What Is Happening To Our Children? is just a tip of the iceberg on what is going on in the public schools. The public schools are nightmares waiting to wake up. I did not write about what I heard, I wrote about what I experienced. We all talk about the condition the system is in but are we doing anything about it. I have sat and thought about the condition of the system over and over again, I can’t come up with a clue how to fix it. One thing I do know for sure is that parents, principals, teachers and children have to come together and work things out.

I have been told a long time ago that every employer knows his/her employee, and every parent knows their child. Let’s add one more, every teacher knows their student.

Parents should want their children to be the best they can be, therefore when your child’s teacher has to meet with you about your child, please give her the consideration of listening to the story and don’t give your child all the credit and the teacher none. Teachers don’t get the credit that is due them from most parents. The parent will let the teacher know under no circumstance do I take your word over my child. My child does not lie.

What is lacking most in the system is respect, respect, respect. Most children seem to leave it at home. Maybe if prayer comes back into the system it may help.

While the vast majority of America’s school children are willing and cooperative, the single most devastating aspect of the modern school is a breakdown in discipline. Problems of lack of respect and shocking behavior emanate almost always from a troubled few. Ted Oviatt’s first book, laced with interesting memoirs from a lifetime in our schools, offers a solution to this growing dilemma. The predictable result: a quality education for the willing majority, higher scores for all, happier teachers, and fewer incidents like Columbine, Jonesboro, Paducah, Pearl, and San Diego because all of our kids will be getting what they need.

While the vast majority of America’s school children are willing and cooperative, the single most devastating aspect of the modern school is a breakdown in discipline. Problems of lack of respect and shocking behavior emanate almost always from a troubled few. Ted Oviatt’s first book, laced with interesting memoirs from a lifetime in our schools, offers a solution to this growing dilemma. The predictable result: a quality education for the willing majority, higher scores for all, happier teachers, and fewer incidents like Columbine, Jonesboro, Paducah, Pearl, and San Diego because all of our kids will be getting what they need.

If you are concerned with the problems of today’s youth, this is the one book you must read! Here is the solution to the critical issues facing almost every school system in America today. It outlines the path to a revolution in the administration of learning and discipline in our schools. It contains no hyperbole and no experimental hypotheses. It presents a new approach and uses proven solutions to repair a badly damaged system. It has the potential to improve most of the troublesome problems of education in the 21st century. This plan will drastically improve truancy, drop outs, drug use, teen pregnancies, juvenile crime and welfare. It addresses the behavioral issues of violence and gang warfare. It is breathtaking in its simplicity. The underlying problem with our schools today is fragmentation.. We have an enormous waste of money and resources in the individual efforts of fifteen thousand school boards. We are experiencing a National crisis. It is impossible to solve without a united approach. This nation has the ability to make this plan work. Courage, discipline and determination are still part of the American character. These qualities are why this solution will work to change the educational system and benefit our society.

We were warned many years ago what we were doing to the children in our schools.  We had books -- Nat Hentoff's "Our Children are Dying," Jonathon Kozol's "Death at an Early Age," and Charles Silberman's "Crisis in the Classroom."

Open classrooms were tried, but the children were not given the responsibility and structure they needed, so they did not learn as they should. Then we reverted to the old ways that said children must be made to do what adults want them to do by using punishments. The tough methods made children angry and unable to learn.

In 1968, after completing a study on the application of new information technology and society, Anthony G. Ottinger, Harvard University, said,"Few observers of contemporary American education will quarrel with the need for reform, or with the conclusion that the educational establishment is almost ideally designed to resist change" (Saturday Review, May 18, 1968).

We were warned again, more specifically. An article in Life Magazine, May 19, 1972, quotes Judge Julia Wise Polier, who in 36 years on the bench had heard more children's cases than any other jurist in the nation: "When I put my arm around the boy, I could feel him react. He wants to be loved.  It's getting worse.  There's so little help from any caring adult for these children. They don't get it in schools, in the church or at home.

"A child -- a human being -- reaches out for love. And gets hit. And he reaches out again, and gets hit again. And he keeps reaching, and every time he's denied. And then finally, defensively, he stops reaching. And in no longer looking for love, he loses the ability to love, and his ability to feel. The capacity to feel for another person is cut off, and he can destroy other people without reaction. And then you get rapes and robberies and murder. Take this little boy -- he's tried to reach out and be loved. He's made a desperate effort. And he's been turned off. How long can you expect a child to keep reaching?"

And in our schools, new teachers are advised. Don't smile before Christmas. If you do, you won't have control of your class. And if you don't, you won't have a job.  What kind of atmosphere is that for a child, a child we want to grow up with compassion for others?

But teachers can't show love as classrooms are organized now because they have two tasks that conflict with each other. If children are to learn, they must have hope and belief in their ability to learn.

"If you can make a child believe he is able to learn, he will learn," said the professor, Dr. Uvaldo Palomares, an educational psychologist who had been considered mentally retarded when young. Helen DeLong Green went back to her third-grade class, tried it and children learned. Before that, some had not in spite of her extra efforts.

But teachers can't teach unless there is order in the classroom.

It is impossible to build children up psychologically so they will learn, and keep them subjugated by using punishments to keep order at the same time in the same room.

By then it seemed clear to her that it is not just what we do to children with our punishments, interventions and calls to parents. It is what we fail to do in providing love and warmth. They often don't get it anywhere as they grow up, certainly not in our schools as they are now.

And so began 30 years of trying to find a solution for the problems in our schools. First, she knew what should be done but not how it could be done. Later, she knew how it could be done. Still later, she knew how it could be done better.

One simple change in the way classrooms are set up would make it possible to provide that love and warmth, but adults seem to prefer harsh control.

But her plan was too different from the way things have always been done to be accepted and used. Publishers were supportive and sometimes even enthusiastic, but her book did not fit their programs. However, they insisted that she must not give up.

Top education administrators helped, but they were not the ones who could take action to implement the ideas. Those who could use the ideas were supportive and admiring, saying, "It sounds very good where it is needed but we have no problems that require such a change."

This book provides all the information needed to change the way classrooms are set up, a change that would solve the problems of student disruptions in classrooms, failure to learn, and hatred in the children. It explains the setup, what to say to the children before the plan is started so they will understand that the change means they can learn more, have quiet classrooms so they can think and remember better,  move around and find work to do, check their own answers or get help from other children without punishment. It also explains what to do about details like lessons and instructional materials for the different situations, where to keep books, what to do about possible problems, etc.

The change would not cost any extra money or require more training for teachers. It could be tested first in just two rooms in a school on a temporary basis without disruption to other rooms. It could be used in some rooms in a school even if others do not participate. Improvement in attitude and behavior would show beginning with the first day. Gains in learning would show soon after.

There are many benefits:

- Punishments would not be needed, so much of the hatred would be prevented.

- Teachers could be chosen on their ability to teach and relate to children instead of their ability to control classrooms. They could be nice to children without fear of losing control. Those wonderful persons who are not tough enough to get or keep those jobs now could be teachers and role models for our children.

- Classrooms would be quiet, so children could think, remember and learn.

- Teachers could teach instead of spending time and energy trying to make children behave. The job of the teacher should be to teach. It should not be the job of the teacher to make children behave because it can't be done anyway.

- Children's time would not be wasted. They would always be working with a teacher in the formal room, or be in the informal room where they could find work and check their own answers or get help from other children and the teacher there. They would be happy.

- It would not cost any extra money or require extra training for teachers. Money being spent on unproved ideas like vouchers and smaller classes would be saved.

- It could be started any time during a school year and be used in some rooms in a school even if others do not participate.

- Children who already behave would have their rightful chance to learn instead of waiting for the teacher to control the disrupters.

- It would stop putting the burden on parents to try to do what is impossible to do -- make their children behave in boring, uncomfortable classrooms.

- It would change the psychological climate in classrooms so children would have hope and belief in their ability to learn.

- Improvement in behavior would show the first day. Gains in learning would soon be clear.

When have you ever heard or read anything about the way children feel? Oh yes, we read about the need for self-esteem, but it is empty, as if you can just pass it out and have the children take some. And they may be made to feel that they are important, wonderful persons just because they are alive, not because they have done anything to deserve it.

And there is another important factor. Children in classrooms talk all the time and there is really no way to prevent it. Each disturbance is too small for serious punishment, but added together they equal pandemonium. Children can't think, remember and learn when there is talking interfering. The words get mixed-up in their heads.

Schools deal with

We were warned many years ago what we were doing to the children in our schools.  We had books -- Nat Hentoff's "Our Children are Dying," Jonathon Kozol's "Death at an Early Age," and Charles Silberman's "Crisis in the Classroom."

Open classrooms were tried, but the children were not given the responsibility and structure they needed, so they did not learn as they should. Then we reverted to the old ways that said children must be made to do what adults want them to do by using punishments. The tough methods made children angry and unable to learn.

In 1968, after completing a study on the application of new information technology and society, Anthony G. Ottinger, Harvard University, said,"Few observers of contemporary American education will quarrel with the need for reform, or with the conclusion that the educational establishment is almost ideally designed to resist change" (Saturday Review, May 18, 1968).

We were warned again, more specifically. An article in Life Magazine, May 19, 1972, quotes Judge Julia Wise Polier, who in 36 years on the bench had heard more children's cases than any other jurist in the nation: "When I put my arm around the boy, I could feel him react. He wants to be loved.  It's getting worse.  There's so little help from any caring adult for these children. They don't get it in schools, in the church or at home.

"A child -- a human being -- reaches out for love. And gets hit. And he reaches out again, and gets hit again. And he keeps reaching, and every time he's denied. And then finally, defensively, he stops reaching. And in no longer looking for love, he loses the ability to love, and his ability to feel. The capacity to feel for another person is cut off, and he can destroy other people without reaction. And then you get rapes and robberies and murder. Take this little boy -- he's tried to reach out and be loved. He's made a desperate effort. And he's been turned off. How long can you expect a child to keep reaching?"

And in our schools, new teachers are advised. Don't smile before Christmas. If you do, you won't have control of your class. And if you don't, you won't have a job.  What kind of atmosphere is that for a child, a child we want to grow up with compassion for others?

But teachers can't show love as classrooms are organized now because they have two tasks that conflict with each other. If children are to learn, they must have hope and belief in their ability to learn.

"If you can make a child believe he is able to learn, he will learn," said the professor, Dr. Uvaldo Palomares, an educational psychologist who had been considered mentally retarded when young. Helen DeLong Green went back to her third-grade class, tried it and children learned. Before that, some had not in spite of her extra efforts.

But teachers can't teach unless there is order in the classroom.

It is impossible to build children up psychologically so they will learn, and keep them subjugated by using punishments to keep order at the same time in the same room.

By then it seemed clear to her that it is not just what we do to children with our punishments, interventions and calls to parents. It is what we fail to do in providing love and warmth. They often don't get it anywhere as they grow up, certainly not in our schools as they are now.

And so began 30 years of trying to find a solution for the problems in our schools. First, she knew what should be done but not how it could be done. Later, she knew how it could be done. Still later, she knew how it could be done better.

One simple change in the way classrooms are set up would make it possible to provide that love and warmth, but adults seem to prefer harsh control.

But her plan was too different from the way things have always been done to be accepted and used. Publishers were supportive and sometimes even enthusiastic, but her book did not fit their programs. However, they insisted that she must not give up.

Top education administrators helped, but they were not the ones who could take action to implement the ideas. Those who could use the ideas were supportive and admiring, saying, "It sounds very good where it is needed but we have no problems that require such a change."

This book provides all the information needed to change the way classrooms are set up, a change that would solve the problems of student disruptions in classrooms, failure to learn, and hatred in the children. It explains the setup, what to say to the children before the plan is started so they will understand that the change means they can learn more, have quiet classrooms so they can think and remember better,  move around and find work to do, check their own answers or get help from other children without punishment. It also explains what to do about details like lessons and instructional materials for the different situations, where to keep books, what to do about possible problems, etc.

The change would not cost any extra money or require more training for teachers. It could be tested first in just two rooms in a school on a temporary basis without disruption to other rooms. It could be used in some rooms in a school even if others do not participate. Improvement in attitude and behavior would show beginning with the first day. Gains in learning would show soon after.

There are many benefits:

- Punishments would not be needed, so much of the hatred would be prevented.

- Teachers could be chosen on their ability to teach and relate to children instead of their ability to control classrooms. They could be nice to children without fear of losing control. Those wonderful persons who are not tough enough to get or keep those jobs now could be teachers and role models for our children.

- Classrooms would be quiet, so children could think, remember and learn.

- Teachers could teach instead of spending time and energy trying to make children behave. The job of the teacher should be to teach. It should not be the job of the teacher to make children behave because it can't be done anyway.

- Children's time would not be wasted. They would always be working with a teacher in the formal room, or be in the informal room where they could find work and check their own answers or get help from other children and the teacher there. They would be happy.

- It would not cost any extra money or require extra training for teachers. Money being spent on unproved ideas like vouchers and smaller classes would be saved.

- It could be started any time during a school year and be used in some rooms in a school even if others do not participate.

- Children who already behave would have their rightful chance to learn instead of waiting for the teacher to control the disrupters.

- It would stop putting the burden on parents to try to do what is impossible to do -- make their children behave in boring, uncomfortable classrooms.

- It would change the psychological climate in classrooms so children would have hope and belief in their ability to learn.

- Improvement in behavior would show the first day. Gains in learning would soon be clear.

When have you ever heard or read anything about the way children feel? Oh yes, we read about the need for self-esteem, but it is empty, as if you can just pass it out and have the children take some. And they may be made to feel that they are important, wonderful persons just because they are alive, not because they have done anything to deserve it.

And there is another important factor. Children in classrooms talk all the time and there is really no way to prevent it. Each disturbance is too small for serious punishment, but added together they equal pandemonium. Children can't think, remember and learn when there is talking interfering. The words get mixed-up in their heads.

Schools deal with

This book will be a guide to assisting disruptive students who are constantly being placed in IN School; Suspension without a road map paved for them to be successful. As a school teacher and administrator for the past 24 years, I have noticed students being placed in ISS Programs without any form of therapeutic treatment designed to assist them. This book reveals research study by various authors who have worked in the education setting through out the United States. The book will be a guide for students who are labeled as repeaters in the ISSP, that the their behaviors can be modified using the counseling handbook. As we try to improve our form of educating young people in America, schools have to cope with classroom behaviors, and violence to make sure no child is left behind in receiving an optimal level of education in the 21st century. The book uses an approach that keeps students in schools and keeps them from receiving OSS as an alternative punishment. Students see OSS as a way of being out of the education setting and being at home without any form of education taking place. This book will assist school officials to guide ISS repeaters in the right direction and prevent obstacles from causing them to excel.

This book will be a guide to assisting disruptive students who are constantly being placed in IN School; Suspension without a road map paved for them to be successful. As a school teacher and administrator for the past 24 years, I have noticed students being placed in ISS Programs without any form of therapeutic treatment designed to assist them. This book reveals research study by various authors who have worked in the education setting through out the United States. The book will be a guide for students who are labeled as repeaters in the ISSP, that the their behaviors can be modified using the counseling handbook. As we try to improve our form of educating young people in America, schools have to cope with classroom behaviors, and violence to make sure no child is left behind in receiving an optimal level of education in the 21st century. The book uses an approach that keeps students in schools and keeps them from receiving OSS as an alternative punishment. Students see OSS as a way of being out of the education setting and being at home without any form of education taking place. This book will assist school officials to guide ISS repeaters in the right direction and prevent obstacles from causing them to excel.

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We need the Socialists to get out of bed with the Parasites and put their clothes on. What a shame: 10 Trillion in debt and we haven’t solved our major domestic problems and let’s keep our greedy mitts out of the Social Security Trust Fund! No more excuses. Let us fix the problems today. And Congress, if you help fix our mess, I doubt the American people would mind raising your salaries A Lot!The Socialists beat us down, laughed behind our backs, cut their buddies deals, lied and mislead us to get control, bought voters off with our own money, raised taxes on our families as they parasited on our productive, stole the bread out of our children’s mouths, confiscated our assets, inflated away our savings, shipped jobs overseas, made us dependent on Government, mismanaged our economy, broke our hearts and sold out to the highest bidder. Want proof? When you feel their 10 Trillion (10,000,000,000,000.00) Austerity, you’ll know it! And if you don’t believe it, it will sure feel like it.They said you could not change things. How wrong they were, starting with them. At last, if you are tired of a Negative Socialist environment based on punishment, Parasitalism and fear, learn how we can have a positive Capitalist environment based on Freedom, Incentive, Prosperity, Respect, Honesty, Compassion and Hope. It’s simple!Do me one tiny favor before we begin our journey……………

We need the Socialists to get out of bed with the Parasites and put their clothes on. What a shame: 10 Trillion in debt and we haven’t solved our major domestic problems and let’s keep our greedy mitts out of the Social Security Trust Fund! No more excuses. Let us fix the problems today. And Congress, if you help fix our mess, I doubt the American people would mind raising your salaries A Lot!The Socialists beat us down, laughed behind our backs, cut their buddies deals, lied and mislead us to get control, bought voters off with our own money, raised taxes on our families as they parasited on our productive, stole the bread out of our children’s mouths, confiscated our assets, inflated away our savings, shipped jobs overseas, made us dependent on Government, mismanaged our economy, broke our hearts and sold out to the highest bidder. Want proof? When you feel their 10 Trillion (10,000,000,000,000.00) Austerity, you’ll know it! And if you don’t believe it, it will sure feel like it.They said you could not change things. How wrong they were, starting with them. At last, if you are tired of a Negative Socialist environment based on punishment, Parasitalism and fear, learn how we can have a positive Capitalist environment based on Freedom, Incentive, Prosperity, Respect, Honesty, Compassion and Hope. It’s simple!Do me one tiny favor before we begin our journey……………

In “Schools Are Depressed” Lili starts with vivid illustrations of her premise that schools are struggling to survive; she then moves to sharing her experiences and ideas for revitalizing schools with the energy that will transform them into a positive environment that nurtures students who are joyous, lively, and intellectually stimulated. Lili’s own journey of change and discovery is combined with the practicality of positive energy practices which can be used by teachers and students to enhance their ability to concentrate, feel better, and increase learning.

Frustrated with the state of education, a high school teacher challenges you to explore what’s actually happening in schools across America. Why are our students failing? It’s a combination of many factors. Teachers are supposed to be classroom instructors, counselors, parents, and disciplinarians. Administrators are often more concerned with upward mobility than the education of students. Unions are protective of everyone, including incompetent teachers. Politicians enact new legislation for posterity’s sake. Parents and students are not being held accountable for non-performance. Teacher’s Turn: Speaking Out poses questions based on real life situations and frustrations occurring in our nation´s classrooms, school sites, and district offices. The author answers questions to critical issues in our schools based on over 10 years of experience and knowledge. Included are "Questions to Consider," a challenge for readers to re-create our educational system. America needs realistic options for our students, teachers, administrators, schools. Politicians should not be making decisions about our educational system. It’s time teachers start speaking out!

Frustrated with the state of education, a high school teacher challenges you to explore what’s actually happening in schools across America. Why are our students failing? It’s a combination of many factors. Teachers are supposed to be classroom instructors, counselors, parents, and disciplinarians. Administrators are often more concerned with upward mobility than the education of students. Unions are protective of everyone, including incompetent teachers. Politicians enact new legislation for posterity’s sake. Parents and students are not being held accountable for non-performance. Teacher’s Turn: Speaking Out poses questions based on real life situations and frustrations occurring in our nation´s classrooms, school sites, and district offices. The author answers questions to critical issues in our schools based on over 10 years of experience and knowledge. Included are "Questions to Consider," a challenge for readers to re-create our educational system. America needs realistic options for our students, teachers, administrators, schools. Politicians should not be making decisions about our educational system. It’s time teachers start speaking out!