Is Education What They See, or What We Try to Teach Them?

Our children and students are not stupid, dumb or wrought with viewing our actions as “over their head.” Let’s look at some current items in the news that are setting the bar for them to emulate:

Board of Education

Our Oklahoma State Board of Education recently had the first meeting with the newly elected superintendent, Janet Barresi. It turned into  a disrespectful version of a Jerry Springer-type circus. This Board and Department requires me as a School Board member to complete training to run and complete legal, civil and functional School Board meetings.

The OK State Board committed open meeting violations, broke Federal employment laws, and took illegal votes – all on that one day. While doing this, they were rude, insensitive, unprofessional, and they violated the oath they swore to upon being seated on the Board.

Lost School Days

After all the recent bad weather of ice, snow and frigid temperatures, school districts had to determine a way to make up lost school days. Students, parents and community people DO realize that sticking a few minutes of extension on a school day REALLY doesn’t take the place of four, five or six REAL WHOLE DAYS of class time, unless your class time is in fact a poor product. Is that what you’re telling us?

To end a school year without making up days is a joke! The message this sends is that the teachers’ union doesn’t want to have to really work the proper days, parents don’t want to change vacation days, and schools don’t want to change testing and graduation procedures.

Wisconsin Protesters

Protesters at the Wisconsin State Capitol give us two pathetic examples:

• Elected Democrat legislators took an oath when elected to do their job. Traveling out of state and holing up in a hotel and bar, so as not to be in their seat doing their sworn job is pretty despicable.
• Teachers were protesting for days by lying about being sick instead of teaching in their classroom. A real doctor sat at the protest, giving teachers “sick slips” to hand into work. Ethically, shouldn’t the doctor and the teachers be fired?

Found Money

A man found $4,000 cash that somebody dropped along the way. He immediately took this money to the closest police station and turned it in for recovery. After finding the distressed owner, the police connected these two gentlemen, and the finder refused any reward. He stated, “It had to be the right thing to do – never a doubt in my mind.” This is an example of education that I want my kids and grandchildren to follow.

How about you? We are what THEY see!!!

Advertisement