As a children’s book author, I am well aware of how budget cuts affect reading programs. Yesterday, I received a phone call from my 5- year-old nephew, who told me that the parents of his fellow students had to bring a large amount of school supplies for the teacher and the students on his first day of kindergarten; there is no money in the New York City budget for that any longer. He also asked me if I would sew new bench cushions for his classroom, because the old ones are falling apart, and there is no way the teacher can replace them. (Of course I said yes!)
Read this article about NYC public schools budget cuts and supply lists parents are getting.
http://www.webweaver.nu
Steep public school budget cuts affect all of us:
Quality teachers cannot get adequately paid and therefore will not want to take jobs in the public school system
Future would-be teachers will not want to pursue careers without adequate pay
Students and their parents who cannot afford to buy supplies are singled out
Schools in low income neighborhoods really suffer (ALL children deserve a quality education)
Program cuts = learning cuts
Electives such as performing arts are the first to get cut
Budget cuts mean less teachers and larger classes (less individual attention for each student)
Budget cuts mean less textbooks
Is this the way of the future for America’s public school system? I certainly hope not. What can we do about it?
Some time ago I wrote a blog article about college admissions, after experiencing the stress of the process with my daughter’s applications. There’s an article in the NY Times today you must read called Study Finds Family Connections Give Big Advantage in College Admissions. Read it here. The truth about who is getting into our top colleges must be revealed! This article is a good start.
Debbie Glade is the author of the award-winning children’s book/CD The Travel Adventures of Lilly P Badilly: Costa Rica. She visits South Florida schools with her reading and writing programs and has been a freelance writer since 1988. Her publishing company sponsors and judges writing contests. She is a book reviewer for LA Parent Magazine and a travel editor on www.wanderingeducators.com. She blogs daily on www.smartpoodlepublishing.com/blog, where you’ll find her weekly comic strip. Her credentials include a BA in Writing from Florida State University.
In addition to working with children, Debbie is very familiar with the grueling college application process, as her own daughter is now a freshman at an Ivy League University. She has helped countless students of all ages with their writing challenges and does so with humor, taking the frustration out of the reading and writing process.
National Geographic has announced a new contest for teachers and classrooms. Your class picks a theme to save water, energy or make less waste. Then you take action and do a proposal to help change your school. All the details are right here on the official website. There’s an online entry form for teachers, and the deadline is December 3, 2010. Click here for the prizes.
This morning I sat in a Starbucks, drinking iced tea (and trying to ignore a loud, obnoxious man sitting near me) while reviewing a book about Teddy Roosevelt for LA Parent Magazine. Roosevelt’s life was fascinating – his passions, ideals, tragedies and triumphs. I really got into reading about him when it suddenly hit me that there’s so much to learn about everything. No matter how many books I read, how much research I do, there’s an infinite amount of intriguing facts I just don’t know, but desperately want to know.
http://school.discoveryeducation.com
A person could spend two lifetimes just becoming an expert on US Presidents alone. But I cannot focus on just one thing. There are too many fascinating subjects. For instance, I’d love to be an entomologist and study insects in detail. Or a forensic scientist and solve crimes using DNA. Of course I want to know all about the world – people, places, cultures, natural wonders and mysteries yet to be solved. And I long to discover facts about famous artists, scientists, writers and successful business people. And the list goes on.
Until I can figure out how to get an endless amount of knowledge into my brain, I’ll keep absorbing as much information as possible about any and everything I can get my hands on.
You may have read a story about a boy who is 13 and is trying to reach the peak of Mount Everest. Here’s an article about it in thr NY Times. This young man is risking his life to stake the claim that he is the youngest person to ever reach the peak (his father is on the journey with him). Is it worth it? I suppose if he safely makes it there and back, he’ll sure think so. But soon after he celebrates, someone will come along and blow his record away. “Toddler Climbs Mount Everest Alone in One Week in Diapers.”
There’s another story about a young man named Adam Wheeler who allegedly faked all of his academic records (and claimed to have a perfect SAT score) to get into Harvard and obtain scholarships and grants. He allegedly lied about where he went to college and faked transcripts. He even falsely claimed to author and co-author a long list of books. His ability to fool the pros (for a while) gave him opportunities that should have gone to other authentically accomplished students. Rather than achieving, this young man seemed to be spending his energy scheming. Just imagine if he had put all this effort into actually doing well in school rather than lying! Was there pressure on him by his parents to achieve? How did they not know he was lying to get in? Is he just an extreme example of what the pressure can do to be the best and the brightest?
As a parent of a child who just graduated from high school and survived the college app process, I can tell you that competition among children is getting fiercer and fiercer. When I was graduating from high school, outstanding students never paid for college; they received countless scholarship opportunities. Now there are so many superstar students, not only do colleges not need to offer them scholarships, they don’t even need to accept them into their schools. Students graduate from high school today with a long list of AP credits, academic distinctions, perfect test scores, essay awards, thousands of community service hours, music and dance competitions and on and on.
When is there time to be a kid when you are spending so much time trying to be perfect? Attempting to be better than everyone else in some way? Does all this overachieving really pay off or is there a price to be paid for it?
