Making Your Child a Power Kid

James E. Shaw, Ph.D.

"Fifteen-year-olds in the United States rank near the bottom of industrialized countries in math skills, ahead of only Portugal, Mexico, and 3 other nations, according to a new international comparison that economists say is bad news for long-term economic growth.... The study suggests that there aren't nearly as many bright kids in U.S. schools as there are in other countries, which could undermine U.S. dominance in technology-related fields.... The study also indicated that huge numbers of U.S. students can barely do math, meaning the U.S. lacks the advantage of a generally well-educated population, which also can spur growth."
Wall Street Journal. December 7, 2004
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The above information, from the venerated Wall Street Journal, is news of the worst kind. It is tantamount to a SOS panic alert and ought to fill our hearts with dread, produce chill bumps, and inundate us with plenty of reasons to both worry and work ourselves out of the appalling and unforgivable mess it chronicles. The report reads and sounds like an obituary. They are not dead yet, but bright kids in America are becoming an endangered species. And just as we do with dinosaurs, we will probably deathlessly study the “phenomenon” of the Bright Kid who once populated and excelled in large numbers in our schools, bringing glory and greatness to our nation, before vanishing in an abyss and becoming extinct, all but forgotten in our collective memory.

Our love for our children—“America’s Future” or, as the Honorable Colin Powell puts it, “America’s Promise”—ought to compel us to do all that we can to resuscitate, rehabilitate and save their educational lives. It seems we spend more time compiling and publishing the stark math statistics documenting the international embarrassment America’s dungeon-like educational system has become, than teaching our children the real math they need to survive and thrive in our real world.

The near-disappearance of America’s bright kids, and the glaring lack of essential and effective educational curricula, have turned far too many of the country’s schools into the equivalent of garbage dumpsters, inhabited by kids scavenging as best they can from the droppings of inept and unmotivated teachers and out of touch, incompetent administrators. Improvement of the nation’s schools has been mandated by the federal No Child Left Behind Act (signed by President Bush in 2001). That presidential gesture is, sadly, too little too late. It is rather like shouting “Play ball!” when the game is over and the players and fans have begun exiting the stadium. And with our 15-year olds ranked near the bottom, they are already so far behind, that the federal act sounds eerily and more accurately like “No Child Left Ahead.”

The unwholesome conditions for this most unwelcome news from the Wall Street Journal have existed for a very long time. And that is why millions of America’s kids would be right at home and comfortable, in terms of their educational backwardness, with millions of other kids from poor and deprived nations. Those other children’s days are mostly spent in scavenging and “bottom feeding” from their own garbage dumpsters. Understandably, their responses to easy test questions are but worthless trash. So, what’s our excuse? Our own children’s responses to their academic assessments are also utter trash. We are now at the bottom and at par with other “bottom-feeders” (fish that feed on the trash of the ocean floor); we secure our place by locking arms with Portugal and Mexico.

Thanks to the movie "Jurassic Park," our kids are ceaselessly enchanted by Tyrannosaurus Rex and the demise of this colossal dinosaur. What movie or other medium should we be thanking for the present-day and un-enchanting educational condition in which America’s children now find themselves? Most children, just like clueless “T-Rex,” are not even aware of the hazards of their own circumstances—their mis-education and its dire consequences.

When I started to gather information and materials for Ahead of the Pack: Making Your Child a Power Kid, last summer (’04), my hypothesis was that the difference between steadily-climbing and achievement-oriented kids, wannabes, never-weres, and also-rans would be found in their strategic “game plan.” Progressive and successful kids—yes, fortunately we still have bright kids among us—must be making different and better decisions, appropriate choices, and designing better blueprints for success than everybody else, I thought. As my research “grew legs,” however, and more information presented itself for my analysis, what became clear was that the major difference was that high-growth kids approached the challenge of progress and achievement in a more sophisticated (more intelligent) way.

With remarkable discipline and self-management, they built effective blueprints of growth goals that spread their energies and interests evenly. Then they planned and managed their time to do “the work,” and in the process developed increasing accuracy in predicting their results. Further, they utilized sophisticated tools for planning, controlling, and measuring their own growth that were different from what other kids were doing (or not). Among “slower,” unsteady and under-performing kids, growth management—indeed, the recognition of, or idea about, growth or its lack—was a much more haphazard process, and random, if it appeared at all.

The central premise of this book—that any child can achieve steady, appreciable and substantial personal, social, and academic growth—is not for everybody. But your child—regardless of his/her culture, ethnicity, religion, gender/identity, or social and economic class—can achieve educational success, even if others cannot. If you believe your child is, or can be, a Bright Child and a Real Winner, and that you can revitalize and transform his or her educational life—despite the educational obituaries spawned by the Wall Street Journal and other media organs—then this book is written expressly for you. Even though you may be in the “minority,” remember: those who stand head-and-shoulders above the pack, often are in the minority. It is always the lead dog in the pack that has the best view! And that’s the truth.

The Wall Street Journal certainly is not the only source of such horrifying "news." For decades, various and sundry respected and established publications have chronicled the demise of education in America. The difficulties in which our schools find themselves are neither new nor recent phenomena, but have been a gathering hurricane for over a century. We are now in the midst of the "perfect storm". We cannot ignore this; if we choose to do so, we do so at our own peril. And many will be the book describing and lamenting the "rise and fall of America." How steep is the decline in public education? Well, to paint the picture of our long, continuous downward slide, read and seriously consider the following information. And remember: there was no computer to help find the answers!

What it took to get an 8th grade education in 1895

Remember when grandparents and great-grandparents stated that they only had an 8th grade education? Well, check this out. Could any of us have passed the 8th grade in 1895? This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 in Salina, Kansas, USA. It was taken from the original document on file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina, KS, and reprinted by the Salina Journal. "8th Grade Final Exam: Salina, KS -1895":

Grammar (Time, one hour): 1. Give nine rules for the use of capital letters. 2. Name the parts of speech and define those that have no modifications. 3. Define verse, stanza and paragraph. 4. What are the principal parts of a verb? Give principal parts of"lie,""play," and "run." 5. Define case; Illustrate each case. 6 What is punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of punctuation. 7 - 10. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.

Arithmetic (Time, 125 hours): 1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic. 2. A wagon box is 2 ft. deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold? 3. If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it worth at 50cts/bushel, deducting 1050 lbs. for tare?4. District No 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals? 5. Find the cost of 6720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton. 6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent. 7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. long at $20 per metre? 8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent. 9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance of which is 640 rods? 10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt.

U.S. History (Time, 45 minutes): 1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided. 2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus. 3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War. 4. Show the territorial growth of the United States. 5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas. 6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion. 7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell, Lincoln, Penn, and Howe? 8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, 1865.

Orthography (Time, one hour) 1. What is meant by the following: Alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, syllabication. 2. What are elementary sounds? How classified? 3. What are the following, and give examples of each: Trigraph, subvocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals. 4. Give four substitutes for caret 'u.' (HUH?). 5. Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e.' Name two exceptions under each rule. 6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each. 7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: bi, dis, mis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, sup. 8. Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare, last. 9. Use the following correctly in sentences: cite, site, sight, fane, fain, feign, vane, vain, vein, raze, raise, rays. 10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication.

Geography (Time, one hour): 1 What is climate? Upon what does climate depend? 2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas? 3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean? 4. Describe the mountains of North America. 5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco. 6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S. 7. Name all the republics of Europe and give the capital of each. 8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude? 9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers. 10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give the inclination of the earth.

It must be noted that the exam took FIVE HOURS to complete. Gives the saying "he only had an! 8th grade education" a whole new meaning, doesn't it?! Also shows you how poor our education system has become. One had to know all of this in 8th grade, in 1895! Imagine what they would know if they continued their education.

NOTES:

Work in the following researched information: The problem of teacher absenteeism is an increasing concern among the nation’s educators. Teachers are absent on average of seven days at a cost of $2 billion each year to cover teacher salary and substitute coverage (as cited in Scott, 1998). Smith continues to state that in schools where students are poorest and failing the most academically, teachers tend to be absent more often. Elizabeth (2001) also found that each day 5 million children walk into classroom nationwide and find a substitute and the numbers of substitutes are higher in poor schools.
The money used to cover the cost of teacher absences is taken away from school budget which in essence is taken away from students. If teachers are not present on any given day and students are absent on any given day what will be the extent of student achievement? The focus for the authors of this paper is on teacher absenteeism and why high rates of absenteeism exist.
Elizabeth, J. (2001). When the teachers away a sub-shortage grows. Quality control
declines in nation’s classroom. Post-Gazette Education. A4
Norton, M.S. (1998). Teacher absenteeism: A growing dilemma in education.
Contemporary Education.69 (2).95