WHERE IS THE ACCOUNTABILITY

It was reported at the school board meeting that the teachers in Dorchester County, Maryland reported 43 assaults on teachers by the students during two months ending in October. This did not include the ones that were downgraded to disruptive behavior. It was also reported that some students also would not drink water during the school day because they were scared to go to the bathroom. Does terror rain in our schools? This makes one ask how many more assaults have taken place in the Dorchester school system the following two months until this report in the Banner. There has been an ongoing problem in the Dorchester school system with the students and their behavior for over two years now. We can read about them in past issues of the paper. When I was in one of the high schools over two years ago, I saw with my own eyes the disrespect and manners of some of the students. The solution by the ones in charge of the school board and the ones in power want more police in the schools, more programs to stop the violence and misbehavior. All this will never stop what is going on in our schools. I have said time and time again the correction must start in the home and not in the schools. The correction of the children must start at home and let the schools educate our kids and in that order.  How kids act out in school is for the most part how they act out at home and if they get away with it in the home it is just brought over into the schools. When most of us did wrong in school we had something waiting for us when we got home and it was not what we wanted. If parents of these kids will not teach them right from wrong and hold their kids accountable for their deeds in school then the parents must be held accountable and it will soon stop. Let the parents pay the price through the court systems. This has gone on for a couple or more years now and it is getting worse. If something soon does not take place to put a stop to this then some teacher or student is really going to be seriously hurt or worse. There is no room in our schools for violent behavior or disrespect. Police walking the halls, new programs, and other ideas have been put into place over the past few years and for the most part with no success. That success will come when parents of these unruly kids take charge in their homes and do the right thing. The lack of discipline in the home shows in the schools, on the street, and in other public places. There are kids in the school system who want to learn, are well disciplined, and are wanting to learn but are hampered by these kids that are out of control. There are some parents now who worry about the safety of the kids until they get home from school and there are other parents who could care less. Some parents send their kids to school because they want them to receive a good education and there are other parents who send their kids to school because it is the law. Until the parents stand up in the home and make their kids do right our schools will never be no better. What will it take for people to see this? Parents do your job and make not only our schools a better place but also the community as a whole. 

To fix problems in schools, start at home

As I read the local newspapers about all the proposed ideas and promises for correcting the behavior problem in the school system not one of them, in my opinion, made any sense. The school system can make new rules, institute new programs, add more police to patrol the halls and do whatever they think is best like they always do, but they always miss the mark when it comes to making students behave in school. I am not saying they don't do their best but most people if they would speak out on the subject, would tell you the correction and the discipline must start in the home. The school system can make all the new programs they want but it will do little or nothing to change the behavior of some students.

This is because the very root of the problem is in the home and how children are raised. I do not have any college degrees behind my name so what I say will not matter that much, but I speak the truth. When kids are not made to mind in the home how are they going to be made to mind in the school? At one time the unruly student received his just reward from the principal and when that student got home they received it again. This does not happen anymore because the parent (I say parent because in most cases the home only has one parent.) never knows where their kids are or what they are doing. The parents will defend their kids most of the time leaving the teacher as the bad guy. This ought not to be. If children are not corrected and disciplined in the home how can they be corrected in the schools?

Some people in the federal government have said for years that it takes a village to raise your kids. So the village has raised our kids for years now and look at what we have. We have unruly kids using the schools for a social club or a hangout. I had the privilege of being in a Dorchester County school some time ago and I was so shocked at how some of the students were acting, the language they used, and their conduct. What you see out of the students in school is for the most part what you will see in their homes. Schools are not a social club for kids to meet every day. It is a place of learning, education, and to get them ready for a world that gets tougher every day.

I will always believe it is the family unit that will make or break this country and the same with the school system. Students must have a good foundation and fertile soil for them to be grounded in to excel or even want to learn in school. This means spiritual guidance, parent discipline, family functions, and even time together as a family whenever possible, getting involved with your child's homework and school functions.  To correct the problems in our schools we must start in the home.

America’s Sad State of Affairs

We have allowed the very people who want to destroy this country To move here by leaps and bounds while supporting them with our tax dollars and even elect three of them to Congress where they have access to classified documents. Our enemies are here and in the gate. No wall is needed here because they are already here and demanding their form of government. I will never understand how people can leave their country because of persecution while waving the flags of their country as they come. We must learn their language because they do not want to or do they have to learn ours. We must accept their God. The very things that we have seen in the middle east are coming here and for the most part are already here.

We have a problem on our southern borders that needs to go away. I for one am not against legal immigration. I want people to come to this country and learn our ways, speak our language and be proud Americans. This is how our country was founded. It was not founded by people sneaking over the borders, illegally and demanding everything for free which is, for the most part, what is happening. No matter what some people say, not all the people crossing our borders are legit. Some of these people bring with them a way of life that is not acceptable and should not be tolerated, such as drugs, bad criminal records, let alone the lawlessness that they unleash when they come here. There are many cases in our court system which can back that up. This country cannot sustain the people crossing our borders or the burden it will cause on the citizens in this country. We need the wall.

The Pope, most Tv actors and members of Congress, who are against the wall have walls around their residence to keep people out. Check it out. For them the walls are good but for you and me (The American People), the walls are not needed. The people in Congress that are against the wall are doing it because all these people will vote for them and their socialist (communist agenda) or else they are against it because it is a Trump Promise and they hate Trump. I do not like everything Trump says or does but he is right on this one. We must build the wall or we will have no country as we know it left for our kids and grandkids.

We have people who have come across our borders illegally (not citizens of this country) and are allowed to vote, get a drivers license, tax refunds (Never figured that one out), food stamps, money for housing, and everything else, and it is all for the vote or the cheap labour. This country can not sustain this type of actions from the illegals or the government that allows it.

Evil has overtaken this country and it is growing by leaps and bounds. We have murdered millions of babies in the wombs of their mother over the past decades but now we are murdering them in the mother’s womb up until the day they are born. How evil this is. We have laws to protect dangered species of animals, but it is okay to kill a baby in the womb. The government is saying the baby is not alive or a person until they are born and breath. All through the Bible God tells us otherwise. If this is the case, as the government says, why is Plan Parenthood harvesting body parts and selling them? What is next? Will the government want to call the old folks and special needs people a burden and get rid of them? Do not laugh because if this country last it will happen. There is a darkness coming over this land.

We have the evil of homosexuals, lesbianism, transgenders, and the like being promoted in our land when we know it is wrong. Our kids are being taught in school that it is just another lifestyle. (Our schools are not what they use to be). Most schools and higher places of learning have a liberal agenda.) The Holy Scriptures tell us that. And if you do not want to read them just common sense will tell you none of this is right. God created Male and female, (Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve) I guess soon we will be told that round pegs will fit into square holes.

We have an evil that has come over this land and we need not look at the politicians to solve the problem because they are part of the problem. They need to go. We must clean the swamp. But the real problem is we have, for the most part, are spineless preachers who will not stand up in the pulpit and preach what saith the Lord. They are more worried about money and the numbers of their congregations. When we have a preacher of a church with 40,000 members that will not say homosexuality is a sin on national TV the church is in trouble big time.

America's Failing Schools

Parents who have kids in the school system need to ask some serious questions about their local school systems. Are their kids safe, are they truly being educated, and then there is the bullying issue in our school system? Is it safe for our kids to use the bathroom in public school, or even to walk the halls, or eat lunch in the cafeteria?  Apparently, the schools have not been safe for a number of years? If they were the schools would have no need for police officers to be stationed in every school, something that was never heard of years ago.

 The fact is our schools are in just that bad of shape. I am so glad that all my kids are out of school and all my grandkids are being homeschooled. The leaders in our schools look for answers to these questions and sad to say they may have a high IQ in their leadership abilities, but they will never be able to solve these problems. The problem started in the home. If you have no family structure in the home how can you have it in the schools?

 The government and the school system itself has taken from the teachers the ability and authority to discipline unruly kids. Some years ago if you did not dress or wear your clothes properly you were sent home. Now kids come to school with pants down to almost their knees and they wear what they want, say what they want to, and could care less. Schools are for learning and they are not a social club as some of the kids think.

 We do have kids in the school systems that want to learn, they want a good education, and they want to make something out of their lives. But they are trying to learn in an environment that should not be allowed or tolerated. Children need every chance they can get to have a good education before they go out into this world. Out of these schools come the next generation of America's leaders.

 This cannot happen by police officers stationed in the schools and students being assaulted in the bathrooms by gangs. A child must be able to feel safe and secure in their surroundings to excel in their learning. Before kids learn in school they must be taught at home the moral and religious values that made this country what it is. A lot of these kids have no home life, no family structure, and no guidance whatsoever. So how can we expect them to be any better in school?  When children disrespect and are unruly to their parents, in the home, or their parents just don't care, how can we expect them to be any different in school?

Teachers Were Always Armed

I know that statement will turn some heads, but the fact is it is true. How do I know this to be true? Let me start with my history teacher. She was armed with a large book about three inches thick and would not fail to bend you over a chair and administer ones due rewards.  Then there was my third grade teacher who was armed with a twelve inch ruler that reached out and touched someone when they needed it.  Then there was my six grade teacher who would raise her arm and point her finger and you would not see recess for a while let alone daylight. Then there was the dreaded paddle at the principals’ office that brought with it all the respect that was needed in that high office. If a child was unruly on the bus he was put off and got home the best way he could. And when we got home from school we knew we were going to get our just rewards once again.

Am I trying to make teachers look bad, not at all? The teachers who are mentioned above were the most kind, considerate, loving people who focused on the task at hand and that was giving kids the education they needed. The difference is there was order in the classroom, and in the halls. Just like in today’s world the teachers back then were not given the credit they deserved, but there is a big difference between the two different time periods in this country’s school history.

The ills of our school system in this country can be blamed on no one but the federal government and its system of how we are to raise our kids. The government has usurped the school’s authority to give our kids a good education. A student must have the right environment to receive a good education and discipline must be a part of that environment.  This is not happening in our school system.

The government, as I have said in the past, wants you to believe it takes a village to raise a child. This was one of Hilary Clinton’s famous sayings. While there may be some small merit to that statement we must realize it is the family unit and how it is structured is the foundation for raising our kids. When a child is raised correctly in the home that will show when they are out in public and in the school system which they attend. They will dress properly, conduct their self properly, and be a blessing to their family in their home and in the school which they attend.

Teachers have an impossible task today of trying to teach most kids because the kids do not see the school as a place of learning but a place to gather and socialize. For the most part respect has gone out the door. The standards for our schools and for our homes must be raised.

The problems in our schools are blamed on guns, teachers, bus drivers, and many other things when the real problem is the structure of the family unit. How we see kids behave in school, for the most part, is how they behave at home.  This is the root of the problem.

Let us arm our teachers, bus drivers, and other school personal with the authority they need to maintain a good environment in our schools. If we do this there will be no need of arming our teachers with hand guns and police patrolling the halls.

Remembering Preston High School

At seventy-two years old It takes very little for me to just sit back and remember my childhood and growing up in a world that seems to not exist any more. It is just a fading memory. As I rode down the main street of Preston this past week I remembered the old Preston High School where I went for the first ten years of my school life before we were all transferred to Cornel Richardson in the middle of the school year. The old Preston school has been gone now for a while and a new school has replaced the old one, but the memories are still there. It was an important time in my life.

We walked the halls with not a care in the world because we knew that we were perfectly safe even though there were no police officers in the hallways, no drugs being sold or used. Everything was always orderly in the hallways and even in the classroom. Everyone dressed properly and every student there from first grade to the twelfth grade knew what was expected of them and what would happen if that line was crossed. From the principal to the teachers' punishment was handed out if wrong was done. But still, most of us loved those teachers. The students went to school and their parents did not have to worry what might happen in the hallways or school grounds. Mr Hall was the principal and he was a good principle.

We had recess, field days, May Days, and many other events. What we did not have was police officers paroling the halls, the events we had, or anything else. There were no drugs in our school, no fighting, no firearms inside the school. The biggest thing we had in our school was a fire drill.  Might have been a shotgun or a 22 rifle out in someone's car where someone had been hunting before they came to school, but it was never a problem. It could have been a teacher or student’s firearm. The almost ten years I went to Preston school there was never a problem like we have in today’s schools. There was never a sign near the school that said the school was a drug-free zone because there was no need for it. The biggest crime for a school kid back then was smoking in the bathroom or chewing gum in class.

Before our school day started we had Bible reading and the Lord’s prayer. Each day a different student would pick the Bible up which was on the teacher's desk and pick a passage to read and when the student was finished the Bible was placed back on the Teachers desk. Then came the pledge allegiance to the flag and the announcements over the intercom system. Then our day started. My favourite class was History and Mrs Butler was an excellent teacher. I can also remember some of the other teachers who were good at what they taught. Mr Phillips, Mr Humphreys, Ms Elzey, Ms Bonner, Ms Lednum, Ms Nuttle. Ms Wright, Ms Worm, and Ms Hynson and others.

During the school year, most of the students always look forward to Christmas and the activities connected to it from decorating the halls with holly and cedar. We looked forward to the Christmas trees and the manger scene which was in front of the school. The manger was made in the school shop by students and the straw was brought in by the kids who lived on the farm. We sang Christmas carols in the auditorium including songs about the Birth of Christ. It was a time of joy for all of us including the teachers and the other school personnel. One Christmas song I will always remember singing along with the whole school was “Silent Night”

It was not long after the move to our new school that I realized how I missed that old Preston School and the comradeship that was felt between everybody including students, teachers, and other school personnel. We were in a different world. A world I did not like and it seems it is here to stay.

My Country Tis Of Thee

If you are old as I am you will remember singing this song in school and other events.“My country, ‘TIS of thee, Sweet land of liberty.” You felt safe, most of the country’s leaders were men of honor. They said what they meant and meant what they said. Our parent sent us to school knowing that we would be instructed right and we would all grow up to take our places in society. Where has it gone? What has happened to our school system in this country? What our children are taught and exposed to in school in these days, more often than not, becomes the philosophy of tomorrow’s government. And right now most of our school systems are not looking all that good.

When I went to school we had prayer, Bible reading, Pledge allegiance to the flag, and you would always see a Bible on most teacher’s desk. The biggest “no no” that happen in school was chewing gum, disrespect to the teachers, and smoking in the bathroom. That was soon taken care of with a trip to the principal’s office and an uncomforting warming of the butt. And if that did not bring you in line then you just did not go to school. The kids were safe in school and their parents could go through the day with no worries about their children being safe and being taught right. My how “My Country, TIS of Thee” has changed since I went to school.

Here are some of the “benefits” that the “It’s for the children” concept, by this government, has given to our schools: surveillance cameras, strip searches, metal detectors, food police, lock downs, cultural sensitivity and diversity training. And let’s not overlook their most incomprehensible and egregious benefit thus far: the“presumption of guilt” and zero tolerance policies, that criminalizes innocent childish behavior, Which will likely haunt the innocent for the rest of their days. In short, schools, even “preschool,” have become “factories” that are teaching and conditioning the young to be obedient subjects in a totalitarian society. To put it even more bluntly, the school systems in this country have become a tool for the ungodly government that rule ( yes I said rule because they throw governing out the back door) our country. While teaching our children they are implanting in their heads liberal, ungodly, and non American ideas that will destroy America as we know it. We will be defeated from within.

None of this bodes well for my beloved country’s future. Sixty seven years ago God gave me three gifts: life; a future; and, the ability to know what was right and what was wrong. I said that to say this, It scares me to see how our young children are brainwashed in the public school system in todays world. No wonder so many people are now home schooling their children. The most notable thing here is most of these home school kids are doing so much better learning and are so far ahead of their counterparts in the public school system. I have four grandchildren who are home schooled and are doing just as good if not better with their learning than the kids in public school. Along with that, their parents as well as I do not have to worry about their safety or what they are putting in their heads that is not according to our beliefs or the way America was founded.

Just as the Hebrew children were taught every day, in Bible days, about how a Great God delivered them from bondage, our children must be taught the values that have made America great and a world leader. Values such as, this nation was founded on the principals found in God’s Word (The Bible), being conservative, having good work ethics, and most important looking to God as our Great Provider and not the government.

Return To What We Know Is Right

Looking back to the awful killing of this nation's children in the different schools across our nation it is so sad, so devastating to the families, the community and the world. It is such a tragedy, to not only the children especially, but also the adults, the parents and the nation. A person my age has to ask this all important question; “What has happened in our society today that has made these school shootings so frequent? If you just take time to look a blind man can see it.

Things need to change in America. We do not need more gun laws, or more police patrolling the halls of our schools. I have written many articles on this, but I feel like enough is never said about this. Morality in our public is gone and prayer was taken out of the public schools in 1963. Since 1963, several trends have occurred. Teenage pregnancy has risen, divorce rates have tripled and violent crimes and drugs have become lifestyles.

These trends have resulted in children in single-parent homes where the child has been deserted by one parent or the other,sometimes both. These children feel abandoned and are scared in heart, mind and spirit. They have no one to turn to and often end up engaging self-destructive behavior.We need to allow God back in the classrooms and return prayer to our schools. We have put God out in the cold. God is gone from our schools and now we have mass killings of our kids, drugs, sex, and who knows what else in our schools.

The people who stopped prayer in schools are partly to blame. These children need a friend to turn to and have a personal relationship with. They need God. We need to pray for America to change from its promiscuous lifestyle. That lifestyle has resulted in more than 60 million babies being aborted. This act will never be justified by our Heavenly Father. If we as a nation want our schools to be a safe haven again then we must have God as a part of our school system.

The Vacuum in Our Schools

Most ethnic studies programs in public schools are at the very best a waste of taxpayer money, and at worst racially and ethnically divisive indoctrination of our school kids. But the goal shouldn't be just getting rid of these programs, but ensure that public schools give all students a firm grounding in American history, culture, and government. This is being done away with little by little and it is wrong. We are losing our history as Americans.

In Arizona there is a program used that gives ethnic studies courses for Hispanics, blacks, Asians, and Native Americans. Critics of the program claim that the courses, especially those aimed at Mexican Americans, have become forums for political propaganda. And the school districts' own website provides evidence the critics are right in what they are saying.

Tucson's program, follows a similar pattern of turning facts around. According to a series of articles in the Arizona Republic last year, videos posted on line showed Tucson Chicano Studies classrooms decorated with "heroes" such as Fidel Castro, the communist dictator who ruled for nearly 50 years and single-handedly turned Cuba into one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere; Ernesto "Che" Guevara, an Argentine revolutionary who served in Castro's regime, ordering the deaths of thousands of innocent Cubans and personally executing more than 180 men; and Pancho Villa, a common criminal whose escapades were more about enriching himself than freeing Mexico. This gallery of thugs most certainly won't help Mexican-American students understand anything about the role of Mexican-Americans in U.S. history, which is how such programs are often sold to an unsuspecting public. Here a little and there a little we as Americans are losing our country to underhanded people.

For years, the teaching of American history, in our schools has become a system in the name of identity politics, divvying up slots in the historical assemblage to different groups: blacks, Latinos, women, gays. We've raised minor characters to major roles in American history if they fit the right ethnic or gender profile and dropped leading figures of the American founding fathers, the Civil War, and modern history. In the process, we've forgotten about teaching what it means to be an American — what is unique and trans formative in American. We are losing what America is all about.

Now, more than ever, we need to energize the teaching of American history — the nation's ideals, principles, its political and legal system — and not just for the sake of the millions of newcomers to our country. Indeed, U.S.-born children of all racial and ethnic groups receive precious little education in American history in our schools, which undermines their ability to understand and defend democratic principles of this republic.

The problem is not just getting rid of divisive ethnic studies programs; it's figuring out what replaces them. Legislatures around the country should put in place rigorous standards that ensure that all students will study American history, government, and culture throughout their public school education. We've created an emptiness in our public schools that gets filled with all sorts of nonsense and dangerous programs that is endangering our kids.. It's time we fill it with something worthwhile. Let them once again learn about our forefathers, our history as a nation, the constitution, and the Bill Of Rights. Let them once again learn what our brave soldiers have fought and died for.