Tag: education

Back to School: It’s Make-It-or-Break-It Time for the Economy

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Spending this fall for students K-12 is expected to drop 12%, according to a National Retail Federation survey reported in The Wall Street Journal. The average that will be spent on each kid is $634.78, down from $688.62 in 2012. Even those going to college are expecting decreases from $836.80 this year [compared to] $907.22 last year.

[I]t looks like the payroll tax hike, the sequestration and the continued sluggish job market are finally going to rear their ugly heads during the first major sales season of the year. This is troublesome news for retailers, because the back-to-school (BTS) season is like the canary in the coal mine; BTS sales trends historically predict how the holiday fourth-quarter sales will turn out. [I]n another BTS warning about the economy, 47.7% of college students expect to live at home [in 2013], up from 42.9% in 2012.

These depressing numbers tell us that the American family has begun to focus on the needs of their children for BTS rather than the wants of their kids. If working Americans are having trouble getting their kids ready for BTS, what about the children in families stuck in poverty or not working at all? According to The Hechinger Report, poverty is getting so concentrated in America that one [in] five public schools is classified as “high poverty” […] by the U.S. Department of Education. To be classified as [a] high-poverty [school], 75% of [its] elementary, middle or high school students must qualify for […] free or reduced-price [lunches].

Moyers & Co. reports that […] poverty affects 46.2 million people [in the United States], [including] 16.1 million children. […] Deep poverty, [or a household income below] $11,510 [annually] for a family of four, hits 20.4 million people, [or] one in 15 Americans. On top of all this, we have 1,065,794 homeless students enrolled in U.S. preschools and K-12 schools, and […] only 48% of poor children are ready for school by the age of five, compared to 75% of children from moderate- and high-income families.

[W]e have parents who are going to be spending less on their children for BTS, [a]nd we have poverty creating a major burden for schools to figure out how to deal with accommodating these kids’ needs. This is a bleak time for not only our economy but to the answer of how we cope with an all-inclusive society so that no child is left behind.

Some organizations are rising to the occasion with drives to provide the underprivileged with what they need to go back to school with dignity—staples like backpacks, school supplies and clothes. Fox News reported [that] in St. Louis, the National Council of Jewish Women brought a “[b]ack-to-[s]chool store” to 1,200 children in need. […] The Broomfield Enterprise in Colorado reports the organization Crayons to Calculators hopes to provide 9,000 students with new backpacks full of supplies [in 2013]. The City Wire in Arkansas reports on [a] “Stuff the Bus” campaign supported by the United Way, where bright yellow buses will be scattered throughout Fort Smith to collect school supplies for children in need [for] the ninth year. We can all help online at Operation Backpack, where they are gathering backpacks for New York City children in need. […]

We have been putting up with this recession since late 2007. It has been close to six years where the poor are getting poorer, the needy are getting needier, and now it looks like our schoolchildren will be getting less. Spending less for BTS is a major blow to our economy, and when word of this decrease becomes widespread, it will be a major blow to the American psyche. As Americans, we have to do what we can do to ensure the long-term survival of our educational system, because all these kids—rich and poor—are our future. Dig deep into your pockets and help out your local backpack drive by donating backpacks, school supplies or cash so they can buy what is needed for the underprivileged. If you are a parent or grandparent, spend a little more on your kids for BTS so we can prove the predictions wrong. If this BTS season is truly less than last year, then we are in for a long, cold fall and winter retail season, which will keep us in this recession for another year.

Original article here:https://www.huffingtonpost.com/marc-joseph/back-to-school-its-make-i_b_3671731.html

Sequestration: Public-school Kids, Teachers the Big Losers

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Here we are at the end of another school year, and, once again, teachers throughout the United States are facing uncertainty. Will they have a job next school year, and, if so, will their classroom balloon to unmanageable sizes? Congress has not acted, and now the impact of sequestration on federal educational programs is beginning to take hold.

According to The Atlantic, the worst victims of the education sequester are special-needs students and poor kids—the students who need our protection the most. […] Title 1 (federal support for low-income school districts) and Head Start […] serve these children. The Department of Education’s financial support is up to 25% of educational spending for special-needs students. Of the $78 billion in federal spending on elementary [and] secondary schools, half goes to Title 1, special education and Head Start. [One-]third goes to support school lunches, improvements and aid. The National Education Association estimates that 7.4 million students and 49,365 school personnel will be affected as the sequester takes hold. School districts are obligated by law to provide services to special-education students, [b]ut with these cuts, […] children with the most needs may be crammed into crowded, unsafe classrooms and […] receive less speech or physical therapy. Other consequences of these cuts may be more subtle—school districts becoming more reluctant to classify kids with disabilities […] and local districts reducing art and music education for non-special-education kids to make up for this budget gap. […]

So why would anyone in their right mind want to be [a teacher], a job that is constantly under attack? […] We all know that when there is uncertainty in our job[s] or in our lives, we don’t perform [as well]. We worry about getting a paycheck at the end of the week, how we are going to pay the mortgage, and what [e]ffect all of this will have on our family. Uncertainty creates doubt, which undermines our performance and, in the case of teachers, will rob our kids of the quality of education they deserve.

With Congress involved, [as well as] state and local politicians, how can one parent or concerned citizen make a difference and help our teachers help our kids? There is a wonderful group, the National Teachers Assistance Organization, that is taking donations for professional assistance for teachers. At Donors Choose, public school teachers post classroom project requests, and you can donate to the project that most inspires you. At Start Donating, they match donors with teachers in need of supplies. […]

This is also the time ordinary Americans need to be communicating with their representatives in the House and in the Senate. […] [A lack of] action on their part has caused […] crucial programs like Head Start and special education to fail [those] needing the most help. Just about every teacher I have ever known teaches because they want to help others and are passionate about what they teach. We need our teachers to focus on their passion and not have to worry about if they are the next ones to lose their jobs because our political leaders could not act to protect the educational system [that], for so many years, has been the backbone of our society.

As our teachers finish this school year and start to prepare for the next school year, let’s hope our leaders come to their senses before it is too late for our kids and, in the long run, the future of this country.

Original article here:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marc-joseph/public-school-kids-and-te_b_3211596.html

Kids Without Sports

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Now that school is back in session, it is difficult for all of us who grew up with ample access to sports and the arts to see how our school systems have evolved and have practically eliminated the character-building program of sports participation.

According to Yahoo!, in a study of 35,000 student athletes in Los Angeles, there is a striking correlation between [a] student’s participation in interscholastic athletics and [his or her] performance in both attendance and in the classroom. Student [athletes] attended an average of 21 more days of school per year than their counterparts, and their grade point averages were 0.55-0.74 [points] higher than non-athletes. If sports are among the most potent ways to help create academic achievement, how can schools continue to improve in the classroom without the money to fund sports?

The other side of the argument to curtail spending in sports was reported on in USA Today. Len Stevens, an ex-high school and college coach, feels we should put an end to high school sports. Stevens points out that high school coaches were supposed to be teachers first, and now, fewer than half of them are. A recent study shows that only 10% of students attend games. High school principals say their greatest headache is dealing with parents who have complaints about their child’s experience in sports. [A]re any of these reasons the true underlying explanations [as to] why schools are cutting back on sports spending?

All over the country, schools just don’t have the funds to keep sports programs going. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported this summer that the Gateway school board took the full-time athletic director to part-time and changed middle school sports to a pay-to-play program. 27east.com reported that even in the wealthy East Hamptons, Springs School cut boys’ and girls’ track and field, lacrosse, and cross country, as well as boys’ wrestling and football. The New York Times reported that the San Antonio Northside School District cut 28 athletic coaches. Ypsilanti, Mich., cut their cheerleading squad, and Steamboat Springs, Colo., cut eight coaching positions—[a]nd it goes on and on in rich and poor districts all over the United States.

With all of this bad news about sports in public schools, it is hard to believe that in June of this year, we celebrated the 40th Anniversary of Title IX, which, back in 1972, said, “[N]o person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subject to discrimination under any educational programs or activity receiving federal financial assistance.” We definitely saw the impact that this powerful law had for women in this summer’s London Olympics. For the first time ever, women outnumbered men on the Olympic team. Women won 29 of the 46 gold medals and 58 out of 104 medals. In 1972, 300,000 high school girls played on sports teams; in 2011, three million played. The results of Title IX alone show that if our government believes in a program that can truly help the underserved in America, positive results will follow.

[W]e know sports [help] mold character and focus, as was proven in the Los Angeles study and shown in the Olympic results. We also know that this recession we are fighting through has dramatically cut the funds schools have to operate, and learning to add and subtract is more important than running a football. Forbes just ran an article debating whether pay-to-play should become a permanent part of school sports. They noted that in the southwestern Ohio school district of Lakota, the pay-to-play fee is $550, up from $300 last year. In northeastern Ohio, the Riverside district charges $521 to participate in cross country, $715 for golf, $783 for football and $933 for tennis. If you weren’t a star in these sports and just wanted to try them, most families would walk away from these fees, [a]nd if you live in a poor area and your priority is putting food on the table, America can be assured these kids won’t have a chance in a pay-to-play world.

NBC Sports reports that the Saginaw School District in Michigan does not have to deal with cutting sports or charging fees because LaMarr Woodley, a linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers, donated $60,000 for students to play sports in the school district that gave him the chance to excel at sports. Not every school district has a LaMarr Woodley, but America has concerned citizens in every county who could help make sure this generation has the opportunities to experience the positive influence of sports in molding character and values. […]

Eliminating or having to pay for sports takes away from the basic principal on which this country was built and then was strengthened with equal-opportunity laws and Title IX, just to name a couple of programs that have helped lift kids from poverty to the NFL or the NBA or the WNBA. Most kids won’t go pro in sports, but we know sports [help] build stronger social skills and [teach] kids how to set goals and stay focused, which are building blocks to creating a successful life. If being involved with sports of any kind is one of the best ways to support academic accomplishment, how can our schools continue to improve in the classroom without the money to fund sports? The United States has proven time and time again that it is the greatest country on earth. Sports is a lesson in winning and losing, and if we don’t come to the realization that sports in school is part of the fabric that built this great country, all of us become losers.

Original article here:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/marc-joseph/kids-without-sports_b_1857511.html

No School Left Behind

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Now that we are entering another school year, it is hard to believe that our modern school system is less than 100 years old. According to Wikipedia, in 1900, out of 45 states, 34 had compulsory schooling laws for elementary education, of which only four were in the South. As a result, in 1910, 72% of American children attended elementary school, of which half attended in one room schools. Finally, by 1918, every state required students to complete elementary school.

In the 1880s, American high schools were preparatory academies for colleges, but, by 1910, they had been transformed into what are now the core elements for the high-schools system. In 1890, there were 200,000 high-school students, which grew to one million by 1910 and two million by 1920. Seven percent of kids [ages] 14 [to] 17 were enrolled in high school in 1890, rising to 32% in 1920. In 1910, 9% of Americans had high-school diplomas, which grew to 40% in 1935 and 50% by 1940. Today, 88% of all Americans age 20 and older have graduated from high school.

Obviously, our public education system is so much better than it was 100 years ago, [b]ut are our schools any better than they were last year, five years ago or even 10 years ago? In the most recent decade, the “No Child Left Behind” act was passed by a bipartisan coalition in Congress and signed by President Bush on January 8, 2002. [The act] marked a new direction in education. In exchange for more federal aid, the states were required to measure progress and punish schools not meeting the goals measured by standardized state exams. According to Education Week, 38% of schools were failing to make adequate yearly progress in 2010, up from 29% in 2006, [a]nd now, right before our new school year begins, six more states […] and the District of Columbia were the latest to be approved for waivers to this law. This brings the total to 33 states that have been granted waivers to get out of the tough test requirements in order to get more federal funds. In 2011, $14.5 billion was spent by the federal government on this program, so it is a program every educator must live and breathe.

According to the New America Foundation, America spent over $500 billion a year on public elementary and secondary education. This averages $10,591 per student. The federal government picks up $40 billion of this, or 8%, which is less than 3% of our total federal budget. This means 92% of public schools are funded by the states and local government. […] Wealthier states like those in the Northeast have more funding available than states with limited resources. Is this fair for the children of the United States?

Not everyone has kids [or] grandchildren in school, so many of us tend to not pay much attention to the status of education, [b]ut even if you do support your local schools, there are so many other schools we can all help that are struggling because they just don’t have adequate funding. Take a look at Donors Choose, which is an online charity connecting donors to classrooms in need. Here, public school teachers from every corner of America post needed projects, and donors can give any amount to help these classroom projects succeed. […]

To think that the federal government spends less than 3% of our budget to educate the upcoming generation to be smarter and better than us is an embarrassment for the American way of life. To realize that more schools today are failing to make progress than schools just five years ago is appalling. If we could just educate the next generation on how to eliminate poverty or war, we could then use that savings from our federal budget to fund more education for the following generations.

This cannot be the start of another school year where we fall behind the year before. It looks like the only way we can avoid this American tragedy is to get involved. Volunteer at your local schools so schools can move their paid staff to help the students most in need. Give your time and your money to help your local PTA to fund the extracurricular activities that may have been lost over the years, [a]nd, as important[ly], lobby your local, state and federal government to increase the funding needed to make this generation of kids better than the last generation. With the major election cycle coming up this November, this is the time to elect representatives who know a better education for all is tied to the future of America. Help our kids now so they can help us later.

Original article here:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/marc-joseph/no-school-left-behind_b_1735175.html

Step up to Our Teachable Moments

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We are all teachers, whether we want to be or not. You are a teacher when you help your child take their first step. You are a teacher as a grandparent when you teach the grand kids how to make cookies. You are a teacher at work when you take a younger co-worker under your wing and mentor them to make sure they do the task correctly. So if we are all inner teachers, why do we not show more respect for the teachers who make teaching our children their career?

According to the Institute of Educational Sciences, close to four million Americans make their living teaching our kids. Our children, who are enrolled in schools starting at Kindergarten and going through high school, are 16.3% of the total population. America has 13,600 public school districts made up of 98,800 public schools. Public schools will spend $525 billion, with an average expenditure per student of $10,591. This year, 3.2 million students graduated from high school. The percentage of high-school dropouts declined over the last 10 years from 11.8% to 8.1%, indicating that our teachers are truly getting better at engaging our kids.

Our education system is making progress in bringing the teachers closer to the students. In 1955, the number of pupils per teacher was 27.4; in 1960, it was 26.4; [and] in 1965, it was 25.1. [The number] dropped to 17.9 in 1970, and, today, it is 15.6, [s]o with this progress, you would think we would have the best […] schools in the world—[b]ut we do not.

According to USA Today, 15-year-old students in the United States perform about average in reading and science and below average in math against the rest of the world. Out of 34 countries, the United States is ranked 14th in reading, 17th in science and 25th in math. The top-performing countries were Finland, South Korea, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Canada, New Zealand, Japan and Australia. Canada, which, like the United States, has a decentralized education system, has their 15-year-olds perform more than one school year ahead in math than in the United States and more than a half-year ahead in reading and science. The United States spends more per student, on average, than any other country except Luxembourg.

Stanford University translated these scores into economic terms, and the impact of improving math, reading and science scores in the United States would be far-reaching. By increasing the average score by 25 points over the next 20 years, there would be a gain of $41 trillion in the U.S. economy over the lifetime of the generation born in 2010. Better yet, bringing the United States up to the average performance of Finland, the best-performing educational system, would result in gains of $103 trillion.

We, as a society, can argue all day long about class size, number of teachers and quality of teachers, but if we step back and think about the radical impact smarter and better-trained kids today has on our future tomorrow, why are we even arguing about the money we spend on education? For our society, obviously, it is the best investment we can make. Unfortunately, we are always asking our government what it can do for me today, rather than taking the longer-term view knowing that an investment in our kids’ future today will pay off for us in the next generation.

If we could fix our education system from Kindergarten through high school, think what that would do to our improvement in college scores. The United States slipped over the last decade from second in college graduation to 13th. According to The Washington Post, the United States has also slipped from 12th to 16th place in the share of adults (ages 25-34) holding college degrees. Thirty-seven million Americans have gone to college but never graduated. The shame in all of this is the best U.S. universities are still the best in the world; U.S. colleges claimed four of the top five spots on the Higher Education World University Rankings and 14 of the top 25.

[I]t looks like we have the university systems in place to train this next generation. [I]f we could just get them out of high school a little better prepared…

Every teacher I know is hardworking and passionate about their job. They seem to have a higher calling than the average American. According to The Journal, public school teachers in the United States spent more than $1.33 billion out of their own pocket on school supplies and instructional materials. This averaged out to $356 for each teacher, [or] 92% of [all] teachers spent. […] Whether we have kids in school or not, it is our generational obligation to help our teachers raise the bar with these children. One person acting along with our fellow Americans chipping in can help lift this next generation. We can start by helping these teachers pay for the supplies that make a difference. […]

We all have memories of one or more teachers [who] made a difference in our lives. I am sure we all have memories of teachable moments shared with the younger generations, as well as our peers. Working together to educate our children is not a new idea. Back in the 1990s, we learned from Hillary Clinton’s best-selling book, It Takes a Village, that all of us need to work together with our teachers to [shape] the younger […] population. We teach so the next generation is better than us. That has been the evolution of man since the beginning of time. Our teachers need your help, especially when this economy is so uncertain.

No teacher should have to spend their own money to help our kids. […]

Original article here:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/marc-joseph/step-up-to-our-teachable-_b_1647764.html

The Best Therapist You Ever Met

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October is “Adopt-a-Pet-Shelter Month,” and, as far as I am concerned, we should be celebrating this every month of the year. According to the Humane Society, animal shelters care for up to eight million dogs and cats every year and euthanize around four million animals. Today, there are more than 135 million dogs and cats in our homes. Back in the 1970s, when there were just 67 million pets, over 12 million dogs and cats were euthanized a year, so, in a sense, our society has come a long way in caring for our animals.

All of our local shelters do their best in trying to get these defenseless animals a home. As was reported in the Bandera Bulletin this week, “Saturday turned out to be another great day for adoptions in Old Town Helotes, where nine dogs and puppies found new homes.” Publications like Philadelphia’s PhillyBurbs.com continually promote local animals available for adoption. They even suggest that if you can’t adopt one yourself, be a good citizen and “support local shelters by putting together care packages, which could include baked goods for the volunteers, blankets and toys for the pets, and pet food items for the shelters’ supplies.”

[D]on’t forget the Red Star Animal Emergency Relief effort that was reported on recently in The Huffington Post. This part of the American Humane Association helps animals in disaster events like the Minot, N.D., flood this summer and the Joplin, Mo., tornado last spring.

There are plenty of Americans who don’t have pets and don’t understand how important a companion these pets can become. Pets are also teachers helping humans of all ages learn about loyalty, responsibility, empathy, sharing and unconditional love. Kindness to animals can rub off and teach us to be kinder to our fellow man and woman. If you are elderly, a pet can offer you hope, because being responsible for another life can add new meaning to your life.

Every American should give thought during this special month for pets on how they can help their local shelter. My company, DollarDays, is giving away $5,000 in supplies to shelters on our Facebook page. If you have a favorite shelter, make sure you nominate them to win. If you don’t have a favorite shelter, support them all by donating to one of the national organizations helping animals.

During these tough economic times, it is quite difficult to help the humans who need us, let alone the animals that need us, [s]o if you can’t support this cause financially, volunteer at your local shelter. These animals need a friend as much as you do, even though pets offer us much more in return than we give them. They can help us learn more about love and friendship than we can teach them. Just a few hours with a pet can improve our emotional health. These animals may be the best therapist you have ever met.

Original article here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marc-joseph/the-best-therapist-you-ev_b_999272.html

Build It & They Will Learn

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Last week the White House released their American Jobs Act proposal. Two ideas that caught my eye [were] preventing up to 280,000 teacher layoffs and modernizing at least 35,000 public schools by supporting new science labs, Internet-ready classrooms, and renovations at schools across the country in [both] rural and urban areas. No matter what your political outlook is on life, these are two parts of the act that all Americans must agree our society needs to keep our country moving forward in this highly competitive world.

I heard on NPR this morning that there is now a one-in-three chance this country is heading back into recession. None of us can afford that. Whether you are working at a small business, a large business, a nonprofit organization or for the government, we all need jobs to pay the rent. The Wall Street Journal recently said, “[T]he global economic recovery has stalled.” As […] noted by ABC News today, President Obama says his initiative will help put to work the “more than one million unemployed construction workers ready to get dirty right now.” What sensible American can argue with that? We need to stack the deck on immediate job creation to improve our odds of staying out of another recession.

I was pleased to see yesterday in The New York Times that the White House honored its pledge to speed up government payments to small-business contractors, reducing the payment time from 30 days to 15 days. This small gesture in itself helps create jobs because it frees up cash. These are the little things government can do to keep this economy moving.

Saving teacher[s’] jobs and updating our schools, though, is not a little item on the agenda that can be fixed by an executive order. As The Huffington Post is reporting today, Tacoma, Wash., teachers are on strike, despite a judge’s order to return to work. These teachers have the guts to put it all on the line to stand up for what is right for our kids. I am sure teachers all over the country would join them if they thought they would not lose their job the next day.

[W]hy, as a socially conscious society, are we forcing these dedicated teachers to abandon what they love in the classroom to protest what we all know is the right thing for our kids? This brave group in Tacoma represents our country’s conscience. How can we let our school buildings fall apart, and how can we not guarantee our children a first-class education? Our representatives in Washington can help fix this embarrassing situation we are forcing on our kids by talking instead of arguing. In business, you negotiate and work things out to move your business forward. With all of these businesspeople and lawyers as part of our government, why can’t they see this?

I wish we all had the courage of the Tacoma teachers. Every company, every community should be pushing our representatives in Washington to do the right thing. Fund teachers, fund school building, and this, in the short run, will help our economy get back on track.

Original article here:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/marc-joseph/build-it-and-they-will-le_b_966863.html

We Are Forgetting About Our Kids

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I don’t need to rehash what has been going on in Washington. The moves that were made with the most recent agreements, we are told, were made to protect our children and their future. I am more worried about protecting our children of today to make sure we don’t have a lost generation gliding through our school system.

Where is our country’s moral standard when we read the article in The Huffington Post on August 8th, [titled] “Schools Caught Cheating in Atlanta and Around the Country“? […] Where is Washington when The Wichita Kansas Eagle reports this week, “Board Approves Heavy Budget Cuts” and goes on to say they are doing away with librarians and stringed-instrument classes? Or when the Corsicana, Texas, Daily Sun reports, “Mildred Cutting Budget“ and talks about the band not being able to go to football games? Where is our country’s ethical position when, as the Chicago Sun Times reported earlier this week, “Aldermen Not Warming up to Proposed School Property Tax Hike”?

Like any business, if you don’t have enough money coming in, the services you provide will be decreased. Around the country, skills that were being taught that have made our country what it is today, like music, art and physical education, are being eliminated. Teachers are being fired, increasing class size. This is not the legacy I want to leave my children today, let alone the children of tomorrow. […]

The Huffington Post, back in December, reported, “U.S. Falls in World Education Rankings” and that our great country is rated “average.” I know my kids aren’t average, and I am sure your kids aren’t average, either. In this horrible economy, we all have to make sacrifices, and any “average” American understands this—[b]ut don’t sacrifice our kids in the short term, because this country will pay for this in the future. Sacrifice our retirement benefits. Have us pay more in sales tax. Have the adults in this country benefit less in social services, but don’t sacrifice our kids, especially in their formative years.

At DollarDays, we are trying to help the kids a little. On our Facebook page, we are giving away one free month of SAT test preparation to an entire junior class at one school. You should enter your favorite high school into this sweepstakes.

Education is what has helped the quality of the American society grow so quickly in the last couple of hundred years. This is because adults have made the right sacrifices for all of our kids. It is the honorable and decent way to treat the next generation.

Original article here:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/marc-joseph/budget-effects-schools_b_923951.html