Twas the Night Before Christmas

Children hanging stockings - fireplace and Christmas

May your last-minute preparations
go smoothly!

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Education: Alternatives to ‘Drugging’ Our Children

Copy of 2005 Drug Book

A few days ago, I posted a repeat of the horrendous statistics regarding how many children are being diagnosed (over-diagnosed?) with severe mental and behavioral disorders.

(See “Education & Bipolar Disorder Revisited” from December 13th, 2007.)

It appears that we have come to rely on drugs as the antidote for bad behaviour, and what may be perceived as bad behaviour even if it is normal childhood ‘acting out’.

It also appears that European countries are far more advanced in recognizing more natural treatments as being effective, without the terrible side effects we see with so many anti-psychotic and mood-altering drugs.

The number one solution for ‘Bad Behavior’ presented in the Lancet, Britain’s major medical journal, is to “remove additives from the child’s diet”.

And the journal European Child Adolescent Psychiatry published a report in 2006, calling for Bad Behavior to be treated with Pycnogenal (extract from the bark of the French maritime pine tree), Omega-3 and Omega-6 supplements.

In the United States, we’ve known for years that food allergies can cause a child to exhibit hyperactivity and other unpleasant behaviors. We also know that the typical American diet contributes to obesity, lethargy and a wide range of health issues. So why do we continue to see drugs as the treatment of choice? Why don’t we look for healthier solutions to bad behavior.

It’s about time that Americans wake up to what we are doing to our children. We are shortchanging them in ways that can ruin their chances for success. Why label a young child as “bipolar”? This will affect everything that happens in his life in the future.

I know personally that information about the adverse effects of food additives has been available for over twenty years. I can even remember when every newspaper and magazine carried stories about the newly-discovered relationship between hyperactivity and red food dye (which was in just about every commercially prepared foodstuff at the time). Even though red food dye was banned after the discovery, I know there are still substances in our foods that are as dangerous, or worse.

Why are we, as a nation, so resistant to implementing safer and more natural, PROVEN antidotes to bad behavior? Why do we always look for the easy solution, no matter how damaging in the long run? Why don’t we insist on better solutions?

Another way we are shortchanging ALL of our children, hyperactive or not, is allowing our education system to continue to deteriorate. Once again, the Europeans are way ahead of us, as are the Asian countries and the rest of the world.

Our schools are failing, but we are ignoring the ‘red dye’ of failing schools. We either look for a ‘quick fix’, or we choose to ignore the matter entirely or claim it is someone else’s problem. Why refuse to look at a better solution?

“Set Our Teachers FREE! A Plan to Save Public Education”, by Don Kingsland offers safe and PROVEN solutions to the dismal conditions in our public schools. Don’t settle for a bureaucratic ‘quick fix’ or a political ‘cop-out’. Learn about The Kingsland Plan and how we can safely instill excellence in our public schools.

Brennan

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Education: Happy Sunday!

Winter scene of antique restored home


Have a glorious and restful weekend!


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Education & Bipolar Disorder Revisited

manic faces

We are seeing massive increases in the diagnoses of psychiatric disorders in America’s children.

In 1994, there were twenty thousand documented cases of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Today, there are 800 thousand cases. That’s forty times as many diagnoses! But ADHD is just one diagnosis.

What about the massive increase in Bipolar Disorder diagnoses? Forty times as many cases from 1994 to 2003? And many more since then!

Bipolar Disorder, sounds neat and clean, doesn’t it? Yup! Bipolar Disorder. But it’s just a sanitized way to describe a condition that used to be called Manic-Depression. Does that ring any bells?

Think back to all the things you’ve ever heard about Manic-Depression and the odd behaviors associated with it. Just keep reminding yourself that 40 times as many children have been diagnosed with an illness that was formerly only thought to occur in adults (and that still has not been proved to even exist in children). And they are being medicated with powerful and expensive drugs, that have serious side effects. Who stands to benefit from this? Huh?

Well, I’ve done some real pondering on this issue. It is especially personal to me, because I have loved ones who suffer with this painful emotional dichotomy. I have seen the ravages of this “disorder” first-hand.

First, let me say that in spite of the increase in diagnoses, even the experts don’t agree whether it is a valid diagnosis in children, or not. And even specialists who say it may be a valid diagnosis say that bipolar disorder is over-diagnosed.

Let’s take a look at some issues that may lead to this type of diagnosis:

  • A child may have an explosive personality, with outbursts.
  • A child may exhibit aggression.
  • A child may be angry, even have rage.

Now, let’s look at each of these issues:

FIRST:
Childhood is a time of bombastic, even explosive, outbursts. Do you ever remember your parents telling you to “settle down”, or to “speak more quietly” when you were a child? Have you ever thought back as an adult and wished you had one-tenth of the energy you experienced as a child? Or, have you ever watched a youngster get angry with a playmate, then quickly settle down to play harmoniously after the tears were dried?

Childhood is the time when we learn about the world, ourselves and others. It is a time when we learn to modulate, moderate and curb our enthusiasms. It is the time when we learn, through trial and error, to play nicely with others, or suffer the consequences.

SECOND:
With the role models children are inundated with on a daily basis (through the media, including warfare games on their Playstations), is it any wonder that children see aggression as the mode to success in life? Losers are weak; they let people walk all over them; they even get killed. The strong get what they want.

Psychiatrists have known for years that Passive-Aggressive behavior is one of the chosen defense mechanisms of those who feel they can gain control in no other way.

Who has less control over their lives than a child? They don’t get to decide if there is a divorce or if they get to see their father (or mother, as the case may be). Nowadays, they may not even HAVE an acknowledged father. They have no say about where they will live or under what conditions. In most cases, they don’t even get to decide what they’re going to get to eat for dinner. Helpless? Hopeless? Possibly.

THIRD:
Given the helplessness and lack of control I just mentioned, is it possible a child can be angry, even in a rage, over the conditions in their lives? Does it make sense to say the child has a “disorder” because they have these angry feelings? Given the natural childhood tendencies to rambunctiousness, and the automatic need to learn modulation and moderation, children need time to learn how to handle these explosive emotions.

How dare we say that anti-psychotic drugs are the preferred solution! These emotional upheavals and mood swings are not just a modern phenomena. One only needs to read the tragic love story of “Romeo and Juliet”, written many years ago by William Shakespeare, to realize that emotional upheaval (and faulty judgments and behaviors) of young people have been with us for a long time.

As a society, we need to start looking at the causes of some of this anger and rage, instead of just prescribing drugs (which, by the way, were never intended for children and have nasty side-effects, like massive weight gain, tremors and lack of fine motor skills, just to name a few).

Psychiatrists don’t know if the children being treated would ever have developed a full-blown case of Bipolar Disorder as adults. Even psychiatrists are arguing among themselves whether this is a valid diagnosis for children, some as young as 5 or 6.

What they DO KNOW is that most children who qualify for the diagnosis DO NOT develop mania in later years. No, they usually develop clinical depression. How sad!

If you’ve ever known an adult diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder (which used to be called Manic Depression), then you know they can function as level-headed, sane adults, with no outlandish behaviors or flamboyance, IF THEY TAKE THEIR MEDICINE. The difficulty is keeping them on their medications because they miss the wonderful exhilaration of their manic phases.

Is it any wonder these diagnosed children grow up to be depressed? They are being sedated before they’ve even had a chance to experience the childhood exhilaration of just being alive!

We have some serious problems in our society, including a public educational system that has completely deteriorated. The issue of over-diagnosing psychiatric disorders gives a whole new meaning to “drugs in our schools”. It’s about time that we wake up to the fact that things won’t get fixed with a pill.

Social problems are impacting our educational system and social problems MUST be taken into consideration in any education reform programs.

What we are doing to our children is insane! We are teaching them that pills and drugs are the solution to every uncomfortable problem. And we wonder why drug abuse is so prevalent in our country.

If you want to know about a plan that will revamp our school systems completely AND offers solutions for the impact of social problems in our schools, then you MUST read “Set Our Teachers FREE! A Plan to Save Public Education” by Don Kingsland. Learn all about The Kingsland Plan TODAY! I’d be happy to tell you where you can get your very own copy!

Remember, drugs can be THE problem, not THE solution!

Brennan Kingsland, RN, BSOM, CHN

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Education - Dumbing Down of America?

Tom DeWeese, American Policy Center President

Wow! This morning I read an article by Tom DeWeese, President of the American Policy Center and Editor of The DeWeese Report.

I say “Wow!”, because this is quite an article.

Mr. DeWeese makes a solid argument that there is a a deliberate conspiracy on the part of the Department of Education and the National Education Association (NEA) to dumb-down American education. Along the way he blasts No Child Left Behind (NCLB) as failing to address the core problems.

This article gives an overview of the ‘Big Picture’ so clearly that it is hard not to immediately agree with everything he says. In fact, Mr. DeWeese spells out the disaster that our schools have become so well, that I can only hope that people (especially parents and taxpayers) will be jolted into action to demand change.

The article explains so many things:

  • 20 years ago the US ranked FIRST in the world in high school diplomas and college degrees.

  • Now our education system ranks 18th out of 24 industrialized nations in effectiveness.

  • We are already second in the world in money spent per student, yet

  • American students grow more illiterate by the year.

As Mr. DeWeese points out,

“Twenty years ago the U.S. ranked first in the world in the number of young adults who had high school diplomas and college degrees. Today we rank ninth and seventh, respectively, among industrialized nations. Compared to Europe and Asia, 15-year-olds in the United States are below average in applying math skills to real-life tasks.”

He continues by pointing out that the National Education Association is NOT a professional organization of teachers dedicated to improving quality of teaching. Instead, Americans need to remember that it is a Labor Union, with the goal being to “. . . get more money into the educational system. Clearly the NEA is not about education - it’s about money and a political agenda.”

The article pulls no punches. Rather than try to paraphrase, let me quote directly:

“Clearly the nation’s education system is not teaching the children. They can’t read or work math problems without a calculator. They can’t spell, find their own country on a map, name the president of the United States or quote a single founding father. America’s children are becoming just plain dumb.

“Yet we have been focusing on a massive national campaign to “fix” the schools for the past decade or more. Now we have ultra high-tech, carpeted, air-conditioned school buildings with computers and television sets. We have education programs full of new ideas, new methods, and new directions. In the 1990’s we set “national standards,” accountability through “national testing” through Goals 2000. Through that program we declared that every child would come to school “ready to learn,” “no child would be left behind,” and pledged that our kids would be “second to none” in the world. Above all, we’ve spent money, money and more money. The result, American students have fallen further behind, placing 19th out of 21 nations in math, 16th in science, and dead last in physics.

“Most Americans find that statement to be astonishing and, in fact, to be beyond belief. Parents don’t want to let go of their child-like faith that the American education system is the best in the world, designed to give their children the academic strength to make them the smartest in the world. Politicians continue to offer old solutions of more money and more federal attention, almost stamping their feet, demanding that kids learn something. Programs are being proposed that call for teacher testing to hold them accountable for producing educated children. More programs call for annual tests to find out if children have learned anything. The nation is in panic. But none of these hysterical responses will improve education - because none of them address the very root of the problem.

“As fantastic as it seems, the entire history of the education restructuring effort is carefully and thoroughly documented in a book called The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America. The book was written by Charlotte Thomson Iserbyt, a former official at the Department of Education in the Reagan Administration. While there in 1981 - 1982, Charlotte found the “mother lode” hidden away at the Department. In short, she found all of the education establishment’s plans for restructuring America’s classrooms. Not only did she find the plans for what they intended to do, she discovered how they were going to do it and most importantly why. Since uncovering this monstrous plan, Charlotte Iserbyt has dedicated her life to getting that information into the hands of parents, politicians and the news media.

He concludes:

“Americans who want to rid the nation of this plague have little choice but to insist that their representatives in Congress begin a complete investigation into the Department of Education and its policies, its waste, and its fraud on the taxpayers, parents and children of this nation.

“Perhaps then, as the facts are exposed under the hot lights of a Congressional hearing, the American people will begin to understand that the problem with education isn’t low paid teachers and crowded classrooms - but rather, is the result of a cynical, deliberate attempt to dumb-down America to promote a radical political agenda. For that is the truth.”

This article is so chock full of ideas that I have included a link here, so that you can read it in it’s entirety.

American Education Fails Because it Isn’t Education

Looks like it’s time to wake up and take action! Read Set Our Teachers FREE! A Plan to Save Public Education by Don Kingsland. Learn how parents, teachers and taxpayers can change American Public Schools with The Kingsland Plan.

WOW!

Brennan

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Education - Encouraging Creativity

art kit, reading and music emblems

Everyone is concerned, and rightly so, about children becoming proficient in math and reading. What is often forgotten is how important it is to nurture creativity in those young minds as well. Children allowed to express themselves through art, play and music actually perform better in ALL subjects.

ART GIFTS: Encourage your budding artist this Christmas with a complete art kit. Faber-Castell makes an Art Set that comes complete with a carrying case to keep all those paints, pencils and paper together and completely portable. There are sets available in all sizes and in all price ranges in almost every store you can think of, including WalMart & Kmart.

PLAY GIFTS: Instead of spending monster bucks on the latest toy ‘craze’, why not invest in some toys that can stimulate your child’s creativity while they have fun. Clay modeling sets can encourage a budding sculptor; puzzles help them think ‘outside the box’; books on subjects of interest can encourage reading skills, and kits of all sorts can help them learn new crafts that can become lifelong hobbies.

MUSIC GIFTS: Instead of just giving them CDs of the latest music craze, why not get them an instrument? You’d be surprised how many teenage boys would like a harmonica (with an instruction book, of course) or, if you can, why not get them a guitar or even a keyboard. Boys and girls need to start early if they want to develop enjoyable skills they can have for a lifetime.

This Christmas, don’t let the advertisers and marketing geniuses persuade you to purchase what they want you to buy. Give gifts to your children that will enhance their lives PERMANENTLY and POSITIVELY!

Brennan

P.S. Remember, it’s all about encouraging your loved one’s creativity.

2 Responses to “Education - Encouraging Creativity”

  1. Excellent points,

    A half size classical guitar was the key for one of my kids. It was easy to play, did not hurt the fingers and gave her a chance to get a good start. She now has 3 guitars and is pretty good at 15. It is an excellent outlet. Our children need to be able to express themselves.

    I would also suggest a BLOG, work with them on the Internet, this is the future!

  2. Yes, David,

    Teaching a child about anything you love to do enriches their lives for the future.

    I love your suggestion to work with them on the Internet. Blogs certainly are the future!

    One word of caution though is to educate them not to give out too much personal info, and gently explain why. No need to help predators.

    My grandson had a site on MySpace that was far too revealing about locations, etc. We had to intercept some suspicious comments and notify law enforcement.

    Now, we’re all older and wiser.

    Brennan

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Education Hope - RSS Hugger to Help Get the Word Out

RSSHugger Logo

Do you know what an RSS feed is? Until I started blogging, I had no idea such a thing even existed.

One definition of RSS is “Rich Site Summary”, another is “Really Simple Syndication” whereby readers can subscribe to your blog’s RSS feed and receive updates on your postings and other information on a regular basis. But, as great as this feed system is, too many people either don’t know about it, or don’t use it because they don’t know how. And too often, social bookmarking sites that offered RSS Feeds were only interested in blogs devoted to making money on the internet.

All of that is about to change. At last there is hope for we bloggers who are not working within the “Make Money Online” or “Get Rich While You Sleep” themes.

Collin LaHaye has come to our collective rescue with a brand new site that is a directory of RSS Feeds for blogs. Unlike so many of the Social Networking sites, there is no preferential treatment or blackballing if your blog topic is not related strictly to Internet Marketing. Instead, the directory will help readers find and subscribe to the RSS feeds of blogs on numerous topics, including Human Interest and, yes, even Education and Education Reform. GASP!

This will be good news to all of us who would like to find more sites and forums on a variety of interests, for example, animal rescue, saving money, and even education issues, to name just three. Even better, admission is FREE!

If you would like to learn more about RSSHugger (clever name) and how you can submit your own blog to the site, or find blogs that interest you, go to www.rsshugger.com and get all the details.

Finally, like-minded people will have a way to communicate with each other about topics that interest them, even if their only purpose is the betterment of mankind.

Enthusiastically,
Brennan

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Education - Teaching Values DOES Work!

Values!

USA TODAY had a wonderful article 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! A Plan to Save Public Education”, 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 a previous post, I wrote about a 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.

Click Here to Learn More

Have a happy day!
Brennan

16 Responses to “Education - Teaching Values DOES Work!”

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  15. Great post, Brennan.
    Unfortunately the link to the article won’t work on my browser but I couldn’t agree more with your conclusion - Respect, Integrity, Perseverance, Dedication, Leadership would lead to more stable, productive, ammenable students and, therefore, adults.
    I would add one more to the list - self-discipline. A society lacking in that is doomed to failure, as seems to be the fate of ours with the self-destructive path we’ve set ourselves upon.
    Yes, a good post. And a wonderful compliment to my own - http://www.lionsledbysheep.com/2008/04/03/values/
    I hope we manage to reach people and, though in a very small way, affect the change that really needs to happen.
    Steve

  16. Yes, Steve,

    I really thought that your post and this one meshed.

    In his book, Don says that self-discipline is the most important type of discipline that we have a responsibility to teach our children. Unfortunately, many parents can’t teach it because they don’t have it themselves, and schools can’t teach it because it’s not Politically Correct.

    Unless America wakes up, we really will continue to have schools that are inadequate babysitting factories that do nothing to prepare students for a successful, and MORAL, future.

    Thanks for your comment.
    Brennan

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Education - New Tools to Love Learning

I have just found a brand new tool that can be a real asset in education. Called Sketchcast, it allows live action writing and drawing. This video shows my very first experience with Sketchcasting. I think you’ll see that I’m no expert YET! But what a fun tool for students!

Watch me learn!

Isn’t technology wonderful?

Wouldn’t it be great if we could all share the very best tools and techniques for helping our children realize their full potential?

There are many things we can do to improve public education in the USA. Get your copy of “Set Our Teachers FREE! A Plan to Save Public Education” by Don Kingsland. Learn about The Kingsland Plan and how you can be a part of the exciting movement to straighten-out our public schools!

Have a GREAT DAY!

Brennan

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Education - How Come They Can and We Can’t?

Language Students and Teachers
STUDENTS LEARNING MULTIPLE LANGUAGES

It’s bright and early on Monday morning here in the wonderful Deep South! I get to start off the week with a great success story.

First, let me ask you just a few questions:

  • What types of employment opportunities do you think a student would have if they spoke Russian, French or Spanish, as well as English, fluently?

  • What type of advantage would a graduate have if they were able to speak Chinese or Japanese, or both, fluently?

  • How about learning the previous languages AND the culture of those countries as well?

  • Wouldn’t you like the opportunity for learning these skills available to the youngsters you know and love?

  • Wouldn’t it be nice if our students had access to these skills in our public schools?


Think it can’t be done? Well, think again. It’s been done in Glastonbury, Connecticut, in their public schools, for 50 years!

On November 6th and 7th, EDUCATION WEEK published an article by Kathleen Kennedy Manzo, entitled “Foreign-Languages Acquisition a Vital Part of District’s Mission”, which details the implementation of language proficiency instruction in what used to be “a very small farming community”.

The program has grown to be a model for language education in our new global economy. And what is particularly exciting is that they start students as young as 2nd grade! And have done so for years!

The article states,

“American business leaders and policymakers are touting foreign-language proficiency as an necessary for maintaining the nation’s global competitiveness and for preparing students to work in the 21st-century marketplace.”

The article continues,

“The National Research Council. . . recently decried the “fragmented” nature of foreign-language education and the “pervasive lack of knowledge of foreign cultures and foreign languages” among the nation’s citizens.”

“Many districts are reluctant to add such programs, particularly at the elementary level, at a time when they are beefing up instruction in mathematics, reading, and to a lesser extent, science, to meet the demands of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, as well as other curricular mandates.”

What I found so exciting about the Glastonbury success story is their interdisciplinary approach. Teachers work together in groups to teach core subjects, through foreign-language instruction. Imagine learning Geography in Spanish, so you achieve proficiency in BOTH simultaneously. If that seems unbelievable, read what Christine L. Brown, district assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction (and former director of the foreign-language program) has to say,

“It’s hard for people to imagine that students’ learning a second or third language can really enhance their own learning in English. . . . but those who are multilingual understand that.”

Interestingly, studies have shown that elementary students learning a foreign language do better on standardized tests, including math and reading, than students who aren’t in language classes. What a WIN/WIN situation!

If you’ve read “Set Our Teachers FREE! A Plan to Save Public Education” by Don Kingsland, then you know that The Kingsland Plan emphasizes teacher groups establishing and implementing curriculum as a peer group. Teachers working together as professionals can bring excellence back to our schools. And a BONUS, just as in the Glastonbury schools, is that the teacher shortage can be a thing of the past. The very best teachers can bring their skills to the table to improve the caliber of education in their schools and be proud of the job they do.

If they can do it in Glastonbury, why can’t they do it in other places too? The answer is: It can be done if we start demanding workable changes. We need a complete revamp in most of our schools. Let’s take the best techniques we can find and implement them EVERYWHERE!

Start demanding change! Let’s all fight for a better future for our children! If they can do it is Glastonbury, it can be done in Anytown, USA.

Let’s make it happen!

Brennan

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Education Done RIGHT!

Terry Thomas Today I have a treat for you.

My friend, Clive McGonigal, who has a wickedly delicious sense of humor, commented on one of my articles by sending me a fantastic website and a video to view. Clive is an Englishman, living in France, conducting a worldwide business, and he is funny!

There are so many articles that he has shared with me that had me spellbound, but this information is something I MUST SHARE!

These videos are about an award-winning teacher in the U.K. and the techniques he uses to motivate and inspire his students. As Clive mentioned in his email to me. . .

“How many classes of kids do you know that moan when the lesson’s over?”

Enjoy the videos and take a look at the website. See what can be accomplished when teachers are allowed to use their creativity.


What a fellow teacher says about the effectiveness of this technique.

For years, Don Kingsland, author of “Set Our Teachers FREE! A Plan to Save Public Education” and “The Kingsland Plan” utilized creative techniques to help his students far surpass expectations. The newest generation of creative teachers is exemplified by Tim Ryans.

Our students are bright and they deserve the best education we can give them. Schools must be revamped to allow excellent teachers to provide innovative learning environments for those students, at all ages.

Take a look at Tim’s website Tim Rylands website and his blog Tim Ryland’s blog to learn more about the results of education done creatively.

Have a GREAT WEEKEND!
Brennan

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Are all the Education Tests Working?

USA Schools are Ranked 24th in the World!

Today I want to rant a little more about the testing mania that is sweeping the country. You might think I’m prejudiced because in “Set Our Teachers FREE! A Plan to Save Public Education” we talk about how our school children are losing valuable classroom time being prepped for the ever-present mandated assessment tests. In the book, Don Kingsland lists several reasons why massive, federally mandated tests are not helping our schools.

O.K! O.K! I admit that I feel strongly that testing is not the answer to fixing our schools. But now I have some real back-up for that position by a professional tester.

Rick Stiggins has presented a really thought-provoking article in Education Week (both online and in print) entitled, “Five assessment Myths and Their Consequences”. Because he is a professional, and he knows what he’s talking about, I’m not even going to try to put my own spin on his statements. His words are to the point, and very telling:

“America has spent 60 years building layer upon layer of district, state, national, and international assessments at immense cost - and with little evidence that our assessment practices have improved learning. True, testing data have revealed achievement problems. But revealing problems and helping fix them are two entirely different things.”

“As a member of the measurement community, I find this legacy very discouraging. It causes me to reflect deeply on my role and function. Are we helping students and teachers with our assessment practices, or contributing to their problems?”

Mr. Stiggins goes on to talk about our national “obsession” with standardized testing and lists 5 myths that he feels contribute to the problems and misuse of those tests. He lists those MYTHS:


  • “Myth 1: The path to school improvement is paved with standardized tests.”

  • “Myth 2: School and community leaders know how to use assessment to improve schools.”

  • “Myth 3: Teachers are trained to assess productively.”

  • “Myth 4: Adult decisions drive school effectiveness.”

  • “Myth 5: Grades and test scores maximize student motivation and learning.”

The author goes on to explain how and why each of these statements is UNTRUE; that they are comfortable myths that we tell ourselves.

What I found especially important to share was Mr. Stiggins comments about the effect of this testing on students themselves.

“. . .they (meaning students) interpret the feedback we give them to decide whether thay have hope of future success, whether the learning is worth the energy it will take to attain it, and whether to keep trying. If students conclude that there is no hope, it doesn’t matter what the adults decide. Learning stops. The most valid and reliable “high stakes” test, if it causes students to give up in hopelessness, cannot be regarded as productive. It does more harm than good.”

“True hopelessness always trumps pressure to learn.”

We see this “hopelessness” in the incredible, and growing, dropout rates in this country. Has standardized, mandatory testing helped or hurt our schools? More importantly, have we been inspiring our students to desire to learn OR to learn to take tests? Have we been telling students to stop trying?

While Mr. Stiggins and I may have differing viewpoints on the testing issue (he wants more testing, done differently), I do agree with part of his concluding statement,

“We must begin . . . to help all students experience continuous success and come to believe in themselves as learners.”

In The Kingsland Plan, the emphasis is on motivating teachers, students and parents as a team to achieve future success for our students. We need to start instilling winning attitudes into our young people, and we need to start NOW!

Brennan

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Education Peer Tutoring BOOSTS IQ!

Young and older students studying together!

Education Week posted a phenomenal article this month which points to the many benefits of Peer Tutoring, which is simply students helping students learn. The article entitled “Peer Tutoring’s Potential to Boost IQ Intrigues Educators”, list the arguments for and against.

If you have already read “Set Our Teachers FREE! A Plan to Save Public Education” by Don Kingsland then you know that Don is an advocate of peer teaching/tutoring and has used it successfully since 1963. Utilizing peer studying, along with his compassionate teaching skills, Don was able to help thousands of students achieve previously unimagined levels of academic success.

The study referred to in the article was published in June by two Norwegian scholars and dealt primarily with sibling peer teaching, but the article goes on to quote experts about the evidence of benefits in school, as well. We read

“Of all the theories . . .one is particularly relevant for educators. It suggests that firstborns are smarter because they spend more time tutoring younger siblings.”

“Explaining something to a younger sibling solidifies your knowledge and allows you to grow more extensively.”

While there are skeptics and naysayers, I personally feel their arguments are spurious and/or shortsighted. One scholar, who shall remain nameless, was quoted as saying,

“How much tutoring do siblings do, really? I still think it’s a bit dubious.”

OBVIOUSLY, this gentleman has never observed family life close-up among brothers and sisters.

We also heard an activist parent complaining that she sends her daughter to school “to be taught, not to do the teacher’s job”. Again, we feel this is short-sighted. It is also an uninformed and mean-spirited statement, in my not-so- humble opinion. Why would ANY parent object to programs that increase benefits to their children? Again, OBVIOUSLY, it is due to a lack of valid information.

The article continues with an explanation of the research that states thirty years of studies have suggested that elementary-level peer-tutoring programs demonstrate:

“Both the tutor and the tutee learn better when they teach each other than they do in regular teacher-led classrooms. Some studies have even shown the effects for peer teachers are greater than they are for the learner. . .”

Stephanie Rhoton, a 4th grade teacher at Dodson Elementary School in Hermitage, Tennessee is quoted as saying:

“Both high- and low-skilled students profit by working together. With the higher-IQ children, they know the material and they understand the concept, but they have a hard time verbalizing it. When they work with their peers, it challenges them to have to explain it. I can’t quite explain it to them the way their peers can.”

I would like to conclude this post with three examples in my own life that make me a dedicated advocate of peer teaching.

  • I was the oldest child growing up. Over time, I became a walking dictionary and encyclopedia for my younger siblings, who always came to me FIRST, when they needed assistance. I’m convinced that this is one reason I became a straight “A” student myself.

  • During my high school years, I attended a private school, highly ranked for it’s academic excellence. (Although our football team sucked!)

    In my sophomore year, I attended a Geometry class instructed by a brilliant mathematician. Unfortunately, she had a difficult time expressing the subject in a manner that my classmates could grasp. She was just too smart for them to understand.

    After an initial struggle, when she seemed to think I was trying to take over her class, we developed into a very effective team. She would explain the lesson to me during classtime, then I would stand and explain the concept to the rest of the class in extremely simple terms so they could understand, then we would move on to the next concept.

    It was a WIN-WIN-WIN situation. I got VERY good at geometry, my classmates all did VERY well in geometry, and the teacher gained some SIMPLE explanations for teaching future classes.


  • Finally, although the article emphasizes the benefits of peer teaching with younger students, I experienced the benefits to adult learners firsthand.

    In nursing school, I got straight “A”s again, but I had to work slavishly to maintain that.

    In my final semester, I joined a student peer teaching group that had been functioning since Freshman year. Since I lived so far away from school, I had never been a part of the group before.

    Once I joined the group, the shared experience made graduating first in my class SO MUCH EASIER.

What can you do to help our public schools?

  • Join the “Straighten-Out Public Schools NOW!” Club.

  • Read “Set Our Teachers FREE!”.

  • Visitwww.thekingslandplan.com and learn about the COMPLETE PLAN to restore excellence to our schools.


We must stop falling behind. We need every parent, teacher and taxpayer in America to learn about The Kingsland Plan and start DEMANDING changes in our public schools!

Brennan

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The World of School vs the World of Work vs Terrorism

Scenes of terrorism

Since I’ve been reading Education News as my “Internet’s #1 source for Education News and Information”, I’ve had several opportunities to read articles by Dr. Martin Haberman, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, because he is a columnist AND a Board Advisor for EdNews.org.

I always find his articles interesting and thought-provoking. I usually agree with most of what he writes because, like Don and me, he is old enough to remember when schools were effective at educating the youth of America. Like us, he is also old-enough to have witnessed the changes and deterioration that have occurred over the last several decades.

The article I would like to share with you today was originally published on 09/03/2007. Entitled “Connecting Schools to the World of Work”, it spells out why terrorism and instability are so rampant around the globe and here in the USA.

Dr. Haberman writes:

“The media remind us daily that the fundamental source of terrorism and instability is high and continuous unemployment. We are bombarded with images of males of all ages engaged in demonstrations, protests and various forms of violence.”

(I would like to add here that the images come from around the world as well as here in the good ol’ USA.) He continues:

“Large numbers not engaged in any form of gainful employment are ready recruits for a mob throwing stones, burning property, turning a funeral into a riot, or participating in a political demonstration. There never seems to be a shortage of very angry otherwise idle males readily available for some form of protest behavior.”

May I also add that we even see this same behavior on the social websites across the internet. Angry young men who feel powerless spew filth and obscenity across the thousands of comments made daily on Web 2.0 sites. Hiding behind their monitors, these very frustrated and angry (mostly male) commentors try to make themselves feel more important by bashing everyone and everything that isn’t in perfect alignment with their opinions. Usually, these diatribes include some very obscene words and taunts, as well as personal verbal attacks on others. So sad! Actually pathetic, when you think about it.

Dr. Haberman explains some of the etiology behind this malanthropic behavior, as well as the terrorism of a suicide bomber.

“Having no prospects . . . creates no-hopers unable to fulfill the male roles their societies expect of them. The most powerful understanding gained from the field of psychology is the formula

Frustration=Aggression.

Agression may be expressed against others or against oneself. Thus a suicide bomber benefits by solving the problem of frustration in BOTH ways.”

The article continues with statistics about unemployment rates of African American males in some of our larger cities (up to 48.3% unemployment in Pittsburgh) and compares them with unemployment rates in Algeria, the Phillipines, Indonesia and Jordan. He further explains that although the statistics are terrible, the actual numbers are much higher. 48.3% unemployment and so on are actually “underestimates” and he explains why that is so.

Dr. Haberman poses the question,

“Why haven’t the schools developed school to work programs? . . .Why aren’t the schools implementing school to work programs on a K-12 basis that prepare children and youth for the world of work throughout their school careers?”

The author continues by explaining the current situation in at least 2,500 high schools that a recent Johns Hopkins study identified as “drop-out factories”, schools with a long history of more dropouts than graduates.

This very problem, and the solution, is spelled out in “Set Our Teachers FREE! A Plan to Save Public Education” by Don Kingsland.

It’s time for America to wake up to the growing problems in our public schools. We are heading for disaster and will soon reach it if decisive change and reform, like that suggested in The Kingsland Plan is not implemented as quickly as possible. We don’t have time to wait 15 years while a plan (as suggested by the Knapp Commission) is implemented. We need changes NOW!

You can learn how easily effective education reform can be implemented in your neighborhood, and nationally, once you read Set Our Teachers FREE!. The time for waiting for the bureaucrats to FIX THINGS is over. Get Informed NOW! Find the Answers NOW! Let’s Straighten-Out Public Education NOW!

Brennan

Watt's riots of 1965 - I was there!

P.S. Here’s a picture from the Watt’s riots of 1965. Yes, I was working there at the time and had to be escorted to safety in a caravan of cars, with full police riot guard protection.

2 Responses to “The World of School vs the World of Work vs Terrorism”

  1. Great article, ‘48.3% unemployment’? Thats shocking!

    “Set Our Teachers FREE! A Plan to Save Public Education” sounds like a must!

  2. Thanks! What is even MORE shocking is that unemployment percentages are estimated to be AT LEAST 10% greater than reported. 58% is over half!

    Yes! We need to change what is happening in schools and the book has the plan that can do it.

    I’m excited that we have presidential candidates reviewing the plan for implementation in their campaigns.

    YaHoo!

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‘Mom’ and ‘Dad’ Banned from California Schools

Gov. Arnold Swartzenegger

Well, there is NEWS from California! Governor Arnold Swartzenegger has signed a law banning anything in schools that can be perceived as negative to ‘Gays’. Under the new law, ‘Mom’, ‘Dad’, ‘husband’ and ‘wife’ are not allowed.

Boys and girls will now use the same bathrooms and locker rooms if they choose. The news report, published in WorldNetDaily, makes it clear that NO laws banning anything perceived as negative to ‘Conservative and Traditional values’ is in effect.

I’m originally from California, so I’m very aware of the political climate there. But even I am SHOCKED!

What conservatives across the country are concerned about is how this will impact teaching, not only in California, but across the USA. Textbook suppliers will be publishing editions of any textbook to comply with the regulations of their largest purchaser (usually California). It is possible that publishers will be unwilling (due to economic feasability issues) to produce a different version of their textbooks for other purchasers. This means, the California editions could be all that is available nationwide.

Tell me, dear reader, how do you feel about this issue?

Is this an idea whose time has come?

Do you think this is beneficial or detrimental to the students of the USA?

How do you feel about this issue? Is it good, bad or indifferent?

I’m including a link to the story, so you can read the article in it’s entirety, before you make your final decision.

Click here to read the entire article!

Let me know what you think!

Brennan

One Response to “‘Mom’ and ‘Dad’ Banned from California Schools”

  1. Hi Brennan,

    Regarding Gov. Arnold Swartzenegger who has signed a law banning anything in schools that can be perceived as negative to ‘Gays’, i.e., homosexuals…

    “…Under the new law, ‘Mom’, ‘Dad’, ‘husband’ and ‘wife’ are not allowed…”

    Gov. Arnold Swartzenegger is a great disappointment… he is no Ronald Reagan… and neither is Pres. George Bush.

    They are both progressive/socialist administrators who think that “can’t we all just get along” means to be kind to those who did NOT vote for them and ignore those who did vote for them.

    Both would be serious competitors to former Pres. Clinton for United Nations Secretary General.

    President George Bush is a suprisingly great disappointment…

    His views on pro “break & enter” illegal immigration are not defensible…

    That’s why he never defines and defends his views in public.

    I saw your note to Miguel Alvarez on copywriting.com about joining the copywriting forum.

    My note about the copywriting “3 Helpful Hints” was above your note, so I would like to direct you to the American Writers & Artists Inc. (AWAI) copywriting course from Michael Masterson called “Accelerated Program For six-Figure Copywriting” that may help you in mastering copywriting at a very convenient price.

    Miguel advertises this AWAI copywriting course on his web site, so if you purchase it from his site, he will get the credit for the sale.

    Check it out… you will not be disappointed.

    Art
    http://www.RegisterMyName2.ws

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Testimonial to Education Reform !

Image of

So often, the information I share makes it seem as if there is NO WAY that things can get any better in USA Public Schools. Whether it is the sheer enormity of the task, the lack of creativity on the part of leadership, or the totally non-workable solutions that big education commissions suggest, the task does seem daunting.

But THERE IS A SOLUTION! I’ve been telling you about “Set Our Teachers FREE! A Plan to Save Public Education” by Don Kingsland, and how practical, efficient and EASY reform with The Kingsland Plan is for almost 5 months.

Today, I am happy to share an unsolicited testimonial that we received after I posted the information about the reform suggestions proposed by the Knapp Commission. (Remember, start students at age 3 and graduate everyone at 16 years old?)

This testimonial is even more interesting because it comes from a home schooling advocate.

“I believe all children are naturally curious and like all people love to be inspired to learn. And who else can ignite desire and imagination better than the people around us, books, music, art, and other media? Parents and Teachers most of all get first shot to spark imagination. Yet, a teacher who is confined to a daily curriculum stressed to fill quota while feeling the eye of a camera in her back keeping watch over her classroom must be, of course, tremendously challenged to inspire young impressionable minds, nor does she have the luxury to help students who need the extra attention, which is more so discouraging to the student and is just one of the issues Don Kingsland addresses. “Set Our Teachers Free” is indeed an eye opener. Everyone should read it, students, parents, teachers and the high counsel of the Charles Knapp commission. They definitely could use some common sense pointers and inspiration. Perhaps they wouldn’t have to get rid of our public educational system after all?! Your plan is priceless.” homekids.info

See! I told Ya’ so!

Brennan

2 Responses to “Testimonial to Education Reform !”

  1. Education is undervalued in this country, and so is imagination. Coincidence?

  2. I agree with you 100%, Eric.

    It is no coincidence! But we need to fight back and MAKE people see how important education is. . .NOT just schooling, but EDUCATION.

    Thanks for your comment!

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Education Flimflam?

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What Were They Thinking? Were They Thinking?


CAN THIS MAN BE TRUSTED?

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran

While this post, at first glance, may seem a little off-topic, I think you’ll see that it deals with problems in our education system.

Despite protests from everyone and everybody, Columbia University allowed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran, to speak on their campus. The speech, which took place in New York where Ahmadinejad is to speak to the U.N., has been publicized around the world. The latest report I read came from China!

Columbia University is supposed to be one of our bright spots in Education, one of the “hallowed halls” where the level of education has supposedly not deteriorated. Columbia University insisted it was maintaining a platform for Free Speech, educational enlightenment, tolerant discussion, etc. (I’m paraphrasing here!)

So what is the upshot of all this marvelous openness and tolerance?

The President of the University, Lee Bollinger, introduced the President of Iran by calling him a “petty and cruel dictator” and posing questions and critcisms of comments Ahmadinejad has made in the past, including denying the Holocaust completely.

Maybe Bollinger thought he was going to castigate Ahmadinejad and call him to task, but instead he wound up looking like an ungracious host and his questions and allegations went completely unanswered, or twisted.

Sooner or later, academics are going to have to wake up to the fact that the world doesn’t play by some arbitrary rules of name-calling versus nicety, that are “Oh, so civilized!”

Columbia University came across as petty and mean-spirited and, WORSE, they provided a platform for an enemy of the USA to appear “gracious under pressure while being unfairly attacked by his host”. Slippery as they come, Ahmadinejad came across as the innocent defender of the poor, underdog Palestinians, while he expertly attacked the USA and everything it stands for.

He even got his message across that Iran’s nuclear program is simply being developed for “peaceful” uses only and that Iran is the victim of terrorism and not the sponsor of terrorism.

He wiggled around on his earlier denial of the Holocaust by saying that “even if it did happen”, what does that have to do with the suffering of Palestinians? So instead of being denounced as a tyrant and supporter of terrorism, Ahmadinejad presented himself to the world as a peacemaker, standing up for the underdog against the great USA-Israeli combined program of “propaganda and tyranny” in the Middle East.

Once again, the USA is cast as the BAD GUY in the eyes of the world. And one of our allegedly premier educational facilities provided the platform!

According to the reports I’ve read from around the world, Ahmadinejad is being praised for his bravery and spirituality under unfair attack from his American hosts.

WAY TO GO, Columbia! Not only did you provide a platform for his well-practiced manipulation, but you caused an even bigger “black eye” for the good ol’ USA.

This type of stupidity is just another indicator of the troubles in our schools. Too many people in the USA don’t even realize that there is an entire global community out there that looks at issues from their own perspective. We are not teaching basic skills to our youngsters, or the realities of our place in the world to our high school and college students.

We have become so complacent in the mistaken belief that we are invulnerable, and so egocentric, that we forget we are outnumbered (and obviously being outmaneuvered) by our enemies.

Stupid Columbia University! Don’t you know that if you invite a scorpion to dinner you can get stung?

* * * * *

Tell me, dear reader, how do you feel about this issue?

  • Are we naive?

  • Are we stupid?

  • Are we gluttons for punishment?

  • Will we ever learn to be more self-protective?

  • Will we ever come together to protect our own interests and safety?


Shocked, Worried and Wondering,

Brennan

2 Responses to “What Were They Thinking? Were They Thinking?”

  1. Quote: “Columbia University came across as petty and mean-spirited and, WORSE, they provided a platform for an enemy of the USA to appear “gracious under pressure while being unfairly attacked by his host”. Slippery as they come, Ahmadinejad came across as the innocent defender of the poor, underdog Palestinians, while he expertly attacked the USA and everything it stands for.”

    Don’t you think - just for a moment - that Iranian position has at least some merit? That for the most part of the world the whole USA IS “petty and mean-spirited?” And Iranian president was sent here as a missionary to barbarians? And may be it’s time for Americans to consider some changes to their own mentality instead of fixing the world?

    I actually applaud Columbian University for their bold move in the direction of - yes! - freedom of speech. This gives me some hope that this country can change. Despite of Mr. Bollinger’s prank.

  2. Yes, Mr. Nestor,

    I believe the Iranian position has some merit. I believe that their position is perfectly understandable in that they have their own self-interests at heart. I’m also savvy enough to know that their “self-interests” are contrary to the best interests of the USA.

    My post was meant to point out that people in the USA, the US government, AND Columbia University need to put our own self-interests first as well.

    You and I agree that most of the world sees the USA as “petty and mean-spirited”. I would add, except when they view us as “dissolute degenerates” and “war-mongering tyrants”.

    While I agree with part of your comment, there are a few points that I have issue with:

    1st) Ahmadinejad, and Iran, may view us as barbarians, but he hardly came as a “missionary”. His purpose, which he accomplished completely, was to speak to the UN and deflect attention away from his comments about the destruction of Israel, the non-existence of the Holocaust and other issues. He also presented Iraq as a country bent on peace and the peaceful use of nuclear power. He succeeded admirably on both counts. (Iran’s current alliance with Turkey against the Kurd’s in Iran does cast SOME doubt about Iran’s peaceful intentions, don’t you think?)

    2nd) I disagree with your assessment of President Bollinger’s behavior as a “prank”. It was far more than that. Columbia University’s attempts at offering a platform for “free speech” were entirely motivated by self-aggrandizement and publicity for the university. Then, after they provided this supposed platform for a professed anti-American dignitary, Bollinger bowed to pressure from protesters and “bashed” a guest speaker of the university. My entire post was related to the additional “black eye” given to the USA by the double-dealing of these publicity-seeking, alleged Free Speech advocates at Columbia University.

    AND, yes, I completely agree with your comment “And may be it’s time for Americans to consider some changes to their own mentality instead of fixing the world.”

    While we MAY mean different things about Americans’ mentality changes, that was the entire purpose of my post. I tried to explain that we need to become more educated about the global community and their perception of us AND we need to become more self-protective.

    Instead of trying to help everyone around the world and FIX all their problems, I truly believe we must become more concerned about FIXING problems in the USA FIRST. Even our humanitarian aid to other countries blows up in our faces, while we have people starving in the good ol’ USA.

    Maybe it’s time for the USA to start taking care of the USA and let other countries fend for themselves. They certainly don’t appreciate any assistance we