Secretary of Education Arne Duncan wants more mayors in charge of their school districts.

Don Kingsland, author of “Set Our Teachers FREE!” says that has already PROVEN to be a disaster for education.

He presents his point of view with some humor. ~ ~

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Don Kingsland, author of “Set Our Teachers FREE! A Plan to Save Public Education” is back with another “dream sequence”. He’s kinda goofy, but lovable! ~ ~

Life with Don is never boring!

Brennan ~ ~

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Kind of interesting, isn’t it?

And would you care to guess what the student-to-teacher ratio is in India (rapidly turning out the most advanced workforce in history)?

Would you believe 40.1 to 1? And in urban areas, it’s 80 to 1!

Now I’m not saying we need to increase class sizes to the level that India has, but *** as Don Kingsland says in Set Our Teachers FREE!, *** it seems we should be putting more emphasis on students LEARNING in those classes, rather than one-to-one “face time” with their teacher.

We need more emphasis on teaching students to be MOTIVATED to learn, rather than wasting time in school OR seeing it as a social experiment.

I’m not trying to brag, but I received a TOP NOTCH education at the private Catholic schools I attended as a child and young adult. I always scored in the top 99 percentile on every national test and received a total of twelve FULL scholarships as a result of what I learned.

The only reason I mention this is to emphasize every class I attended in elementary and high school had a MINIMUM of 50 students to every teacher.

It’s NOT the size of the class that matters (no matter what the NEA may say). It’s what happens DURING those classes!

Brennan

The Kingsland Plan

Save Our Schools!

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There is an appalling lack of moral leadership role models for our students today in the USA.

Don Kingsland points out the problem in “Set Our Teachers FREE!”:

“In our society, it seems that no one makes a decision without taking a poll first, to see
which decision is the most popular. And, of course, if the polls change, so do the alleged
convictions. Shame! Shame!“

Leadership is a skill that must be taught to our youth – along with Critical Thinking training
and the ability to make life-enhancing decisions.

For some reason, our school curriculum’s do not address these issues, or they are only
implemented as of secondary, rather than primary importance.

Leadership training does not have to be geared just towards students who are interested
in pursuing a political or corporate career. Leadership skills are needed by every “average
joe or jane” if they are to live successful lives in the future. Leadership skills are just as
important in a family or social setting. Perhaps we could then say “Goodbye” to all the
dysfunctional family units we see in today’s society.

What we see happening in our schools under the current administration is a major concern. This financial revamping, combined with selecting inappropriate people for our students to role model, will lead to even worse education for U.S. students if they aren’t stopped.

It’s time NOW to recognize the importance of developing and implementing MORAL leadership training
in all of our public schools, from the earliest grades and up.

Brennan

The Kingsland Plan

Save Our Schools!

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2009 is Half Over!

We are firmly into the second half of 2009, and all of the same issues seem to be brewing on the education front.

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has pretty much gone the way of the Dodos, even with it’s supporters. As expected, a recent Supreme Court ruling re: diversity guidelines has school districts rumbling and scrambling. And we continue to see inaction on the part of average citizens demanding change in our schools.

In the New York Times, an interesting article by Barry Schwartz, entitled “Money for Nothing”, about New York City’s latest school proposal, really caught my attention. The idea is to PAY students by offering a cash incentive for good grades (something some parents have already been doing for years).

NYC Department of Education offers several reasons why this is supposedly a good idea, including:

1) people respond to incentives, and

2) the more motives for working hard, the better.

Again, we see a “bandaid on a gaping wound”, as Don says so often in his book “Set Our Teachers FREE!”.

Prof. Schwartz goes on to pose the very same questions that Don answers in his book. And the article discusses some very valid research that shows the concept of “Paying for Grades” is not only ineffective, but counter-productive.

Again, the question we must ask is – what are our schools doing that takes the love of learning out of our children?

Professor Schwartz writes,

“. . .the plan will distract us from investigating a more pertinent set of questions: why don’t children get intrinsic satisfaction from learning in school, and how can this failing of education be fixed? Virtually all kindergartners are eager to learn. But by fourth grade, many students need to be bribed. What makes our schools so dystopian that they produce this powerful transformation, almost overnight?”

Well said, Professor!

In a previous post (of 6/21/2007) entitled, “Politics, Education & Indifference”, I described the very same phenomenon among our own grandchildren and great-grandchildren. And explained why so many of them are being home-schooled for this very reason.

That post was written over two years ago! Isn’t it time for parents, teachers and taxpayers to WAKE UP!?!

Join our call to DEMAND better schools for every student! Read “Set Our Teachers FREE!”, and discover the problems and solutions for yourself, and join us in Straightening-Out Public Education NOW!

Let’s DO IT!

Brennan

The Kingsland Plan

Save Our Schools!

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Wrong Way in Education

Ya’ know, $200 Billion dollars to fix USA public schools sounds like it could work, right?

Doesn’t the idea of having state of the art science and math labs for students sound like a good idea?

Shouldn’t we reward good teachers and get rid of the bad ones?

It all sounds so simple and possible. But, from what I’ve seen, the new proposals, appointments and expenditures issuing from this administration, and Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education, are sending our schools into even more disaster-prone areas and conditions.

Let’s take a look at a few of the things that may be warning signs:

Will MONEY Fix the Problems?

While schools can always use any money that comes their way, it still seems that valuable programs get cut (and teachers end up buying supplies out of their own pockets) because the money goes to the wrong places.

We already spend more than most countries per student and yet our schools are failing miserably.

Now, Arne Duncan says he wants Mayors to have charge of the schools in their areas. He probably feels this way because this is the system he came from in Chicago, where Mayor Daley runs things.

Now, to give credit where it is due, the financial structure of the Chicago School District seemed to get straightened-out, but what happened to education itself? The STUDENTS are failing just as much, if not worse than before.

What about Science/Math labs and new buildings?

Buildings DON’T teach students! Teachers DO!

What good is a state of the art lab when students can’t read or compute simple math?

With Mayors in control of the schools (and budgets) we’ll get LOTS of buildings (and lucrative construction contracts), which may be great for any mayor’s political pals, BUT – buildings DON’T improve EDUCATION.

And how many mayors do you know that are well-grounded in education techniques?

Authority to the WRONG People

While I am aghast at the plan to turn education over to politicians, I am really incensed at the political maneuverings that are putting the WRONG people in charge of other areas in education.

Quoting from Family Leader:

“Kevin Jennings, founder of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) has been appointed by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to be Assistant Deputy Secretary for the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools. GLSEN is the foremost national group promoting policies to force affirmation of homosexuality in schools, beginning in kindergarten. For example, GLSEN once sponsored a conference at Tufts University that was advertised to “youth only ages 14 to 21″ where three homosexual activists led a workshop graphically guiding the students on gay sex practices.”

What is going on here?

Mr. Jennings has made it abundantly clear what his agenda is, and it is “promotion of affirmation of homosexuality in schools”.

Yes, schools should be made safe for ALL students, including those who have gender identity issues, but the programs promoted by Mr. Jennings concentrate SOLELY on tolerance for homosexuality, rather than kindness and tolerance for EVERYONE!

And, if I may humbly ask, “What qualifies Mr. Jennings to combat Drug Abuse?”

What about Teachers?

Now we are told that the Secretary of Education wants to CLOSE failing schools, FIRE EVERYONE, and reopen with great teachers.

WHAT!

First, even if it was possible to close failing schools (many, many, many in the USA) and fire everyone (thus contributing to the rising unemployment problem), HOW can ANYONE possibly find all those excellent teachers to go to work in those newly reopened schools?

Teachers are already getting a “Bum Rap” and taking the blame for problems completely out of their control.

Why do teachers get blamed when students are coming to school totally unprepared to learn?

How can it be the fault of the teachers when students are so disruptive that teaching is impossible?

And how can teachers be held responsible for a student who never even comes to class?

How can teachers succeed when they get NO respect and NO support?

We need complete education reform in this country.

What we are getting is further destruction of a crumbling program.

It’s time to protest!

Don Kingsland

The Kingsland Plan

Save Our Schools

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smoke and mirrors in education

I think I’m going to scream!

As you may know, I’m on the mailing lists of LOTS of education sites and I follow what’s happening in education VERY closely.

As grandparents, and great-grandparents, we are committed to improving public schools for our children and ALL the children across the nation.

That’s one of the reasons I’m so spitting mad!

At last, something that works!

My beloved husband Don has PROVEN a plan for drastically improving public schools that is so workable and so easy to implement NATIONWIDE, that he actually wrote a book about it. “Set Our Teachers FREE!” tells the entire story about how “The Kingsland Plan” was developed and PROVEN over and over again, with GUARANTEED student success.

But first, everyone was committed to the farce that No Child Left Behind (NCLB) became.

When people finally realized what a failure that program was, how widespread the cheating for federal funds became, and how drastically public schools continued in their downward spiral, all of a sudden some people admitted that NCLB wasn’t the answer.

Something we’d been saying all along.

So EDin08.com/Strong American Schools came into existence. This organization claimed a mission of bringing the need for Education Reform into the Presidential campaign and had BILLIONS of dollars behind it. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was just ONE of the supporters.

We contacted the Gates Foundation, to offer the plan as a workable solution to improving public schools, and got a “Thanks, but No Thanks!”

Apparently bringing the information about failing schools to the candidates attention was MORE IMPORTANT than fixing the problems, because NOW EDin08 is disbanding, claiming a victory for their efforts.

In one respect, they are correct! President Obama has made Education Reform a big issue of his administration and is throwing BILLIONS of dollars at the problems. But, even after BILLIONS of dollars already spent, the right solutions have not been found.

In fact, almost everyone Barack Obama and Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, are counting on to fix schools HAVE NO BACKGROUND IN WHAT WORKS IN PUBLIC EDUCATION!

The Education Equality Project or EEP

Now that EDin08/Strong American Schools have accomplished their purpose (oh, really?), they are now disbanding and joining forces with Al Sharpton’s Education Equality Project!

Everybody and their brother is jumping on the bandwagon to close the achievement gap in our public schools. And there truly IS a big problem with the achievement gap between Caucasians/Asians and African-Americans/Hispanics.

But this COMPLETELY IGNORES the BIG PICTURE!

NOBODY is being educated adequately. NONE of our students are achieving levels of global competitiveness. Our best and brightest come in 12th to 24th in international competition!

We need to straighten-out our entire public education system!

Instead, billions of dollars and political clout is being vested in special interests ONLY!

I want EVERY CHILD IN AMERICA to have the opportunity to achieve academic excellence and success in their life!

We need to stop putting all our resources (including money) into helping only one segment of our population.

It’s time to STRAIGHTEN-OUT all the schools our children attend!

Read “Set Our Teachers FREE!” and learn how “The Kingsland Plan” can help ALL our children.

Brennan

The Kingsland Plan

Save Our Schools

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YIKES!

Looks like Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, is meeting with some resistance to his plan to CLOSE all the failing schools, fire all the staff, rehire NEW people, then re-open the schools.

I wonder why? Hmmm!

Could this be another case of “throwing out the baby with the bath water?”

Maybe ANOTHER big waste of education dollars?

Duncan told the New York Times:

. . . he had already discussed his plans with the presidents of the two national teachers unions, saying, “I’ve told them we all have to play by a different set of rules and figure out how we’re going to take this on together.”

It is important to keep in mind Arne Duncan doesn’t have the authority to close the schools, so he has to convince local school authorities to do it. How can he possibly convince those local districts to take actions that are not only short-sighted, but will anger everybody involved in those schools?

Could Arne Duncan have a Big Stick (AKA Federal funds) to force compliance? Hmmm . . .

What do you think?

Brennan

The Kingsland Plan

Save Our Schools

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Rev. Al Sharpton, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Former Speaker of the House, Republican Newt Gingrich

Things must really be as bad on the education front, as I’ve been saying for the last couple of years. What! You don’t think being ranked 24th globally is too bad?
Well . . .

With the current administration throwing BILLIONS of taxpayer dollars at the problem, an unlikely trio met with the Prez and his Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, on Thursday at the White House.

Believe it or not, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Rev. Al Sharpton, and the Republican former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, actually joined forces to work on solving the terrible education problems in the USA.

All three men are members of Sharpton’s nonprofit Education Equality Project and are calling the crisis in education “the nation’s #1 concern”.

The combination of politicos from both parties is astounding, but points out how serious education problems are across the entire country.

As Gingrich was quoted as saying, he’s willing to work with anyone who commits to “putting children first, putting learning first and getting the job done in the next two or three years.”

Think I’ll contact his office about the REAL answer!

Brennan

The Kingsland Plan

Save Our Schools

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A father speaks out!

Today I want to share a comment I received from a father of two daughters. His insight into the problem of teen “sexting” comes from first-hand experience.

This type of discussion needs to be brought into public awareness.

Randy Boise writes:

Do parents realize that sexting can be the next step toward having sex? Both of my daughters received naked pics from boyfriends as a way of testing them to get a reaction. If they sent one back of themselves, sex was closer at hand. If they reject it, the boys seemed to move on. Sexting can be innocent, yes, but it is also what predators do to test for future advancement of grooming the next victim. Teens say that it’s innocent fun, okay, but the one sending it ALWAYS has ulterior motives, and sex is at the top of the list (or why send it naked)!!! Anyone that finds this the least bit ‘’innocent’’ is part of the problem…. Teens now waste an EXTREME amount of time on cell phones. A Sprint official stated that cell phones issued to teens average 1,200 test messages per month (not even counting sending naked pictures [which the cell phone company can see by the way!]).

Teens are pulling quite the con to get parents to think it’s just a hobby or fad, try convincing a prosecutor of that. Sending teen porn is illegal and they should get a record for doing it (unless stealing, robbing banks, and shoplifting is now legal for teens). Would you allow another teen to keep waving a bottle full of wine at your teen and expect it NOT to go to the next level sooner or later; drinking it.

Parents and prosecutors must realize that sexting is sending porn and illegal at the state and federal level, and must be enforced – or the rapes, molestings, and bad happenings are going to multiply so fast that they won’t have enough counselors and jails for it all.

Both of my daughters are in their 20’s now, and say they have been trading naked pics for ten years on camera phones, laughing at adults (and me) that parents are so naive. Plus, it does no good to check your child’s phone, as files can now be encrypted so that you never find them, let alone get them open!

SEXTING IS A CRIME AND GROOMING FOR PREDATORS, and if you don’t think that that lovable boyfriend is not looking for sex – I got a bridge to sell you! There are ten of thousands of men and women in prisons in the U.S. for making porn, what makes a teen think they can make it legally? There are hundreds of thousands of men and women in U.S. prisons for sending and/or receiving teen porn. Why should teens be able to send it with impunity?! It should be legal for all – or illegal for all. PERIOD!

SEXTING: BIGGEST CON JOB EVER PULLED ON AMERICAN ADULTS.
We are not talking about sending dirty messages, (that is true sexting), we are talking about sending naked pictures of teens – PORNOGRAPHY. Hundreds of thousands of adults are in prisons for doing exactly that, so welcome aboard teens! Teens cannot act dumb and say they didn’t know. Most teens are smarter technically than adults in this area. They have been sending porn for as long as cameras have been in cell phones, 10 years. Society cannot throw away an adult for innocently looking at porn on their home computer screen, then say ’silly teen’ to a minor and let them go free for exactly the same act on a cell phone. Many of the naked teen pictures that adults are going to prison for now where created by willing teens sending them! They get caught…and suddenly it’s called sexting.

Very few adults that look at porn at home go out and commit a crime, in fact, it’s more likely that a teen looking at a naked picture on a cell phone or home computer will commit a sex crime because they do not have the restraints that an adult does (hopefully).

Teens have been doing this for ten years (at least), and sending them to all U.S. states and around the world – catch on, they are breaking the law, no excuses, or make it legal for all to do. And what if a child in another state where it’s legal sends one to a child in Texas? All states should be legal, or none. Home computers have been sending porn (to and from minors) for 20 years, the cell phone just got cameras 10 years ago, now they send porn on cell phones – no difference, they just changed the name out of denial.

I felt Randy’s comment deserves to be shared with as many parents as possible.

My response

Randy,

Thank you for the valuable and practical insights.

Most parents are not even AWARE that this is going on, and wouldn’t know how to check for it if they did.

While I disagree that sexting is ever “innocent”,I definitely agree that sexting should NOT be legalized; I just don’t believe that teens should be convicted as felons just because they’re still STOOPID!

You are so right! This is all about S-E-X and it has only recently been brought to the public’s attention. Many of the published pictures being circulated on the internet are ABSOLUTELY GROSS!

Time to stop being ignorant and become informed.

Prosecute teens, fair and square, equally in every state. BUT DON”T CHARGE THEM AS FELONS!

How do you feel about this issue?

Do you know how to learn if your child is involved, or being exposed to this?

Let me know what you think,
Brennan

The Kingsland Plan

Save Our Schools

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