Education

By Leonard Morgan

Education and the Child: Looking at all the options that are out there and see what has really worked.

But today we have a society that has thrust upon our children the notion that they are not that "children". They are bombarded with advertising designed to let them know that they are nothing if they do not have the product that costs large amounts of money. They watch movies that tell them how to act. They hear music that points them in the direction of killing, rampant sex, and hate.

So what is my solution? Anyone that says he or she has a solution is day dreaming. But there are things that can be done. We can beef up our schools to make them better and safer. How? Let us find a role model out there in this nation of ours. There are schools that have solved these problems and we need to find them and learn from them. But people, our problem in education has many incoming sources. We must help parents to understand that what they see at home may not be what we see at the school. We need to stand behind our teachers and let the children know that we are here for them, not as task- masters but as mentors.

We need to back up parents 100 percent to help turn around a child gone bad. We need to enforce a stricter dress code so those that do not have will not be picked on by those that do.

We need to give more rewards, cheers, and accolades for educational excellence to students, just as we do for the athletes. We as a society must show these children that it is cool to be educated. Yes, some are smarter than others, but everyone is born with a special talent and parents and teachers alike should search diligently for it. A child that can't do algebra may be able to repair a car in two seconds flat. Does this make him stupid? I don't believe so. He or she is the back-bone of America. We cannot all be doctors, lawyers, and politicians, but we can be carpenters, mechanics, plumbers, electricians and so forth.. So what is my answer? Let us as a community, look at all the options that are out there and see what has really worked, then let's try it. We should not throw money away on methods that have not been tested.