ROTC Rocks!

I was in a high school one day where I was monitoring the open gym at lunch time.

I assisted by the ROTC commander at the school and we got into a discussion about his program.

He was a cool dude with a buzz cut and a definite military structure, but he had a jovial urban slant in his speech that embraced him his ROTC kids and non-ROTC kids alike.  

He told me that he was in the military for a long time and he was looking for a new challenge. 

When the opportunity arose to run ROTC program at this high school, he jumped at the chance.

During our conversation, he told me about the physical training that kids go through on weekly basis., Now for a non-work out person like myself , it seemed like a lot, but in essence, those  students were arguably in better shape physically than their most of the peers AND their  teachers.

He noted that ROTC gives his kid a structure that some may not have at home or in the other cases strengthens the path of success for those students who are either headed to the military or remain as civilians.

The best part of our discussion was when he told me when they have events where the ROTC cadets receive awards.  

The parking lot and the gym are packed full of parents, guardians, friends and family who cheer on the cadet’s success. This type of the support means a lot to the ROTC students and it reinforces that their hard work actually meant something.

In contrast, he mentioned  that there very  few cars and even less parents who attend the  parent- teacher conferences, which is a shame since no- ROTC kids also needs that kind of encouragement.

This is not say that every kid should be in ROTC, but maybe some of the structured principals from ROTC should be adapted into schools where the grades are low and the lack of disciple is high.

But if parents do not get involved in PTA or even attend parent’s teacher conferences that child might not reach their full potential.

If they see that their parents do not care about their education, whys should they?

*(If you are part of ROTC program, can you tell us the success stories of your students?   If you subbed in a ROTC program or worked in a school that was discipled, can you tell us the difference between that school and a regular school?)

Fast Company Spotlight's Michelle Rhee

In the lastest issue of Fast Company, the business magazine spotlights former  Washington D.C. schools chancellor Michelle Rhee.

The read is very interesting look at Rhee as she struggled to figure out what to do with her life after her ouster and the steps she is taking to carry on her message of education.

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/152/forget-100-million-michelle-rhee-wants-to-spend-a-billion.html

What To Do With School Absenteeism

A month after I was at the middle school with the tardy kids, returned there for another assignment.

One of my duties this time was to call the homes of the kids who were absent to see why they did not attend school that day.

As much as I was shocked by the kids who were tardy, I was even more surprised by the number of the kids who were absent, which was about a page and a half, (the secretary told me that the list usually longer than that!?!)

• Amazingly, most the calls went pretty fast:

* About half of the phone numbers were disconnected (probably due to people losing their cell phone service).

• Some of the parents/guardians could not speak English, so it was difficult to ask them about their child, (there should be a bi-lingual educator on staff who should handle these calls).

 

• I left quite a few messages on voicemail, which at times felt like I was calling a club due to music and slang that I heard on the voice mails, ( Hey its C-Dizzle, you know what to do…Beep!)

But some of the calls were encouraging.

• The parents/guardians whom I was able to connect with told me they forgot to call the school to report the child’s absence and some asked me about the child’s homework.


• Unfortunately in other cases, the parent/guardian did not know their child was absent  from school that day.

When I was growing up, the very thought of me skipping or flicking school wasn’t in my vocabulary.

 I knew once the school called my home, my mom and then my dad would punish me swiftly. 

I know that kids skipping school is nothing new and this has been going on schools began, but having nearly two pages or more of children absent is quite frighteningly because some of these kids might not ever come back.

It’s hard enough to find a job with a degree, but to try to find a job with a limited education, makes the world a much tougher place to survive.

So why do you think so kids skip school these days?

What do you think parents and school systems should do to decrease these numbers?  

Should we give kids incentives for going?

...And You're Late Because?

One day I had an assignment at a middle school, where part of my duties was to sign in students in who were late for homeroom.

Growing up, the only time I was late was if I overslept, (which as rare since my mom mad sure I got up on time).  I figured, how many kids could possibly be late for school?

Umm... a lot

By the time the last home room bell rang, I was deluged by over 20 kids waiting for me to sign hall passes for homeroom, (the line was so long, I thought the kids were waiting for the next Twilight movie).

At first I began filling out the slips carefully, but because there so many kids, I had to write fast. Astonishingly, some of these kids became upset with me.  

Some kids were upset that I wasn’t writing fast enough (really!?!), while others were frustrated because I wrote their name wrong, (hey kid, blame your parent for your name, not me).  

The thing that was most shocking was that neither one of the two secretaries didn’t help me at all until one realized that I was completely overwhelmed and she reluctantly assisted me filling out hall passes.

There were a few kids who had their parents with them and they explained their child was late, but the rest of these kids didn’t have an excuse for their tardiness, (I later found out that most the tardy students are usually on school grounds before the bell rings, but they rather hang out with their friends than go to homeroom).

For kids who are late, they are sent to detention during lunch time.

The guy running the detention lunch hour was pretty tough, but I don’t think that he nor the detention was much of deterrent, especially since quite a few of the kids were tardy on a regular basis.

I think if you are tardy for homeroom more than three times, you don’t have detention for lunch, you actually have to help clean up during the lunch hour.  

This means sweeping the cafeteria, cleaning lunch tables and dumping trash.  

No child, especially during their puberty years, does not want to be seen cleaning up their peer’s Jell-O Pudding cups. Though embarrassing, this might be a way to make sure kids show up on time for school.

During your assignments, have you encountered kids being late for homeroom?

What did the school or teachers do to alleviate this problem?