Solutions Day Checklists

It seems that we are rewarding schools for sending high school graduates to college who need many remedial courses (resulting in many additional costs to the taxpayer, but most of all it is the students who have been shortchanged.

I suggest that we devise a system wherein, any high school issuing a high school diploma to a student who is deficient in basic math or language arts skills for college level work, be required to pay for the remedial course.

Hopefully, this would send a strong and clear signal to the "high schools" that just graduating a 'warm body' can not and should not be free. Then, I believe, the parents will be more involved, when poor performance is costing them for their inadequate schools.

It has been said, 'you get what you reward' (look at he out of wedlock birth rate). Let's reward good and effective performing high schools and make THEM pay a price for poor performance.

TEX

I appreciate American Solutions and what it is doing. I have just read the Education Checklist and I'm concerned about one item on the list; the suggestion to extend the length of the school day. My children attend a school that is strong on academics and also offers many extra-curricular activities and I know we are blessed in this. With all they have to do as it is, I can't imagine if they had to spend more hours at school. They barely have time to get homework done, have dinner, take a little time to rest and spend with family (which is not always possible) and get enough sleep before staring all over again.

I have conversations again and again with other parents who are frustrated with all the schools expect of their children. They are encouraged to get involved and participate in extracurricular activities, which is great, but then they are piled with hours of homework in multiple classes. They spend the after school hours with hours of practice (band, football, soccer, volleyball, basketball, etc.), then they still have a full evening of homework. I truly believe the hours at school could be spent more efficiently and effectively than they are. I'm sure many classrooms and teacher do a great job with this. Sometimes it's just rediculous all the extra things some teachers are expected to do beyond the basics, like include a certain amount of "character education" in their week.

As for extending the school year, in our area we are now down to 2 months for a summer break. My two teenage boys have used their summers to work and have each earned the money to buy their own cars. Their are many life lessons that can and need to be learned outside of the school day.

Thank you for listening.
Paula

Ditto! There are innumerable ways for parents to be involved in their children's schools. Been there, done that with two children and one grandchild. For openers, go to the principal and offer to spend one day a week as a teachers' "doofer" (distant relative of the gofer). Offer to do those jobs that take no teacher skills, just a warm body---running copies, cutting out stuff for a bulletin board, putting booklets together, etc. The teachers will be eternally grateful, and you get a real "insider's look" at which teachers are tops and which are, um, not there yet.

For k-2, offer to come and either read to children or let them read to you. Does wonders for their reading skills. Again, a really good teacher will be so grateful.

Understand that today's teachers are so burdened with paperwork, government reports, standardized test expectations, etc., etc. that they are often frustrated and exhausted. Anything you can do to ease things for them will reap untold benefits for your child(ren). Tell your school district/school board that you want your child groounded in the basics: phonics, math, language, history, etc., even if it doesn't do much for his self-esteem. And follow up to see what they get.

Stay on top of things! Take control and let your child(ren) know that education is important and you expect them to put forth their best effort. (Note: Don't pressure them to "make all A's"---be sure they understand that you just expect a grade that reflects their best effort.) Stay in touch with the teacher(s) and know what's going on.

Remember, it is ultimately up to the parents! No school, no teacher can raise your child for you, nor should they. Encourage your school to get back to basics and TEACH, even if it warps their little personalitites. Bladerunner nails it---it doesn't take a village, it takes parents that give a darn. Hear, hear!

Sorry for the soapbox, but this strikes a nerve.

Great things happen when great minds come together, and I think this is true with these comments. I think our political parties have been polarized with ideas that will seperate them from the other party, but we need to pull these together. Employment outlook impacts the programs studied in K-12, but there is too much of a time lag. As need for engineers, scientists increase, more students seem to be taking the math and science courses. But there is too much of a time lag. Math and sciences help develop a system for approaching other social or "non-scientific" studies and can be very beneficial. Likewise, social skills and esteem are absolutely necessary to take advantage of the traditional "scientific" skills and exploit them to full capacity. However, it is easier for one skilled in math and science to acquire the social skills, if they have a tendancy to do so than it is the other way around. We have continued to upgrade our education of our youth, but the upgrade of our teaching staff has not kept pace with the students development. We must insure the teaching staff has the new skills for teaching. Not just being able to understand, but the ability to motivate and lead the youth. As addults we are more set in our ways, and know how much demand there is for us, yet we expect the youth to adapt and learn at a greater rate and in more areas. That takes teacher skills, and more motivation of your youth. If we use the same old techniques, we should expect the same old outcome, and faced with new challenges means a drop in interest and test scores. Therefore, teachers who can meet this challenge, should be rewarded. Those who can't or won't need to be replaced as the opportunity arises.
Although we are requiring more from our youth than may have been expected of us, most of them do in fact have more time available to them. However, as with anything, excess begets complacency and they seek out more adventure, and the need for more free time. Over the past 20 years or so, Japan experienced a backlash of youth being withdrawn and not socially adjusted, even suicidal when extreme effort was made toward the study of math and science. Summer breaks are a great time to renew the soul and family ties. Perhaps if we did not celebrate every holiday and "non-holiday" we could return to a summer with the family, etc. Don't expect parents to do their own job and do the job of the teachers. I think that is a cop-out for the lazy or frustrated teachers. Sure it is the responsibility of the parents, that is why they hire the teachers, to provide someone skilled in something the parents may not be skilled in. All of the arguments for parents becoming involved are valid, but not realistic. As parents, we want our children to excell beyond our capabilities, and students respond better to outsiders better than parents. The habit of assigning 40-50 problems that require the same skill seems antiquated. We need teachers who get the students involved in the classroom to "learn" the techniques of solution rather than practice the errors. This reduction of repetition provides more time for wider studies and more time for reviewing the skill not the mechanics of the problems.

Somewhere a large problem has been forgotten. DENTAL CARE. Bad teeth lead to heart problems and infections which are physical conditions .

My belief, which I share with Beverlyg up above, is that too many Americans don't care yet. So no real movement towards real solutions is going to happen until they do start to care.

Not enough Americans are out of jobs yet,
have had their lights turned off yet....
have gotten foreclosed on yet...
have lost loved ones from terrorists yet,...
have realized how badly hurt their retirement savings are yet....
have not felt the long term effects that our liberal schools have
caused on our society yet....
have gotten past partisan rhetoric and fully understood how
badly our politicians have let us down yet....

We haven't reached the tipping point. ...yet.
It's coming.

America is no different that an addict that hasn't hit bottom. And until she stops all the arguing, finger pointing, blame games..and starts to care and pull together as ONE, she won't have begun the road to recovery.

How many families, companies, communities could hold together as a unit and accomplish anything today if they had the same amount of Left / Right hatred and partisanship that exists in the very halls of our own government..much less across the country itself.

What is go great about American Solutions is that real solutions are
all ready to go when America gets SERIOUS about "Real Change".

I'd like nothing better than to get America moving forward with all the great checklists above TODAY here and now.

But I fear we have to hit bottom first.

Call me, the eternal optimist, a pessimist if you must.

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I was somewhat disappointed to read the comments regarding education. It seems like everyone has an idea they would like to impose on everyone. I believe there is one simple solution to the education problem. That is LOCAL CONTROL. After all, they are our kids and it is our money! Why should someone in Austin or D.C. tell us how we should run our schools? Are they just smarter than we are? I don't think so, but that is what politicians are telling you when they make rules and regulations for our schools-" You aren't smart enough to run your school, so step back and let really concerned people take over the education of your kids and the spending of your money, we are much smarter and care more than you do". I dare say that there are plenty of intelligent and concerned people in each community. Who is more concerned about our kids and our money than we are? If local school boards had control of our schools, the best methods would produce the best results and would be copied by others. Year after year, schools would get better and better, because they could make changes and adjustments quickly. The best methods would rise to the top.
I can't think of one reason the state or federal gov. should have any input into our school system. I don't ( and should not) spend any time concerned with the problems of the neighboring town. It is not that I don't care, but it just is not any of my business. The same should be true for politicians-- it is none of their business how we run our schools-- how much we pay, how long the school day is, how long the school year is, what courses are required, how we discipline, etc. As a matter of fact, the job of our legislators is not to run anything. They are there to PROTECT US FROM GOVERNMENT. We would all know and understand that if we weren't educated in government controlled schools.
Don't fall for the lie that schools must be mandated to excellence. We have been told that for so long, many actually believe it.
Americans care too much about their children to let their schools fail. I believe in the Constitution and the priciples that made this country great. We must never forget that our government was created to PROTECT PEOPLE FROM GOVERNMENT.
Our school system is failing because we gave up control of it. There is no list of "things" that will fix it.

Newt, I appreciate what you are doing. I read the energy checklist and while all that sounds good, I think we are making it all too complicated. We as a nation, do not need an energy policy, per se, because the government does not produce one drop of energy, and hopefully never will. That is not what it is supposed to do. The role of government, as you well know, is to make sure that the economic forces are unhindered by laws that hinder the production and sale of energy sources. I remember reading in the Constitution something that starts like this-- Congress shall make no law...... . The problem is that Congress has made those laws that the Constitution said it couldn't.
Therefore, if we would concentrate on getting rid of laws that hinder the exploration, production, and sale of energy resources, the market forces would take over and we would have plentiful supplies of affordable energy.
So actually , we don't need an energy plan at all--- we need a freedom plan. We have in this country plenty of energy resources and plenty of technology, ingenuity, labor, transportation, etc. We just need the freedom to use them.

Why is HR 25 the "Fair Tax Bill" not addressed?

I think the idea behind American Solutions is a great idea. However, I believe that the best and only way to get the needed exposure for all of these ideas would have been for Newt to walk the walk, as well as talk the talk. By that I mean he should have ran for president. Then he could have conveyed the solutions brought forward by Americans on these issues as his platform, and got the media coverage needed to bring these ideas to the attention of all the people. Not only that, but he would have WON!! We would have been a damn sight better off the next four years than we are going to be under NOBAMA.