Re: OT: Thanks Again George, Again

ADD is real and I believe it's caused by environmental factors which
didn't exist 10 or 15 years ago. I will also agree those that pharma is
busy pitching drugs and some schools are busy druggin kids into a
submissive stupor.

I don't agree that ADD is boys being boys. I think there is something
seriously amiss in our environment that affects boys more than girls.
When I look at class pictures of my oldest and compare them to class
pictures of my youngest ( 10 years difference) I see much fatter duller
kids. When my oldest was in 1st grade there were 30 or 40 bicycles
outsdie the school. When my youngest was in 1st grade there were 2 or 3
bicycles outside the school. What changed between 1983 and 1993?



Mmm, given a choice 80% of inner city parents would choose a private
parocial school over public, but you know better than they how they
should raise their kids.

I'll tell you what is wrong with that. But first I'l tell you that I
took my last two out of school and home schooled for a couple of years.
The reason? They were bored bored bored. The final straw was when my
daughter couldn't go to her gifted and talented class as punichment
because she didn't get her class work done on account of the teacher
using her to tutor the slow boy in the class. My daughter came home in
tears ,very angry telling me that it wasn't her job to teach that boy
and that anyway nobody could teach that boy because it was a fantasy
that he could be brought up to "average" ability. The teacher's
persepctive was that it was good for her to learn to teach someone
else. I could buy that. But the teacher also said how angry she was
that they spent most of the class time preparing for state mandated
tests rather than teaching to needs of the students and that basically
my daughter was an unpaid teacher, talk about child labor.

My first kid did very well in our local public school. He was an
average kid and he made it out of school before Ross Perot started all
that mandated testing (which benefited his own computer company). Those
tests have done a lot to ruin the public school system.

We used an online sevice correspondance service that "schooled" a lot
of professional kid actors. After the first year I let my daughter do
pretty much what ever she wanted. Since I own my own business, I set up
an office for her. She spent a lot of time reading and making things.
When she went back to public school in 7th grade she was still ahead of
the rest of the kids. When her science teacher started teaching
creation science as science, I moved her to Austin and enrolled her in
the public school science academy. She was able to take advance math
and science in a "liberal" envirnment at a public school that was every
bit as good as an expensive private school. Later, she transfered to
the arts academy. When she was a junior, she transfered to the
alternative school because she could self pace and graduate early. Now
she's in the advertising department at UT. Her older brother (the
middle child) had similar problems in addition to just not fitting into
the local football culture. We homeschooled him by letting him take all
the Austin Community College courses he wanted from age 16 until I
pronounced him graduated from high school. In addition to reading,
writting, and arithmatic, he learned welding, refrigeration, machining
and auto mechanics. He's at UNT in the engineering mechanics
department.

But back to public school. Instead of pulling my kids out, I wished I
had have had the energy and will to really pitch a fight. You only get
the kind of government and schools you fight for. If the public
doesn't receive an education because those who "know better" leave the
system, it will haunt us later. We need to put civic responsiblity back
in citizenship. I point the finger at my self too.

Lecture follows:

Civic Responsibility dates to ancient Rome whose citizens wanted to
contribute to Roman society. Civic responsibility may have started with
Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus in 519 BC.

Although Civic Responsibility has existed for centuries in society, it
was officially sanctioned as a blueprint for democracy in 1787 by the
ratification of the United States Constitution.

In the 18 th and 19th centuries and through the 1930s, civic
responsibility in America was tied to a commonwealth perspective. From
voluntary fire departments to the public arts to the Civilian
Conservation Corps (CCC) of the 1930s and 1940s, citizens participated
in projects that shaped communities and ultimately the nation. Due to
civic responsibility, citizenship was understood in terms of the labors
of ordinary people who created goods and undertook projects to benefit
the public, as opposed to the high-minded, virtuous and leisure
activities of gentlemen. This kind of civic identify helped create an
important balance between pursuit of individual wealth and the creation
of public things
http://www.learningtogive.org/papers/index.asp?bpid=11

The next generation will be the stewards of our communities, nation,
and planet in extraordinarily critical times. The present and future
well being of our society requires an involved, caring citizenry with
good moral character. People do not automatically develop good moral
character; therefore, conscientious efforts must be made to help young
people develop the values and abilities necessary for moral decision
making and conduct. Effective character education is based on core
ethical values which are the foundation of democratic society. These
core ethical values transcend cultural, religious, and socio-economic
differences. Character education is, first and foremost, an obligation
of families, it is also an important obligation of faith communities,
schools, and other service organizations. These obligations to develop
character are best achieved when these groups work cooperatively.
Public schools have a responsibility to focus and coordinate efforts to
teach and model the core ethical values.
- revised, from the Aspen Declaration on Character Education, Josephson
Institute of Ethics




U.S. Civic Values
Fundamental Values and Principles
from the National Standards for Civics and Government
by the Center for Civic Education
individual rights, liberty
the public or common good
self government
equality
diversity
openness and free inquiry
truth
patriotism


The Six Pillars of Character
from Character Counts, by the Josephson Institute

Trustworthiness
Respect
Responsibility
Fairness
Caring
Citizenship

http://www.activecitizenship.org/civic.html

.

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