Lend A Hand

Service projects are a great way to get involved and make a difference while still sticking to your own schedule. Here are five ideas for service projects that will help make this a greener world.

1. Encourage others to start a compost bin or pile – Compost doesn’t have to be complicated. There are several styles of bins (ironically most are plastic) available for purchase but all you really need is a corner of your yard to throw your vegetable peels, dry leaves, and newspapers into a pile. As long as you don’t have any meat or dairy products in the compost pile, you shouldn’t have to worry about pests or odors.
2. Coordinate a beach clean-up party – Get a bunch of people (who can get a bunch of people, etc.) and a bunch of garbage bags and head down to the local beach in need of TLC.
3. Plant flowers outside a school or senior center – Every institutional-looking building can benefit from a little cheerful and colorful landscaping. Check with the person in charge first before digging holes in their yard.
4. Start a community garden- If there is a vacant or blank plot of land in your area you can get together with other Eco-conscious people and start a community garden. Be sure to get the proper permits first. In the end you can donate the vegetables you grow to needy families and shelters in the area.
5. Encourage local business to recycle – Make up some brochures detailing the negative effects that business waste has on the environment. Visit businesses and discuss the possibility of them recycling some of their plastic, metal, paper, and glass items. You can offer to help them set up a recycling center in the company. Perhaps you can talk to the local recycling center and see if they have or are willing to set up a program to help local businesses recycle. 

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I believe improving the quality of our education system is the greatest and most urgent cause in America today. This year I challenge everyone to include a ‘Fight For Education’ resolution on their list of New Year Resolutions. Here are ten good ideas to get you started.

1. Join the PTA if you have kids – attend meetings
2. Attend school board meetings to learn about the issues in your district
3. Browse the websites of local schools to see what they are up to and attend any events possible.
4. Volunteer to tutor or mentor a school child who needs you.
5. If you have any specialized kills or hobbies, offer to share your knowledge with a group of school children.
6. Get informed. Read up on the education statistics from your area. Pay special attention to budget figures and classroom allowances (how much money is actually spent on equipment and programs for students)
7. Start a fundraiser for your local school. Choose a specific purpose for the funds or simply donate it to the PTA.
8. Write to your representatives demanding strict requirement for teacher certification, low teacher – student ratio, full-day kindergarten and free preschool programs as well as any other specific issues you come across in your involvement.
9. Talk to the teachers at your local school and find out what supplies are needed at the school. Most teachers buy supplies out of their own money and still can’t manage to get everything their students need. There are also a couple of websites that assist teachers: DonorsChoose.org and AdoptAClassroom.org.
10. Spread the word. If you also believe that the state of our education system is a national crisis tell people about it. Tell your friends and family and coworkers. Let everyone you know that something needs to be done and now.

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I’ve said it before and I will say it again, our only hope for the future is education. The education of young people and the further information gathering of ourselves. However many school can’t or won’t teach politics and government as in depth as they need to be taught. Therefore it falls on our shoulders as their responsible parents. Luckily there are a few exceptional sites online to help you and your children learn more about the political environment they are growing up in.

1. Ben’s Guide To U.S. Government For Kids: This site gets a 4 out of 4 stars rating. Not only are the graphics amusing and kid-friendly, the information is remarkably in depth. Grades K-12 are covered and since it focuses on government  the education is specific, and even better, constant.
2. Education World: A 3 of 4 stars site, Education World was created mostly for teachers and homeschoolers but is just as good for parents. The site provides lesson plans but does not limit its education to government, politics and history.
3. ABC Teach: Scoring another 3 out 4, ABC Teach provides more than just activities and lesson plans. You’ll find resources to more information, worksheets that you and your children can work on, and activities that will get students interested in U.S. History and government.
4. Teachnology: I give this site only 2 out of 4 stars because they are intended primarily for teachers. You may find it difficult to navigate the site to find something useful for you and your kids. Also they offer a membership option for $39.99 a year which may be worth the investment. On the good side when you do find something that meets your needs, the resources are quite thorough and professional.

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It is no secret that our public school system is crumbling to pieces. No longer is it the great “equalizer” it was set up to be. Sadly more and more people are considering home schooling, private schooling and supplemental schooling in the form of tutoring or programs like Sylvan Schools because they do not trust the local public schools to teach their kids what they need to be successful.

Having dealt with the public school system in my city for the last 20 years, I have seen first hand the tragic failing of a system built on good intentions. So where does the blame lie? Do the schools need more money? equipment? teachers? regulations? what? Most importantly, how do we fix this?

Fixing it isn’t going to be easy and it isn’t going to be quick – two things most people in the field already know. The first thing we have to do is realize that the old way of doing things isn’t going to work anymore. Today we are asking our teachers to teach more and more information in the same amount of time using the same tools. While the introduction of the computer has helped teachers are still overworked and students are still being rushed through their education.

Everyone notices the increase in children with ADHD and children with learning disabilities and behavioral problems and the rise of obesity but has anyone stopped to look at the lives of these poor children nowadays? It seems like they are being  rushed around and overstimulated from day one. TV shows and videos for infants? Special DVD players for toddlers? Video games for preschoolers? Structural activities from only months old and day care at as young as 6 weeks.

Some seven-year-olds have group activities as many as four or five times a week. Where is the downtime? Oh right, in school these kids who are constantly bombarded with movement and noise everywhere are expected to sit still and listen to someone talk for 50 minutes while writing notes on blank paper. Confusing much? I think so.

So we need to realize the problem in front of us. We need to reevaluate what students need to know and what is the best way to teach them. Parents need to get involved and teachers and administrators need to respect parents and students. We all need to work together, we need to band together and we need to be willing to put in long, hard frustrating hours to turn this around. All across the board we need to realize that what is best for our children is not necessary what is best for our pockets or pocketbooks. Can we do this? We most certainly can.

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Early last month my local news ran a story about the school department in my city losing a princely sum of money from their account. No one knew where the money went – it was just misappropriated somewhere.

The management of educational funds has long been a thorn in my side since the majority of the funding doesn’t even go towards the kids. Instead the city raises my property taxes every year and gives the school administrators big fat raises.

The hardest working teachers get paid nothing even close to what they are worth while only 7% of per student funding goes towards materials for the individual student.

Now I’m not against putting money into schools or paying people what they are worth but it’s almost as bad as the CEO salaries on Wall Street. When you consider the average teacher’s salary in my city is roughly $52,000 and the average administrator’s salary is approximately $94,000,you can see the injustice. And who suffers the most from this injustice? Why, the students of course.

As parents and concerned citizens, it is our job to know what is going on behind the scenes at our children’s schools. Most important is attending school board meetings which are usually open to the public. Write to your school department with concerns. Talk to the media if necessary. But definitely get involved because local politicians and the school board love to use budget problems as a reason to raise your property taxes when in fact that money is going directly into larger salaries for school administrators and hardly towards your child’s education.

Get in the know and make your voice heard.

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I am disgusted by the way children in this country are treated. It’s to a point that every time a kid isn’t a complete punk, it’s cause for celebration.

When I was young (and it wasn’t that long ago) children were taught to respect their elders, no matter what. For the most part, children were respected in return though. Now a days, children are treated like suspicious liars never to be trusted or inept angels that can do no wrong and should never have to do anything at all. Just because no one wants to have to discipline the child, they police the child instead.

What happened to the concept of chores? Older siblings taking care of younger siblings from time to time? Being able to take Tylenol to school without being accused of dealing and suspended? The public school system treats our children like soldiers that need to be kept in line or war will break out.

Let me tell you something, this behavior is crippling our kids for real life. They are so used to not having responsibility and not having to make their own decisions that after high school they don’t know what to do. All too often they make the worst choices possible and these mistakes follow them throughout adulthood.

Students must respect teachers, I agree with this.

Children must respect their parents and other caring adults in their lives, totally agree.

But students and children deserve trust and respect in return – not only is it fair, it necessary for healthy development.

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When I talk about government handouts I’m not just talking about the “stimulus payments” most taxpayers received earlier this year. I’m talking about tax refunds, credits, welfare, social security, health care and anything I may be forgetting to include in this list. We have so many people getting a little bit from the government that I’m not surprised that corruption, crime, disorganization and mismanagement run amok throughout each individual system.

A little bit of U.S. History and then a little bit of personal history followed by a personal opinion based on facts.

During the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt passed a collection of policies, The New Deal, that began a bunch of program intended to help the people who had been hardest struck by the Depression, stimulate the economy, and put safeties into place to prevent future depressions. These programs began, in large part, the beginning of deficit spending and the government taking responsibility for people who couldn’t seem to handle their own problems.

Many people look back and believe this was the beginning of the end.

Charity is a wonderful concept and should be practiced generously and passionately. The government should help the needy and those who are in trouble. The problem arises when the members of our society come to expect to be taken care of and feel entitled to help no matter what the circumstances or how they came about.

It similar with lawsuits. So many times people sue just because they have undergone some sort of inconvenience or discomfort. Life is lumpy and not every lump ends in a lump of money.

A teenage girl who makes a poor choice and ends up pregnant should receive medical care for her and her unborn baby if she chooses to keep it. She should receive housing help, clothing, diapers, and food for her and her child. But then when she gets pregnant again, and again, and again and before you know it she’s 23 years old with five children under 6….that’s not poor judgement. That’s a sense of entitlement and no interest in rising up to be anything more than she is.

Unfortunately statistic show that this is a cycle that will likely repeat itself. And all along, taxpayers are paying the price and the deficit gets worse. And that’s only one program.

Handouts help. In certain cases they can be a lifesaver. At one point in my life I was on welfare and it helped me support myself and my two small boys while I worked and went to college. In my case it was the only way I would have survived and been able to keep my family as well fed and healthy as I did.

The problem comes when people abuse the system and valuable man-hours that could be spent helping more people go to hunting down the abusers. Someday I hope that the system will be fixed but if you pay attention to the news it looks like most municipalities are simply whittling these programs down into non-existence.

If you see a program being hurt by cuts, get inolved. Offer to volunteer some of your time in order to help raise funds, look over financial management, whatever you can do. In my city, budget cuts closed all of the head start facilities. Taking education away from at-risk youth….what could be more depressing than that?

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