Set Our Teachers FREE!

USA TODAY has a wonderful article this AM about the effectiveness of teaching values to our young people.

Unfortunately, most times, whenever the topic is VALUES, people start confusing the issue with “separation of church and state” arguments. As my husband Don discovered, when he was promoting teaching values in his book “Set Our Teachers FREE!“, almost everyone has some type of negative knee-jerk reaction to the idea. But this article clearly shows that it WORKS! And, even better, it’s working with some of the most at-risk students in the nation.

In yesterday’s post, I wrote about the Lou Dobbs interview that I watched. He mentioned that graduation rates were only 25% in some of the largest cities in the USA. Those are shocking statistics! So it was especially rewarding to read the USA TODAY article, to see that there is a chance for those young people.

But let’s get back to the touchy issues of teaching values.The article lists the values that were emphasized during the school year:

• Respect
• Integrity
• Perseverance
• Dedication
• Leadership

Frankly, I don’t understand how anyone could OBJECT to every class in every school emphasizing and teaching all FIVE values!
In addition to explaining how their program is working, the article continues with several quotes from assistant principal, Saeed Hill, who originated the program in the school - which is an experimental public school for students at high risk for dropping out.
Possibly one of the most important lines in the article contains good advice to every parent and every teacher dealing with students. As a matter of fact, this advice underscores every other parent or teacher training tip that can be taught.

“Mostly they just need positive relationships with tough, reliable, trustworthy adults who are focused on their basic skills and their futures.“

Wow! What a concept!

The article, which is the last in a series of four about the school, does a nice job of showing that even with their successes, life is not perfect at Baltimore Talent Development High School. The article is under the byline of Greg Toppo and I’m impressed with the thorough and non-sensationalized reporting in the piece. Nice work!

I’ve included the link to the article, if you’re interested in reading it in it’s entirety. It reinforces the idea that school reform is not only possible, but probable, with a CAN-DO attitude, the right PLAN and the right personnel.

Filed under: Education News