To Read or Not To Read?

07 Thursday Oct 2021

Posted by The Book Chamber in Purpose, Reading, Standard, Useful

For those of you who know me, you know I love to read. I do not really remember reading a whole lot as a child, but in 1986, Tom Clancy’s book, The Hunt for the Red October, was given to me by a friend of our family. That’s when, for some reason, I remember liking and wanting to read. I was a freshman in high school, and my parents would make me turn out the lights to go to sleep. The book fascinated me. From that point on, I’ve been an avid reader.

Sometimes, people gravitate toward “things” at different times in their life. I read in school because I had to. As a child, I can remember enjoying being read to, but I would not read “on my own.” Fast forward to now…

As an educator, I know the value of reading. I know how it helps people think, learn, be open to new ideas, etc. I know kindergarten and elementary schools promote reading to the highest levels. High schools, the same. However, what I do see, as a personal observation, is most students at the high school level do not read as much. Now, don’t get me wrong, they can read social media and everything else on that platform, but to just read to be reading, not so much. Trust me, I have asked my classes, and the majority say no. A few students even said that reading was so much “forced” on them in the early years of school that they just don’t enjoy reading anymore.

Wow… and I thought reading was going out of style or something? Stanford University conducted a study on “This is your brain on Jane Austen” that actually shows how reading can stimulate the brain. If nothing else, reading can help you increase your knowledge in areas of interest. But… has school taken the fun out of reading? Are students reading for the purpose of testing, or are they reading because they want to; for the fun of it?

I guess what I’m thinking, is back to that same question that I keep asking, “What is school for?” I still believe, and it will be hard to change my mind, that school should equip a person to be a better functioning individual in society. I understand that schools must have standards, high standards, and I’m good with that. Why would we want low standards? Yes, those literary classics that must be read, and I even enjoyed a few of them. However, at what point does reading become more of a chore for students instead of desire in them to read?

I realize there is a fine line here. Every person needs to know how to read. Reading does open the world to our minds. Mark Twain is credited for saying, “The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read,” and Thomas Jefferson said, “I cannot live without books.” Either way, we all function better when we read…

Here are a few stats from Literacy Project…¹
Forty-five million Americans are functionally illiterate and can’t read above a fifth-grade level.
Fifty percent of adults can’t read a book written at an eighth-grade level.
Three out of four adults on welfare can’t read.
One in four children in America grow up without learning how to read.

These stats show the importance of learning how to read, and schooling is a vital part of that. At the same time, we must remember that when we force an issue, people can become hesitant. As we continue to educate, let’s still encourage reading. You never know when someone will gravitate toward liking it for the first time or again.

Go be a great educator and leader today… Our future needs it…

Remember… Think Leadership and Be For Others…

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¹ Source: https://literacyproj.org/2019/02/14/30-key-child-literacy-stats-parents-need-to-be-aware-of/

The Value of Educational Standards… Why Do They Seem Not Worthy Anymore?

30 Friday Apr 2021

Posted by The Book Chamber in Achieve, Actions, Advantage, Agenda, Attitude, Decisions, Education, Educational Leadership, Effective, Expectations, Ideals, Intentions, Intolerance, Leader, Leadership, Purpose, Standard, Tolerance, Value

≈ 2 Comments

Everyone has an opinion on how education should be defined and what the role of education should be. With that being said, education, as we know it, is being redefined based on agendas set forth by those who want education to be “lessened” based on equality.

Recently, the Virginia Department of Education was reported to considering dropping all advanced math classes below the 11th grade due to unequal representation of minority races and is also considering ending honors diplomas for advanced students due to “inequity.” Fortunately, Virginia’s superintendent of public instruction said a few days ago that the state is not eliminating advanced high school mathematics courses. The decision to eliminate honor diplomas has not made any other news as of today.

With all of the above… It got me to thinking…

What are we thinking? Where is the common sense?

Take this quote from Dr. Randy J. Guliuzza in an article I recently read… “Today, anyone daring to speak common sense is publicly pummeled with disparaging names (or worse) by members of a rapidly growing deviant movement. They use a hostile crowd to systematically isolate people from each other by making everyone afraid to be associated with the pummeled person lest it also happen to them – a method to strong-arm conformity in thinking and control the behavior of an entire group.”¹

This is how I feel precisely with those who are wanting to destroy the idea and ideals for education. It could also be the question that many students will ask in the future, “Why can’t I be educated?” or better, “Why am I being denied to take a course because there are some who are not capable of doing so?” Hard questions that must be answered on the other side of the conversation.

Those who know me know that I am a huge proponent of education and the right of it for all in the name of equality and equity. I have said before that education is one of the last strongholds that can help society “get better.” And it is our job as educators to do what we can to make that happen.

However, when we begin to lower standards (why would we anyway?), we suppress knowledge and limit the growth of students who will be our future. When “education” wants to “level” the playground, per se, wherever the bar is now set, there will always be some who still have to “rise” to that level. Will we continue to lower the bar until all can have “success?” When the standards are lowered, mediocrity becomes more prevalent and eventually accepted. Students who decide to take advanced classes do so because they want to or they need to in order to foster success for what they choose to do in the future.

Now, for those who are going to say, “Well, some students are not ‘smart’ enough to take advanced classes or get an honor diploma.” That’s true. But why should those who are, be denied the opportunity? There were days when school did not even have those types of classes. When I was in high school, I never took an AP, Honors, or Dual-Credit class, and I feel I received a very well-rounded education. My first exposure to calculus was my sophomore year in college. My only “advanced” course in high school was Advanced Math, and that was because that’s what it was called.

Anyway… my thought on what education is and should be for is to allow and help a person better succeed in society when they enter it. Many say, “School is not for everyone.” I agree; that is why education should provide outlets for students to find their niche and be successful in it. That is why the arts and career and technical programs are such an essential part of education and should be promoted as such.

Also, as an educator, I know all schools are not equal and how I wish they were. All schools do not, cannot, or choose not to have the same classes and perform academically as other schools (and there are many reasons for that which can be discussed later). However, I will say that you can find one success story after another of young people who defied the odds and bettered themselves because they wanted to. They decided not to hold themselves back due to whatever reasons and succeed. That is what education provides; an opportunity to succeed for any student who wants to at any academic level.

And let’s add this one other thought… There are many areas of life that we want standards to be kept very high. Just for the sake of conversation, how about these occupations… airplane pilots, medical doctors and surgeons, architects, etc. Let’s also not forget sports. No one ever said they want mediocrity and lower standards there.

If we start limiting the education of students based in the name of equality and equity, we go against the very definition of what both stand for. This we all know, there is always someone more intelligent than you and those who are not as intelligent as you. Neither case disqualifies one or the other from being a quality individual. In almost every case of life, we choose who we want to become. Let’s continue to let education be a vehicle that helps determine that.

¹Guliuzza, R, J. (2021). Refusing to live by lies. Acts & Facts, 50(5), 5.

Go be a great educator and leader today… Our future needs it…

Remember… Think Leadership and Be For Others…

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The value of your standards…

15 Friday Nov 2019

Posted by The Book Chamber in Character, Leader, Leadership, Standard

≈ 1 Comment

Inspect what you expect, but do not expect what you do not model.

We could probably just end today’s blog right here…

Little things… a small scrap of paper or candy wrapper on the floor, but you walk right past it. However, you say to others, keep your area clean. Little things, ignore them and they become big things.

standardsinuse

Your standards?

As leaders, we have many standards; spoken aloud, written on paper, advertised…

Your standards…

Ultimately, your standard is who you are. What others see is what we actually do. We say, “do this,” but we do not do it ourselves. How many times have you seen a leader tell everyone, “This is what the ‘rule’ is, and this is what we are going to do.” Only after a little while that same leader is not doing anything with regards to what they said, yet expects you to keep the “standard” that they put in place.

Our standards should be the mindset of wanting an identity – what we want others to believe about us, not think about us. Time is the accurate measure of what you say your standards are. Typically we all start out strong; committed to the cause, then time happens, and we become lackadaisical? Time measures the standard, creates the culture, which, in turn, determines the identity.

We all want high standards until it is time to meet them. Then… we want the standards to be lowered, for we do not want to be seen as not meeting them. Standards are always good for others, but when they become personal, the marker is moved.

Keeping the standard where it needs to be…

Why would you lower them? Well, it happens.

We lower standards when everyone is not held accountable for the exact same concept. When we let one “get away with something” and not another… others begin to notice. Two things usually happen here… 1) others start doing the same thing, 2) others call the leader on it, and the leader gets defensive. Nothing good comes from either point.

We lower standards when the expectations of others become the norm, and we decide this is where we need to be now and hereafter. Why should people care where the standard is and more than that, maintain the standard., if you are not?

But… what you accept will become the standard and the fact that others are willing to accept your standards determines it’s value and sometimes your value as well.

Be the standard-bearer of your standards. Time will have its say.

Remember… Think Leadership and Be For Others

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