As far as financial issues are concerned, all I can say is go to
www.daveramsey.com. He is on the radio on weekdays and on the
Fox Business Network at 8pm on weekdays.

As far as education in general is concerned, I am going to post a
response I put in the comments section of my newspaper's article
about Seminole County adopting this new math program that is a
little controversial.

---->

When principals get that dreaded phone call from the
superintendent (or the superintendent from the state DOE) in
June asking what they are going to do to improve test scores,
the easy (and unfortunate) answer is always to adopt some new
program (like block scheduling, International Baccalaureate,
AVID, Kagan, whole- language reading, "fuzzy math", etc.). So,
the next school year is spent sending a small group of teachers
and/or administrators to these conventions to see what program
is a good fit for the school. They come to a conclusion, and then
the school (or district) adopts the chosen program for the
following school year, claiming it to be the answer to most of
its problems. Then money and time is spent sending several
teachers to training events or bringing the training materials
(or people) to the school to train the staff. If things go the
way that they have gone in the few schools where I have taught,
the test scores really don't change, because the program didn't
address the bigger problem.

The solution to the problem is to improve teacher effectiveness.
Now, I am not apart of the "it's the teachers' fault" crowd,
because I am a teacher myself and know that there are factors
involved in education that are beyond teachers' control. However,
if resources were spent training teachers to deal with the
situations they encounter more effectively instead of investing
in the latest fad program, I believe you would see our schools
improve. Obviously, schools with a higher percentage of at-risk
students (i.e. Jones, Evans, Oak Ridge and their feeders) have
more "beyond our control" issues, so it is important to teach
these teachers (myself included) how to deal with the situations
we encounter so that we can improve the quality of education.

Harry Wong, who is a big guy in the education field, sums this
issue up a lot better than me. Instead of me trying to explain
it, I am just going to post the link to his articles about this
here.

http://teachers.net/wong/MAY09/ http://teachers.net/wong/APR09/

On 6/25/09, tampa teacher wrote:
> On 6/25/09, bob wrote:
>> Please, tell me what is on your mind and please no negative
>> emotions lol
>>
>> American culture is cultureless!! If you think about the
>> education system the US has... American people are idiots
>> that think a credit card/line of credit is free money and
>> they'll never have to pay it back!! I mean, seriously. How
>> do these people go ahead and buy the house of their dreams
>> if they can't even afford rent! This is because since they
>> are kids, Americans, if they don't do well, they are
>> told "well, it's ok, you did your best, so here is a “A”
>> for effort - Good job!!" They are never told "NO". This
>> screws up people since the beginning. They always think
>> they can do whatever they want, that "at least I tried"!!
>> It's the same when buying a house you can't afford! "Well,
>> I'm bankrupt, but I did my best, I tried..." This is how
>> you transform the American Dream in American Nightmare! By
>> not telling people "NO". How about "No, you can't borrow
>> 500,000 to buy a house if you only make $30,000/y? Is that
>> Rocket Science??
>
> You are partially correct, but dd not discuss the root cause?
> Americans have been taught to judge success by how much money
> one makes; they have been taught to buy what you want and
> live for now; they see that sport and entainment figures get
> more respect than academic stars, and they have been taught
> that the consumer is God.
>
> Schools changed in after industrial age. When the consumer
> age arrived around post WWII, schools were changed to meet
> the wants of the students. The students and parents learned
> that if they +++++ enough, they can get their way.
>
> In Europe, they have consumer economies, but the schools
> still teach the basics by sticking to age old principles of
> learning. They do no pay attention to RTI, SIMS, Kagan,
> Differention, Cooperative Discipline, and other politically
> correct Buzz word programs. They do not have the publishing
> companies running the school testing programs.
>
> In Europe, they realize that not all students are college
> material. Some are meant to be elecricians, carpenters,
> farmers, mechanics, and other important members of society.
>
> In Europe, people live life everyday. Although it may be
> tough to get by and they may not have all the material things
> we have, they appreciate just living and enjoying life
> eachday. Americans on the other hand tend to always be
> seeking jobs that pay more money so we can climb the economic
> and social ladder. Teachers in Europe are respected as highly
> as school administrators. Not so here.

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