In honor of December’s character word of the month, caring, the Video Club shares this message.
Schools
BOOK REVIEW: How Children Succeed by Paul Tough
I hope that those in control of our education system don’t take too long to get this book. Based on lots of research, Tough sets out to prove something that many have known all along and that others choose simply to ignore. Namely, that a child’s work ethic is what will cause him to succeed; not his intelligence quotient but rather his character quotient.

Tennessee School Counselors and Administrators Institute 2013 Murfreesboro, TN
My Parental Thoughts On "Looking for Alaska" by John Green
My son’s soon to be high school (in 7 years) recently was told by its board of education to pull the book, Looking for Alaska from an English class because of its racy content. Having read excerpts, I wouldn’t want my high schooler reading it. However, let us not be so blind to think that teenagers don’t know what sex is. Also, let us not be so ignorant to think that large portions of teens aren’t having sex. They are. Not the majority, but they are.
The Emotional Effects of Video Games on Boys
Dale can speak to your parent group, school, or organization about this issue. Contact him for more information.
Tennessee School Counselors and Administrator Institute Murfreesboro, TN 2012
Prayer In Schools?
Are You Asking the Right Question?
What’s the right question? How can we get more of God into the students? Help our students as they are facing the world as Peter did in Matthew 26. They are scared and the world around them screams everything but Christianity. Peter denied Jesus three times. We must make sure our students are not denying Him because Christianity in many ways is being pushed out and I’m sure many are scared. Teach your teens and children what Hebrews 13:5, 6 says, “Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU,” so that we confidently say, “THE LORD IS MY HELPER, I WILL NOT BE AFRAID. WHAT WILL MAN DO TO ME?”
We are afraid God is going to be pushed out but God has always been in schools. He’s always been in the hearts and minds of students and teachers who took Him there. He is in the teachers who will speak up when things aren’t right. He is the leader on the football team who asks for safety from God before every game. She is the person in math class who asks her classmates to pray for her sick friend. However, God doesn’t belong only in a classroom no more than He belongs only in a church building. May our Christian lives never be simply the act of being somewhere but may they be the totality of how we live.
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Is It Oppositional Defiant Disorder or the Education System?
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BOOK REVIEW: Boys Adrift: The Five Factors Driving the Growing Epidemic of Unmotivated Boys and Underachieving Young Men by Leonard Sax, M.D, Ph.D.
I work with middle schoolers and a lack of motivation is definitely seen in many of my boys. For some, it’s a phase as they leave the sand box and discover girls. For other, large portions of our boys, they get into an apathetic rut and continue through high school and for a long time thereafter; possibly for the rest of their lives. They simply find new ways to live their lives as slugs. Why? I’ve had my theories but after reading Boys Adrift, I have research-based answers that are difficult to argue with.
Tennessee Teachers, Tenure, & Collective Bargaining
There has been a lot of talk in the news about teachers, their tenure, and collective bargaining. I work full-time as a School Counselor so I know what’s going on, but there are some things I don’t understand.
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Teacher Accountability – You’re kidding me. We’re just now thinking of this? “Wow! I want the job where no one is going to ask whether or not I’m performing well. That means I’ll be able to play solitaire during AND in between classes. Hooray!” Maybe I would have had a better education had we thought of accountability in 1870 or even in 1970. Maybe my history teacher would have talked about the Alamo rather than regaling us with stories of his caving excursions and why Pistol Pete Maravich was the century’s best basketball player.
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Teacher Accountability – Student grades come from so much more than whether or not there is a capable teacher in the classroom. I know of teachers who use every trick in the book to teach their students and still some boys and girls walk out of the room just as glossy-eyed as ever. This can be attributed to playing video games ‘til 3am or too much of dad’s marijuana that morning. Theoretically, a teacher today could get paid less because the class of 1995 decided to get drunk and pregnant on spring break. Our future is bright!
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Ron Ramsey, Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee – I heard Mr. Ramsey discuss his love for teachers on Ralph Bristol’s talk radio show. Ramsey said that his mother was a teacher and he understands them. I’m sure he loves his mother, but this does not mean he knows what it is to be a teacher. I lived with an African American for two years. Does that mean I know what it’s like to be a black man? Ramsey has also supported legislation that would enable people to come out of the regular work force and begin a teaching career. How nice. Our schools are crashing and now we are going to put people in the classroom with zero training. He told Bristol that he could teach Tennessee History. I’m sure he could, but probably not to thirty 8th graders; five of which only eat at school, ten that don’t know who their father is, and the rest are just lucky to be there. He wouldn’t last five minutes.
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Teacher Unions – We are in this mess because teacher unions joined the camp of one political party. They sided with the Democrats and now the Republicans don’t want them. Watching out for my pay? Somewhat. They also fight for political issues that I do not agree with. They protect good teachers but they also allow fowl, deranged human beings to educate our most important asset. It takes too much to get fired from a school system.
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State Testing – We need a system that determines whether or not schools, teachers, and students are performing well. This, I agree with. However, with our concern over the current system of testing, has anyone asked whether or not we are instilling a love for learning in our students? Whether you have asked this or not, the answer is, “NO. We aren’t.” Kids do not see the value in what they are doing. What is a good answer for, “why do I need to know this?” No amount of “you-must-learn-this-or-you-are-going-to-get-a-bad-score” is going to motivate some students to mark anything but C for the more than 7 hours of testing they must endure in a four day period. I am currently reading Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age by Maggie Jackson & Bill McKibben. It is an extraordinary book that is leading me to believe we are headed down the wrong path with making kids learn facts and figures rather than what it is to be a productive human in today’s world. You can do this and still get good math scores.
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Finally, schools can be labeled “failing” regardless of how many advanced students they have on TCAP. That’s messed up.