Haley and Mary were at the lake on the weekend. Our lake family planted a tree near the beach where Judy used to spend many hours enjoying the sun and watching the girls swim. On June 16, the girls and I are going to attend the Martensville Grad Ceremony at Credit Union Center. The staff of MHS has created a scholarship in Judy's honor. The scholarship is available to a student entering the College of Education. The scholarship will be granted to the student who has demonstrated determination and a positive attitude.
Principal’s Message
A few weeks ago, I was having
lunch with a few of my staff members and we were discussing the factors that
make a student successful in school. The
discussion was about parental support, parental expectation, watered down
curriculum, the influence of television, latchkey children, and a whole host of
societal ills that are affecting children’s ability to learn. We compared the children we teach now to
children we taught 25 years ago.
In my
opinion, parental support is at an all time high. Parents are reading to their children,
enrolling children in athletics, providing music lessons, taking parenting
classes, and seeking knowledge about child rearing. On the other hand, children are probably
spending less time talking with their parents at meal time and spending more
time sitting in front of a television or video monitor. Without a doubt, there is fewer stay at home
parents. Twenty five years ago elementary schools were not expected to teach
AIDs education, social skills, street proofing, word processing, information
technology, and drug prevention. Schools
taught less more and now schools
teach more less.
You may
have read statistics on current student academic performance compared to 25
years ago. Some data suggests scores are
lower. Some data suggests we are doing
some things better. I always hear
anecdotal evidence that students are just not able to perform at the high level
of days gone by. Teachers often tell me
the quality of work is slipping and ambition is waning. Personally, I think teachers have highly
achieving students stuck in their long term memory and poorly achieving
students in their short term memory.
Children’s abilities haven’t changed.
My personal conviction is we have created children who take less
responsibility for their success.
My parents
never helped me with my homework. They
may have gone to parent teacher interviews once in my school years. They never called the teachers with
constructive criticism. I wasn’t
registered in Kumon. They fed me,
clothed me, and provided shelter.
Moreover, they had high expectations for me, believed in me, and taught
me that I was the one who was ultimately responsible for my failure or my success.
There are
more children now who blame others for their failure. They blame their lack of performance on their
home life. Their parents were too rich
and they were spoiled or their parents were too poor so they lacked
opportunity. Their parents were too
strict so they rebelled. Their parents
were too lax so they lacked direction.
Their teachers were inept, expected too much, or did not understand
their special qualities. They fell in
with a bad crowd or they were not accepted by the popular crowd. There are always circumstances to blame.
I am not
denying there are parents who make mistakes, teachers who are less than
adequate and other circumstances that are debilitating. Life isn’t fair, but you usually have a
choice whether you are going to rise up and take responsibility for your life
or blame your failure on the poor hand
you have been dealt. Children
need to know that they are responsible for their lives and their actions. They need support and love, but they also
need to know that they are responsible for making use of their abilities,
accepting the consequences of their wrong choices, and succeeding in spite of
their circumstances.
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