I'd like to talk about modern day heroes and you see them everyday when you drop your child off at school. They don't wear a red cape, a big red "S" or fly. You see them at the head of the class. They are called "Teachers." No Child Left Behind was the intention and it was a good intention. But the reality is that it tossed teachers under the school bus.
When I think of teachers, I think of all those wonderful stories about teachers really making a difference in children's lives like in Mark Victor Hanson's "Chicken Soup for the Soul." All of those stories brought tears to my eyes. Stories like that are why most of these teachers became teachers. Number one, they love children. And number two, they like teaching. But when they got to the classroom they discovered they only spend 40% of their time teaching and 60% on discipline and paperwork.
Now let's talk about accountability. I want to talk about what FDR said, "The Buck Stops Here!" When something is wrong, I want to know who is in charge, who is responsible and who I should send my complaints to.
According to the World Health Organization, America is 27 th in math and 29 th in science compared to the rest of the world. Who is accountable for that? Don't even think of saying teachers. They have nothing to do with that statistic. They are in charge of nothing, they do what they are told. If the Dallas Cowboy's football team was told by the owner of the team to play without uniforms or pads and to play in their street clothes and not use any predetermined plays, who would you blame if they lose? Not the players and not the coaches. You blame the person in charge who handed down this ridiculous game plan to play without all the tools to win.
Who handed the principals and the teachers their game plan to play without all the tools to be successful? Our government and the Board of Education are the ones in charge. They handed out game plans that virtually guaranteed the teachers would fail. Don't believe me? Let's look at their game plan for success.
The most read and quoted success book in history is by Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich . It was written over a 20 year span by researching and personally interviewing 506 of the most successful people on earth at that time. Mr. Hill interviewed people such as six US Presidents, 3 Canadian Prime Ministers, Winston Churchill, John D. Rockefeller, Henry Ford, Charles M. Schwab, Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell and F.W. Woolworth as well as world leaders of his time.
Here is a quote from that book using the knowledge of 506 of the most successful people in the world. According to Think and Grow Rich , "A general education past the 8 th grade is USELESS." The book goes on to say, "Specific information in a specific field is worth its weight in gold." Do you know that in Europe children don't have a general education past the 8 th grade? They specialize in a field they are interested in or have a talent for, starting in the 9 th grade. And get this; Europe is way ahead of America academically.
So who made the kids keep taking mindless general classes from grades 9 to 12? Not the teachers!
They start blaming classroom size as the basic reason for failure. The problem is the average classroom size for those 26 other countries ahead of academically is 45. About twice the US size.
Teachers are the Vietnam Vets of the 21 st Century. The soldiers in Vietnam were fighting a war with their hands tied behind their backs. General Douglas MacArthur presented to Congress a plan to win the war in 6 weeks for both North and South Vietnam and was turned down. This is the exact same plan he used to win his part in WWII. Returning Vets were spit on by America. Our teachers are being spit on because they have their hands tied behind their backs.
Let's look at other causes not in control of the teachers who stand in front of your children daily. School lunches combined with candy and pop machines in the hallway. Do you know there is more sugar in a Big Mac than in a Hershey's bar? White bread converts to tons of sugar. What is on your child's plate? White bread, cow's milk, food dyes, sugary desserts and pop. All of these have irrefutable proof to cause hyperactivity, mood swings, temper tantrums, memory loss, fatigue and depression. So that's what walks into the teacher's classroom after lunch. Do the teachers want that as part of their curriculum? Heck no!
Who invited the pharmaceutical companies' right inside the classrooms? Not the teachers! In the 80's Congress passed the I.D.E.A Act of 1985 which states that any child with any learning disability may get money from the government (about $1,200 per child per year and up) if they're labeled with a learning disability. Now here's the kicker, you don't have to spend $1,200 on the extra tools or teachers to teach LD children. You can spend $100 on the kid and use the other $1,100 on anything you feel like. Ritalin use went up 8,000% right after that law was passed. Do you know any school district not looking for more money?
With that label comes more paperwork with IEP's and Section 504's etc. The teacher isn't teaching, the teacher is doing clerical work.
How do you get labeled? You go to the psychiatrist (many times recommended by the school). You get labeled with ADD, ADHD, OCD, ODD etc. A major survey of recently trained psychiatrist found that 9 out of 10 children are on medication in their practice.
Stubbe DE, Thomas WJ: A major survey of early-career child and adolescent psychiatrist: professional activities perceptions. J AM Academy Adolescent Psychiatry 2002; 41:123-130 http://tinyurl.com/8zsss .
So now you have the kids on dangerous, mind-altering, addictive drugs usually based on a short visual or written evaluation with no lab tests proving they even have any called disease. In 1999, Bruce Wiseman, president of Citizen Commission for Human Rights, presented a paper to the House of Representatives that showed 8 of the last 13 school shootings including Columbine were done by kids currently on medications. Black Box warning are popping up all over the place while other drugs are being yanked off the market.
Now the teacher has to deal with 9 out of 10 kids referred to the psychiatrist office coming back on dangerous drugs that may induce violence while the teacher just wants to teach the R's. We pay better for people to do mindless jobs that require no education or talent or brains for that matter than teachers. Don't believe me? Ask an electrician or a carpenter what he makes per month and then ask a teacher the same question.
I spoke at the national convention for the Arkansas Counseling Association and stepped into one of their breakout trainings. They had a whole room full of teachers who were counselors at their school who wanted to quit due to their integrity. The complaint was that after four years of college to do this job, nothing they learned in school actually applies to the real world.
One teacher said, "I'm using mentoring techniques I was taught with one student that didn't work on the last kid, won't work on this kid or the one waiting in the hall, and I know it. I'm lying to little children and I can't take it anymore.
Teachers only get the kids for 5 hours, the other 19 hours they are being raised by TV, commercials, Nintendo, kids in the streets, palm pilots and computers. Kids don't have dinner with the family every night and are sent to school after eating 3 bowls of sugar frosted flakes, a Twinkie and some chocolate milk. Ever heard of what happens the day after Halloween? It's called Hyper-Week at school and parents send their kids to school hyped to their eye balls with no respect for authority. You think the teachers want that?
Next time you talk to teachers, picture the game plan their team has them on. They have no support, the odds are stacked against them, they can't do anything about what they know isn't working and they are being paid chump change to boot. I wouldn't be a teacher for all the money in the world. What a thankless job.
I'd tell the teachers to fire their less than useless teachers union, fire their Board of Education bosses and refuse to come to work unless they have a chance to win. Win by educating the children who are prepared to learn. That's right, prepared to learn. None of them show up prepared to learn, they just show up.
Accountability is almost out of the dictionary. The parents need to be accountable for sending the kids to school prepared to learn and the kids need to be accountable for getting the education. THEN the teachers can be held accountable. Right now America is 27 th in math and 29 th in science and it has NOTHING to do with teachers.
Here is an example of a school all the networks covered over the last 10 years.
MIRACLE AT A WISCONSIN HIGH SCHOOL, Appleton, Wisconsin
A revolution has occurred. Its taken place in the Central Alternative High School . The kids behave. The hallways aren't frantic. Even the teachers are happy. The school used to be out of control. Kids packed weapons. Discipline problems swamped the principals' office. But not since 1997. What happened?
In 1997, a private group called Natural Ovens began installing a healthy lunch program. Fast-food burgers, fries, and burritos gave way to fresh salads, vegetables prepared with old-fashioned recipes, and whole grain bread. Fresh fruits were added to the menu. Filtered drinking water arrived. Vending Machines were removed. Grades are up, truancy is no longer a problem, arguments are rare, and teachers are able to spend their time teaching.
What do teachers have in your school? A big PR bonanza on the front page of every newspaper in America that schools are taking out pop with sugar in them and only putting in sugar free pop. Sugar free? Sugar free pop has Aspartame in it! Here's a link for you www.dorway.com the title is " Listing of the 92 FDA acknowledged symptoms of aspartame poisoning ... that includes death.
So far we can't find anybody but the company that makes aspartame to say anything but that it's pure poison. The side-effects will just about kill your child's ability to study in class. Think the teachers thought of that one themselves?
In my opinion teachers are heroes just like Superman. Superman doesn't get paid and neither do the teachers. We should start a national program right now, called, "No Teacher Left Behind!"