  Last year, sugar content in flavored milk and juice was reduced so much, I wondered if I should bring my own sweetner to the table.

Since the new school fitness craze took effect, homemade cinnamon rolls have been reduced to two-bite portions.  Federal USDA lunch guidelines suggest lunch chicken, beef, pork,and shrimp portions be reduced to one ounce servings - another two or three bite portion.

Pasta and bread portions were reduced so much that adults and kids alike question whether they are getting a healthy lunch or a quick snack in the cafeteria, because they are still hungry after eating their stinty Weight Watchers portions.

Last but not least, school lunch desserts have become a thing of the past. Once in a while graham crackers or a ginger snap cookie will appear at the end of the food line, right before we charge our bird food lunches to our school lunch accounts.  But, for the most part, fruit doubles as a dessert.

It is quite an understatement to say that school lunches have changed drastically these past few years.  Across these United States you can read many reports about disatisfaction with school lunches, because they are so  utterly lacking in serious calorie content -- however more nutritious they might be.

At afternoon recess, students stand in long lines to buy candy, sugar sodas, and other junk food, because they are still feeling the pangs of hunger.

Most public schools benefit from this irony, because recess junk food sales produce huge profits for cash-strapped school budgets. But obviously, the amount of candy and soda cosumed through school fundraising canteens essentailly cancels out any health benefit sought by mandating strict caloric intake in the school cafeteria.

If America is real in its quest to reduce medical costs by reducing childhood obesity, I don't think it will ever be enough to impose starvation diets in the lunch room.

A better option would be to provide enough protein, compex starch, and vegetables in our school lunches to fill our kids' tummies. At the same time, we would need to provide our schools with enough funding to cover the cost of building maintenance, sports programs, enrichment activities, etc.Policies to promote healthy eating habits in our children deserve praise, no question. 

Children shouldn't have to buy cokes and sugary snacks in order to fix wiring or repair buildings. Because they will eventually pay a huge personal price when their diets result in diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure. Of course, We will pay that price, too, in skyrocketing medical and disability costs. 

We may need to look beyond the lunch room to the recess sugar fix in order to cure what ails many of our kids: their access to junk food that calms their food cravings but does nothing to build healthy bodies or strong minds.

How does that saying go, "An ounce of prevention is worth of pound of cure?"  When it comes to childhood obesity, we may need to look beyond the lunch room to the recess candy stand to get to the heart of prevention.

Copyrighted August 20, 2014

Hazing Does Not Build Great Teams -- Published in Sunday Eunice News on August 17, 2014

You may have seen the Ohio State University Band animate half- time with their amazing Michael Jackson moonwalk. It is hard to imagine that this extraordinary band is under investigation for serious hazing activities, but, they are.

This time of year, bands, spirit clubs and sports teams are practicing hard and doing all kinds of activities to build team spirit. In college, freshmen are shopping around for clubs and fraternities for social support. All organizations have initiation rites to welcome new members and help them feel like they fully belong. These rites should be public, safe, and designed to build positive social relationships.

Too many organizations still confuse welcoming initiation rites with hazing, which is why we are still reading about il- legal hazing practices in high schools and colleges across the U.S.A.

What’s the difference? If an initiation rite is safe, no one will be harmed physically, emotionally, or socially. The persons inducted to a group will feel that they belong, that they have a positive role in the group, and that their time spent with the group can blossom into lifetime friendships.

Hazing causes physical or psychological harm. In Louisiana, hazing is illegal, thank goodness. Those who haze or permit hazing can be fined and/or imprisoned for 10-30 days if convicted. Students who haze can be expelled from school.

Sadly, our most popular leaders and students can be caught up in hazing incidents. Students who want desperately to belong will go along with hazing if they think they will be accepted by their peers.

Teachers, coaches, band directors have tolerated the practice, or actively encouraged hazing in the misguided belief that hazing is a form of discipline or character-building. But, hazing does not build strong character. Hazing creates an abusive atmosphere of meanness and intimidation.

Some of us are old enough to remember relatives who served in the military during its worse days – the Vietnam era, when soldiers were physically abused and psychologically demeaned. After that war, there was a severe leadership crisis. But, the Army worked hard to change its culture for the better.

I was lucky to attend Officer Candidate School at “Fort Benning’s School for Boys” in the early 1980's – when the military worked hard to create a positive training culture – welcoming of diversity, welcoming of men and women who brought all kinds of skills and talent to their lives as soldiers.

Of course, soldiers were rated for their character traits, then, as now. We studied all kinds of reflections from leaders who kept their soldiers together in battle. I learned my best leadership lessons there. The first was how to correct behavior in my subordinates. We were required not only to memorize, but to live up to Schofield’s Definition of Discipline:

The discipline which makes the soldiers of a free country reliable in battle is not to be gained by harsh or tyrannical treatment. On the contrary, such treatment is far more likely to destroy than to make an army. It is possible to impart instructions and to give commands in such a manner and in such a tone of voice as to inspire in the soldier no feeling but and intense desire to obey, while the opposite manner and tone of voice cannot fail to excite strong resentment and a desire to disobey. The one mode or other of dealing with subordinates springs from a corresponding spirit in the breast of the commander. He who feels the respect which is due others cannot fail to inspire in them regard for himself; while he who feels, and hence manifests, disrespect toward other, especially his inferiors, cannot fail to inspire hatred against himself.

There’s no question in my mind that those teachers and coaches who have tolerated hazing in the past had very good, but very misguided intentions. They wanted to build discipline in their organization. But in fact, if discipline happened, it was in spite of the hazing.

As a parent, let your child know that under no circumstances should they participate in or be victim to any kind of hazing. Hazing is not welcoming. It is not good discipline. Hazing is a crime, not worthy of any sport or extracurricular activity in your child’s life. No matter how much prestige that group has in the moment, at some point, their hazing culture will be exposed.

Hopefully, before serious damage is done.

Begin Anew with Self-Confidence! - Sunday Eunice News Commentary published August 10, 2014

The new school year is upon us! We've stuffed our backpacks and classrooms with supplies and gadgets. We bought new clothes, new shoes, new accessories to mark our new beginning.  We are gradually adjusting our bed and wake-up times to conform to the demands of our school bus schedules. We've stopped by the office to pick up our schedules, pay fees, drop money in the school lunch account.

What's left?  Attitude adjustment.  Did we spend enough time this summer reflecting on our school experiences to get rid of our tired negative attitudes that may have crept up on us sometime between prom night and the last day of school?

Believe it or not, student, parent, teacher and community attitudes towards learning are highly predictive of student success.

When children have high “self-efficacy” beliefs, that is, the belief that they can accomplish academic tasks, they tend to perform much better in school.  They have a clear view of what their strengths and weaknesses are, and they know what they have to do each day to improve their skills and knowledge.

Children who have confidence in their self-efficacy can persist and work hard to solve school problems.   They have academic “resilience,” the ability to hang in there when the going gets tough.

There have been many studies that show that parents and teachers need to have  high self-efficacy ratings, too, for themselves and for their children if their children are to believe that they are strong learners.

When parents or teachers start with the premise “this child can't learn this,” the child is less likely to learn what is considered within their grasp by education experts.   Hence, it is important to foster positive “self-efficacy” beliefs in ourselves as well as our children and our students.

How do we do this?  For one, it is very important that materials taught are age and developmentally appropriate.  There's no sense in thrusting a third grader into a college level romantic literature class and telling them, “they can do it,” because the material is too advanced for their stage of life. They would not fail, but, they would believe they failed.  Teaching materials that are timely to a child's development is key to instilling self-efficacy in each child.

Students must also be taught how to figure out their own mistakes, how to build knowledge by looking for strategies and solutions if they discover they were off-base.  To do this, we must teach them to be confident in their study habits, persistent in their goal of understanding, and joyful that they have this God-given ability to learn new things every day.

Why bring this up at the start of the year?  I recently attended a celebration at my elementary school. A group of us talked about old times (40-50 years ago) as if we were still living in that era, when nuns slapped the wrists of naughty students, and publicly berated students for missing answers in ways that were so cruel, my classmates still felt the sting when we gathered on that reunion

Many of my peers had parents and teachers who told them over and over “you are not college material.”   They did not go to college.  My own parents were oddly different, expecting us to do our school work, and to prove our smarts by reading big books and writing from our imagination.  “You can do anything you put your mind to,” was their mantra whenever we were discouraged about our homework or our standing at school.

When kids come to school today,  they need to know that they ARE capable of learning, and that they will gain much by believing in their own hard work in the classroom and at the homework table.  They need to know that making mistakes is a huge part of learning.  Children should be encouraged to make many mistakes, and taught how to fix their own mistakes.

No question, the start of the school year is the best time for us to renew our partnership as parents, teachers, and the community responsible for educating all our children.  As we do so, let's promise each other to teach our children self-efficacy, and help them, thereby, to develop a deep and lasting love of learning.

Author's note: Last week I said Louisiana pays schools based on a single head count day.  In fact, the state bases it's payment on three head-count days, but the principle and the outcomes are the same: lower attendance rates and lower school performance scores.

Copyright August 6, 2014

Education Should Do No Harm - My Sunday Eunice News Commentary published July 27, 2014

Should Louisiana taxpayers “keep it simple,” and allow high-priced Common Core education contracts to be funded in violation of our state contracting laws?

That was the suggestion of Stephen Waguespack, LABI President, when he argued last Sunday that it was too late to remedy the badly designed Common Core Program by canceling the sole-source contracts the way our governor, Bobby Jindal, chose to do. 

Mr. Waguespack does not seem to be aware of the public testimony of teachers, parents, and administrators who are clearly making the case that Louisiana's Common Core Program was disastrously adopted, recklessly imposed, without adequate design input from teachers, subject-matter experts, or education testing experts. 

There have been dozens of hearings, media interviews, and expert testimonies in which education leaders argued that the Common Core Program is hurting our state public education system.

The legislature tried to halt the program, but, so many state legislators are financially beholding to education industry lobbyists, they dared not cross their patrons by voting down the Common Core, as their constituents asked them to.

Governor Bobby Jindal chose to halt the Common Core with a legal strategy.  He vowed to restore some modicum of democratic process to the next phase of planning for Louisiana's public schools.

But, now, the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education is trying to force the Common Core through – no matter what the people and the experts say.

Enter Mr. Waguespack, spokesperson for the Louisiana Business Institute: Go through with the Common Core, because we've already invested four years in it.  “It's just that simple.”

Mr. Waguespack did not address any of the critical concerns presented by dozens of nationally recognized educators.  He ignored concerns expressed by thousands of teachers and parents who are worried that the Common Core is not age appropriate for younger school children, but at the same time, not rigorous enough for high school age children.

He minimized our concerns using the label “doubts,” then proceeded to argue we should do the easy thing: spend hundreds of millions of dollars MORE on tests that were never subject to scrutiny by experts in the field of education.

I can think of several disasters that resulted from this kind of thinking, this kind of inattention to fundamental design flaws.

Do you remember the Challenger Shuttle that was torn apart minutes after takeoff, killing six astronauts and the first teacher to travel in space?  Days before takeoff, NASA engineers were still debating design flaws.  NASA management chose to go through with the launch, because it was just that simple:  they were fearful of the embarrassment guaranteed if there was another delayed take-off due to an inexpensive design flaw.

Do you remember our shock and awe as a nation, when the City of New Orleans was submerged under water – because design flaws in the New Orleans Levees resulted in devastating floods after Hurricane Katrina?  Three months BEFORE Katrina, scientists were testifying that MRGO, a dirt moving project that was supposed to make it easier for ships to navigate to the port were rarely used, and they actually created a funnel for storm waters to surge through – guaranteeing major flooding.  MRGO was nicknamed “Trojan Horse.”  Warnings to correct the design flaw were not heeded.  We know the rest of the story.

So many complex engineering plans have design flaws, but, we ignore them because “It's just that simple:”  Disasters rarely happen.

Do you remember our disbelief as a nation when the Deepwater Horizon wells ruptured?  This engineering project was rushed.  Warnings of impending danger by trained staff were ignored. In the interest of getting oil to market quicker, managers took the simple solution.  They rushed a job and ignored reports of design flaws.   Eleven workers were killed. 

The Deepwater Horizon Disaster caused one of the worst environmental crises in American History. 

There's no reason to rush the Common Core Program through, now that design flaws and contracting flaws have been made obvious to our legislators, our Governor, and our parents and community leaders.

Sometimes, it's smart to pull the plug on badly engineered structures.  It's just as smart to pull the plug on badly designed education programs.

In the short run, superintendents and directors and public leaders may be red-cheeked with embarrassment at the sudden change of course.  After all, they've been forced to publicly endorse a very badly designed program that is already doing a lot of harm to our children.

But, in the long run, we can produce lasting positive changes in our schools by adopting research-based curriculum and testing strategies that meet the real needs of our diverse students and our 21st century workforce  --- without doing harm in the process.

Public Education should do no harm.  It's just that simple.

Copyright July 22, 2014  

Why Do We Bash Teachers in Pennsylvania and New Jersey?

I’m sure we can all agree that American schools need to be modernized in order for the next generation of workers to compete in the global economy.
And by modernizing, I don’t mean holding class discussions on FaceBook, or twittering responses to pop quizzes.
No, what I’m talking about, is a reworking of our public school curriculum to teach our children, from their first days in preschool how to think mathematically, how to reason like a scientist or engineer, and how to create things that are beautiful, useful, and of lasting value to our communities.
Granted, in our wealthier school districts, this is probably happening already. But, we recently heard that the current economic crisis may cause school districts around the state to cut back programs that foster scientific and creative thinking. A school in Montgomery County, for example, is planning to close a planetarium that is housed in an elementary school.
But, in our large urban and inner ring school districts, teachers often don’t have the luxury of classroom science equipment, let alone a planetarium that costs $90,000 per year to operate. Too many teachers in our less-wealthy school districts are still hampered with out-of- date textbooks, dilapidated buildings inadequate classroom equipment, and too often, they are burdened with bloated administrations.
To make matters worse, they teach in communities where property tax burdens have become unaffordable.
All of our elected officials who are running for office at the state level are the ones who have the power to correct both the education policies and the funding streams that would make home ownership affordable, and make our public schools attractive to young families who want the very best schools for their children.
Our politicians and elected officials should focus on the power that they have to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse in school budgets, and to develop and align state curricula that will prepare students for the world of work and higher education.
But instead, too many of our politicians just point fingers, laying blame elsewhere for their indecisiveness in Harrisburg.
Who is the easy target to blame? Why, teachers. Of course.
You’ve heard the accusations: Teachers only work ten months. They have extra vacation time for Christmas, spring break. They work bankers’ hours.
God save me, if I had never been a teacher, I might have used these false impressions to get elected myself when I ran for office back in 2006. But, I have been a teacher. And, I have always taught in high poverty schools -- in Philadelphia, in Missouri, in New Orleans and in rural Louisiana. So I know firsthand, that it is a myth that “teachers have summers off, and they keep bankers’ hours.”
As this blog unfolds, I hope to explore many best education practices and best governance practices that I have uncovered as I’ve traveled the world as a teacher, a military chaplain, and a U.S. military contractor.
For now, I share this one experience, from my three years of teaching in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina. Since 2008, in every teacher workroom, there is a sign stating the teacher’s bill of rights, as guaranteed by Governor Bobby Jindal and crafted into legislation by the Louisiana State Legislature.
Legislators in Louisiana recognize that teachers deserve respect and safety if they are to be successful educators.
The Teachers’ Bill of Rights has had the effect of improving the necessary relationship between students, parents and teachers. But, it also has improved the relationship between politicians and teachers. After all, politicians and teachers share the responsibility of educating the citizenry. A good working relationship is necessary for learning communities to flourish.
I don’t know if the politicians in Pennsylvania or New Jersey need to pass such a law requiring that teachers be treated respectfully.
But I do know from my own experience, that when teachers are valued as important contributors to the life of their community, that children, adolescents, and young adults become successful learners.
Isn’t that what the education debate should be all about?