HIGH FALSE ESTEEM LEADS TO UNETHICAL PRACTICES

HIGH FALSE ESTEEM LEADS TO UNETHICAL PRACTICES

By Domenick J. Maglio PhD. Traditional Realist

The pressure for parents and teachers of the United States is to develop high self-esteem in children is based on a false concept. Higher self-esteem of a person is supposed to transform them into a more receptive emotional state for learning. This is supposed to result in more effortless retention of information and increased ability to present themselves confidently in many situations. Early successes supposedly strengthen self-esteem throughout one’s life.

This psychological effect may be productive when the child is young. As a person matures, they run into other learning factors. When children meet hard or uninteresting subject matter, many of them begin to turn off, refusing to persevere until they conquer the material. This side effect leads to personal disinterest in particular areas which cause deficiencies in their learning process. They are confident in subjects of interest and ignore and avoid areas of learning that are more challenging to them. Eventually these subjects of little interest increase in complexity further causing the student to be turned off by the subject matter.

Everyone is aware of the youngster’s brightness as these children seem to show off their knowledge as often as they can. This behavior at times hinges on obnoxiousness but the message is clear, “I am definitely very intelligent.” Their strongest supporters are their parents. The single child parents have limited knowledge in comparing their youngster to other children, but they are defenders of their child’s reluctance to focus on the task at hand. They are excuse makers for the youngster’s avoidance behavior by pointing out their advanced knowledge in other areas.

These high false esteem students have greatly proliferated in our nation with the practice of “no winners or losers and everyone receives a trophy” philosophy. In schools grade inflation has become the panacea for helping students from seeing themselves as failures. By public schools giving all children a minimum of 40 points before they answer a single test question lowers the academic bar. It preserves their false self-esteem. This is a useless crutch that leads to more dependency on others to bail them out of a lackluster performance.

The emphasis on higher grades has placed great pressure on teachers meeting these unrealistic expectations of students and parents. Teachers are put between a rock and a hard place. If the teacher graded accurately on homework and tests the students, parents and administration would be irate. Lowering the grading standards is the easiest way to survive in the public-school system. This encourages sloppy and incorrect procedures to be overlooked. The word gets around giving the teacher the reputation as an easy mark. Since the teachers have little backing from their administration, they capitulate their professional and personal integrity. The teacher embellishes their student’s evaluations upgrading every aspect of it.

Teachers have to placate everyone in the system to maintain good standing. These short-term solutions to everyday practices force teachers to lose their souls. This forces the teacher down a path of dishonesty. There is no personal gratification in a professional position that is not in the interest of the client/student. A teacher giving inflated grades becomes a mercenary not an inspirational role model to assist the student to be a well-prepared future success. High salaries and benefits with no personal gratification of witnessing students learning how to learn is not sufficient compensation for not doing what is right. It cheapens the teacher in the process.

By many teachers not giving their full effort to help students learn how to conquer their disinterest and retain necessary information they are hurting their academic success. Deep down teachers know that sloppy and shoddy work by the students does not deserve positive recognition with high grades. It only reinforces the students’ negative practices and produces inadequacy.

These inadequate and unethical practices to appease the bureaucratic school system is not limited to teaching. It is seen in all professions: law, medicine, business, government. Yet, it does not give teachers a valid justification to accept these derelictions of their duty for these students are our nation’s future.

There are conscientious teachers in public schools who do go against the grain of bureaucratic red tape. They are exceptions to the rule. They do deserve and receive their financial compensation but most importantly they regularly taste the personal gratification of knowing their mission of teaching youngsters is a success. Almost every day they witness the positive growth of their students.

The bureaucratic system feels the pay and benefits are enough, but the teachers do not without a meaningful, fulfilling and therefore rewarding career. Most public-school teachers no longer are allowed to positively change a youngster’s life because the bureaucratic system has crushed their ability and enthusiasm to be a good teacher. Teachers whose goal is to help children are often pushed out by the bureaucratic system.

Domenick Maglio, PhD. is a columnist carried by various newspapers, an author of several books and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. Dr. Maglio is an author of weekly newspaper articles, INVASION WITHIN  and a recent book entitled, IN CHARGE PARENTING In a PC World. You can see many of Dr. Maglio’s articles at www.drmaglioblogspot.com.

Parents are the Primary Teachers

PARENTS ARE THE PRIMARY TEACHERS

BY DOMENICK J. MAGLIO, PHD. Traditional Realist

A child’s education begins at home. Functional parents naturally provide role modeling that is fertile ground for the child’s moral, emotional social and educational development.  Children spontaneously imitate speech patterns, vocabulary, thinking and the value of continual learning of the parent. 

In the past families was a cohesive group that did almost everything together. Sitting down to meals, working around the house, recreation, visiting relatives, church attendance were practically rituals for the family.  It was the most important social unit in society.

Modern parents are often AWOL in crucial areas. Although parents work hard chauffeuring their children to extra curricular activities they miss the exposure to many of the child’s important behaviors.  Infants are often left in centers to be cared for by “professional” strangers. The majority of parents enroll their children in preschools instead of keeping them at home. Both parents often work long hours and are lucky to spend a few quality moments with their child.

Many parents take for granted the school is educating their child. This can turn into an educational disaster that can threaten the child’s abilities and opportunities to succeed later in life. Parents are the primary teachers. The abdicating of this responsibility is dangerous to society.

Parents are so preoccupied with their own careers that they assume their child is doing well in school since the report cards from early elementary normally indicate he is an A-B student. Often he is granted Honor Roll status. The child usually is a compliant child who stays out of any trouble at home and in school. 

This typical child’s academic, social and emotional issues are not being adequately addressed. Eventually in the transition to middle school or after a comprehensive state exam the parent becomes aware of a significant two-year or more deficit in one or several academic areas.  These problems prompt them to put the child in another classroom setting or school to avoid the stigma of being labeled or held back a grade.

Then reality hits them hard, the mother’s tears flow and the child realizes that his inflated grades can no longer hide the truth. The child does not know simple math no less algebra and/or is unable to write a coherent paragraph.  The student and parents are crushed knowing their options are not going to correct the errors of the past without a lot of work and pain.

Students being held back or labeled are only the tips of the icebergs. Both the parents and student have to accept they have been delusional. The child has to accept a drastic change in behavior and thinking to have a chance to rehabilitate himself as a student. The parents have to restructure their lives to make a total commitment to assist the child in filling in his academic and work ethic gaps. 

These incidents can be drastically reduced if parents would take the time to observe the child’s initiative, work habits and become aware of what the child actually knows. Reading the child’s reports and essays as well as reviewing math tests enables the parent to evaluate the child’s knowledge. Through daily monitoring and questioning the parents must maintain awareness of what the child is learning. There is no excuse for the parents not assessing their child’s education.

Modern parents can no longer rely on our dysfunctional education system to take over most aspects of their child’s life. We are supposed to protect and teach our children the things they need to know to prosper in life.

Casually leaving our children’s education to the schools is not a wise decision. Too many adults are more concerned with their pet’s grooming than with their child’s education. In school there are many social temptations, many opportunities to take short cuts such as cheating and little follow-up by teachers and administrators concerning academic deficiencies. Parents should more closely evaluate their child’s academics, social abilities and skills.

Parents can either shirk their duty to pass on their wisdom suffering the pain of a dysfunctional child or witness the child creating his own success.

The ability of their child to be self-reliant and successful lies primarily in the hands of the parents by training them to have positive habits, skills and values. The parents’ focusing on the children when they are young will reap them the satisfaction of participating in their success.  The legacy of their children is determined by how well they were able to train them when they were young.

It is not about spending more money on education but parents placing a great value on learning. Parental observation as well as direct involvement with the child’s academics and after school activities is powerful antidotes to preventing an inadequate and disabled human being.

Domenick Maglio, PhD. is a columnist carried by various newspapers, an author of several books and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. You can visit Dr. Maglio at www.drmaglio.blogspot.com.

THE NATIONALIZATION OF EDUCATION AND HEALTHCARE DIMINISHES QUALITY

THE NATIONALIZATION OF EDUCATION AND HEALTHCARE DIMINISHES QUALITY

By Domenick J. Maglio Ph.D.

Affordable Healthcare and Common Core are using the same template. Both are being sold as being reasonable incremental cost saving quality changes to improve the delivery system of these two major institutions.

The truth is these are the first steps in nationalizing two of the most important  aspects of our daily lives that touches every American. Health care concerns are expanding as we become more of an aged society.  We are more dependent on the medical establishment today to care for us. The majority of us are taking less and less responsibility for our own health.

Our schools have morphed into social service sand social engineering centers.  Education has moved away from teaching children academic fundamentals to become independent learners. It has become a massive cultural change industry that is able to redistribute wealth for social restructuring through a multitude of grants, programs and directives.

The fiasco of the rollout of Obamacare was politically motivated. They could not be transparent with one sixth of the economy when they have proclaimed an economic savings that could not happen. Increasing the number of participants by 45 million obviously would balloon the cost of health care.  The only way to accomplish this feat is to increase fees and or decrease payments to the doctors. This had to be subtly phased in so not to create a public backlash. 

The statement that “you can keep your doctor” needs to be revised to “you can keep your doctor if you are willing to pay out of pocket if he is still in business.” Many doctors are not enthusiastic from going to running their own practices to being an insignificant cog in a system directed by national bureaucrats.

Even their independent professional healing decisions will  cease with a payment schedule. This plan dictates specific treatments modalities for each and every diagnosis that is determined by a checklist of symptoms. Doctor’s status has been degraded from the pinnacle of all professions- almost gods- to people who are told every step of the way what to do and how much they will be paid.

Teachers never had the exalted status of doctors nevertheless their professional creativity to help students, which attracted most of them to the  field was written out of the script.. The Common Core rationalized educational format will reduce teachers to robots filling in bureaucratic forms and following directions for specific tasks. The human initiative and relationship development factors will be squashed by a highly scripted system of teaching to the test.

The major reward of being a part of a highly  self-gratifying position of helping students to reach their full potential will be a thing of the past.

The intangibles of a doctor being a physical healer and a teacher being an inspirational guide for developing the mind cannot be written into the guidelines of these nationalized guidelines. It is impossible to define and quantify these intangibles. The quality of these systems will be naturally tarnished by removing the intrinsic interpersonal value of doing a meaningful job. It will be sacrificed for the supposed effectiveness of a “one-size-fits-all” approach.

The Affordable Care Act will not be affordable as it will be used as a major tax revenue stream for socialistic programs. The quality of healthcare will deteriorate as doctors are no longer allowed to practice healing and leave the profession.

Common Core will be a nationalized system indoctrinating our youth to usher us into a one-world government. Students will not be taught to critically think but will be propagandized with uncritical group-think. Future teachers will be scripted pawns who will not be allowed to treat students as unique individuals. All students will be treated in the same manner to arrive at the same goals.

Nationalization of industries or institutions throughout history and throughout the world have a common denominator of standardizing declining mediocrity. The

The top down approach chokes out individual initiative that encourages excellence. People do as little and as quickly as possible to do what is required but nothing more. It demoralizes the workers as well as the recipients.

Standards and expectations drop until everyone begins to accept the new normal of incompetence and broken promises.  The striving for excellence becomes a fading memory. 

 

Domenick Maglio, PhD. is a columnist carried by various newspapers, an author of several books and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. You can visit Dr. Maglio at www.drmaglio.blogspot.com.

EDUCATION IS NOT SOLELY THE TEACHER'S RESPONSIBILITY

EDUCATION IS NOT SOLELY THE TEACHER’S RESPONSIBILITY

By Domenick J. Maglio,  PhD Traditional Realist

Our culture is doing our children a disservice by pretending that youngsters can reach their goals by just wanting something and demanding it over and over again. " I am going to be a Hollywood star." "When I grow up I'll marry a millionaire, have a mansion with servants, become a professional gamer, NFL player or a famous rapper.” The list of wannabee upscale lifestyles or occupations might vary with time although the lack of knowing the necessary steps to achieve the desired goals remains minimal.

In our culture adults are not supposed to deflate the child's dreams or self esteem even when they are obviously out of touch with reality. We should placate the child by playing along with him. It is supposed to be cruel when an authority figure presents legitimate criticism as it will end the childish belief they are always right. Supposedly this accurate information will harm or shatter their self-esteem and dreams. Our fragile children are supposed to be blissfully ignorant of the hard realities of life. In other words they should be allowed to be delusional.

The same sentiments exist with most parents in dealing with their child's education. They want school to be a more pleasurable experience then they had as a child. Learning should be enjoyable and fun at all times. According to them, children today are brighter than ever before and should be sheltered from any anxiety caused by high performance expectations.

Learning should not be stressful; it should be effortless for today’s child. It is the teacher's job to present stimulating and exciting lessons day after day that the child would easily absorb. We have forced teachers into being stars of the classroom and the students the audience to be entertained. This process does not produce an independent, self-reliant learner, but rather a self absorbed, handicapped one.

Parents are aware of the assorted facts the children know from watching television shows or searching the Internet when they are interested in the subject. This is proof that their precious child is brilliant. Modern parents think any teacher worth her salt should make even the most mundane lessons interesting to keep the student learning.

It is no wonder in our instant gratification society that junior and senior high school students should feel the responsibility for their education resides solely in the teacher's efforts and not with them. They have been allowed by the parents to be passive learners throughout their lives. Children should not be expected to do anything in which they have little interest. It is always the teacher’s fault.

 An energetic and personable teacher cannot compensate for an unmotivated student with poor academic fundamentals. "Teach me teach" sums up the attitude of the modern student. It is a reasonable conclusion given the modern parent's opinions of the teacher's role. Teachers are supposed to be in charge of the child's learning without considering the effort and actual performance level of the child. The child's laziness, excuses or obnoxious behavior too often is attributed to an uninspiring and ineffective teacher not the student’s attitude and actions. It is the teacher's fault.

As long as a teacher appeases the parent with inflated grades, the teacher is off the hook for not "being interesting." Parents do brag about their child being on the honor role no matter how pathetic the actual skill level.  Actual mastery of the subject matter is unimportant as compared to their happiness. Receiving high grades, for doing little to earn them, is a win-win situation for students, parents and teachers. Parents are delighted by the overinflated report. Students are overjoyed by the parental rewards while teachers and administrators are off the hook from both.

This public relations gimmick has a major flaw. The flaw is the increased competition when these students enter college where almost a third of them are required to take remedial courses before earning any college credit. This is educational fraud.

Domenick Maglio, PhD. is a columnist carried by various newspapers, an author of several books and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. You can visit Dr. Maglio at www.drmaglio.blogspot.com.

Grade integrity in the past was a reality check for students and their parents. The actual grade earned taught the student that the more effort put into something the better the result. This reality motivated students to be more conscientious in their studies.

Learning in school is similar to learning to swim. A person has to want to swim to learn how to do it. An instructor can encourage and help the individual overcome unreasonable fears but ultimately the person has to have sufficient desire to work at it until he succeeds. A child learning to ride a bike has to suffer the bruises of falling until he learns to stabilize it and ride on his own. A student has to develop basic skills, frustration tolerance and self-discipline to internalize knowledge to become an excellent student.

Successful students have pride of ownership in their studies. They are more focused on learning than on their grades. Once a student takes ownership of his education, then and only then can he become a lifelong learner and outstanding citizen.

Domenick Maglio, PhD. is a columnist carried by various newspapers, an author of several books and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. You can visit Dr. Maglio at www.drmaglio.blogspot.com.

STUDENTS AND ALL OF US THRIVE WITH HONEST FEEDBACK

STUDENTS AND ALL OF US THRIVE WITH HONEST FEEDBACK

By Domenick Maglio PhD. Traditional Realist

In our cultural drive to reach equality in our society, we have delegitimized hard work and honest feedback. This has taken place foremost in our public schools on both ends of the academic spectrum. Lazy students are not pushed to work hard and competitive students are rarely awarded for exceptional academic excellence. Educators are being taught not to establish high expectations and standards or frankly report a student’s progress since the child’s self concept might suffer.

A student that does well with little effort should not strive to be even better as it would result in too much anxiety and widen the academic gap between students. High achieving students would create an atmosphere of tension and generate jealousy among his classmates. According to this convoluted thinking, to develop a cooperative classroom and school climate educators should blur the difference between students not accentuate it.

Students with little enthusiasm for school should be allowed to work as little as they desire. Grades are de-emphasized by giving high grades to everyone so a winner-loser mentality is not created. Dumbing down standards in this strategy makes everyone equally contented although it lowers the performance.

Compared to other countries student performance in our schools does not bode well for our future. Yet, educational “experts” are persistent in focusing on children’s feelings rather than performance. They believe the lack of significant learning and inflating grades can easily hide performance. The parents are hoodwinked into believing their child is doing well. This easy adjustment of the grades does make all students temporarily feel good. This is supposed to strengthen their self-esteem even when the student’s effort is mediocre.

We are witnessing in youth sports the same modern cultural thinking that everyone has to be treated equally on the team regardless of their dedication or athletic ability. Everyone plays regardless of effort or talent. In many of the games there is no score kept so as not to hurt anyone's feelings if they did not win.

 America's greatness has not been derived from being equally complacent but from individuals who have the freedom and opportunity to work hard to earn their dreams. Noting failure is essential to learn to be strong enough to bounce back from defeat and become a winner. These lessons prepare a person to deal with real life situations. 

In our recent past, when a student did well, he earned privileges but when he failed to do his best, he lost them in school. His parents would give him another dose of even more bitter medicine once he arrived home. Everyone was on the same page of the importance of trying to do one’s best.

Appropriate consequences administered by a dedicated teacher motivates students to work toward their optimal academic level. Before this foolhardy high self-esteem phenomenon, there was no fear on the part of the teacher to honestly evaluate students.  Not only because it was a true reflection of the student's competence in the subject areas but parents wanted to know the truth about their children to assist them. This has changed.

Today student’s high grades on the report card allows for bragging rights to friends and family. Parents want to stick “My Child is on the Honor Role” on the back of their car to display to everyone what good parents they are. They do not want to understand that high grades do not insure or even mean their child is learning as much as he could. Without valid assessments, high standards and expectations no one can determine where they rank amongst their peers. 

Teachers are instrumental in assisting students in learning specific ways they can improve or point out when the student did improve. This honest input from the teacher, parent and peers built momentum for the student's progress to the top. Student's positive actions may be annoying to peers who do not make good choices to improve discipline although it may inspire them to try harder to achieve. Once students see the real benefits to being a winner/a better student, the classroom dynamics change inspiring everyone to try and do his best.

As in any organization the elimination of appropriate consequences in school creates mediocrity. American taxpayers deserve better results than year after year excuses for our educational stagnation. We are stalled in the back of the educational rankings of developed nations. We should stop imposing elaborate and impractical policies from the bureaucratic top and allow teachers to develop and implement procedures from the bottom up. The more these classroom policies are created by the local administration and teachers the more likely they would be enthusiastically implemented.

Teachers should be empowered to be honest with students, parents and administration. We need to decentralize power in our schools and return it to the hands of the teachers. Our schools need to reestablish legitimate and meaningful consequences in the classrooms to energize our educational system and motivate students to be the best they can be.

Dr. Maglio is a columnist carried by various newspapers, an author of several books and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. You can visit Dr. Maglio at www.drmaglio.blogspot.com.

Solving Student's Lack of Attention

SOLVING STUDENT’S LACK OF ATTENTION

By Domenick J. Maglio, PhD. Traditional Realist

The childhood epidemic of ADD and ADHD is misleading. Children with this diagnosis can focus very well on things that interest them. The real issue is they have an unwillingness to concentrate on things they are told to do where they have little interest.

The overwhelming majority of these students can eagerly spend hours playing video games, watching television, reading about dinosaurs, putting on make up or doing their nails. It is not a problem of paying attention; it is a narrow and limited field of interest and a lack of discipline to work to expand it.

Our schools have seen this phenomenon of students not paying attention in certain academic areas but focusing like a laser beam on things they like. It is negatively affecting student’s learning. Students in school have to learn and relearn fundamental facts and skills to build a solid educational foundation. A major part of school is not always new and exciting but must be done.

It would be counter productive and obscene to label every inattentive child although we are trying with a vengeance to do it in our nation. The latest approach to tackle this phenomenon is to teach the teachers to make instruction more interesting by using the student’s interest to sneak in necessary subject matter. This approach has not been effective because it wastes valuable time on entertainment rather than developing a strong academic foundation.

The appeasement of students through immediate gratification does nothing to correct a student’s focus deficit; instead it increases it. The entertainment and game approach to teaching may have temporary success but is destined to fail because it is competing with television and Hollywood professionals. Student entertainment expectations are too high to match on a daily basis. Inventing games to help slide new information into the student’s brains does nothing to show him that it will take self-discipline to concentrate and solve future problems.

Students have to be convinced that concentrating on things that society has deemed important opens up new worlds. The dosages of work given to a reluctant student in a particular area should be short and sweet. The exposure to difficult subjects for the child should end with success and be followed by an activity that is highly regarded by the student. As the child tastes greater facility in the formerly distasteful subject the child should be made aware that his feeling for the subject is becoming more favorable.

Most children have a proclivity in language arts or the math area but rarely both. It is the teacher’s creative power that is needed to set up situations to show how to master simple fundamental skills. This builds the competencies of reluctant students in these more difficult skill areas. The mastering of these competencies enhances the child's self-confidence to try more challenging work. Once the student develops more competence in the subject he begins to rely more on himself and less on the teacher.

The best antidote for a child’s unwillingness and inability to pay attention to a task is not drugs but delayed gratification training. The individual’s simple success in a difficult area for him is essential in beginning this process. An authority figure begins with breaking down the task into small simple steps. As the child’s ability to perform increases in complexity he learns the answer he seeks will occur by first observing the problem. The higher his level of expectation for completing a task is, the greater the increase in patience in searching for the answer. His willingness to accept the fact that he needs additional time to come up with the answer is delaying the gratification of completing the activity. Delaying immediate gratification for a greater payoff down the road is a necessary trait of maturity.

Discerning people cannot accept the narrative that we have a sudden explosion of defective children with an inability to be attentive. They would be more likely to agree our lack of childrearing training and the instant gratification of our culture are the main culprits for this phenomenon. Attention deficit of our children is real but the solution is not chemical, it is training the child to carefully observe situations long enough to come up with a possible solution and test it to see if it works.

Nudging a student to pay attention by sugar coating a lesson is ignoring the real issue. Students have to realize the power of applying their mental energy is the most effective way to arrive at a solution. It will increase success in all of life’s tasks. The more the student sees the positive results of focusing on problem solving, the more he becomes an independent and strong learner.

Dr. Maglio is an author and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. You can visit Dr. Maglio at www.drmaglio.com.

BANNING EXCELLENCE RESULTS IN MEDIOCRE EQUALITY

BANNING EXCELLENCE RESULTS IN MEDIOCRE EQUALITY

By Domenick J. Maglio PhD. Traditional Realist

Modern society is being fed propaganda that we should treat everyone equally regardless of their actions and behavior. Progressives believe that a person who believes someone else is better than they suffers humiliation. According to their thinking this can be easily remedied by manipulating the situation to prevent excellence from rearing its ugly head.

In Melvin, AR an eleven year-old sixth grader, Demias Jimerson, was instructed that after making three touchdowns in a game he would not be able to score again if his team was 14 points ahead. He was considered by school officials to have an unfair advantage over other children in the league. Principal, Terri Bryant, said she is punishing him but wants other players to develop. “He’ll score almost every time he touches the ball.”

Demias was considered too superior to other young athletes in the conference. Even if he were placed in an older age group where it would be more difficult for him to shine, he would make others who may be older feel inferior since they were not as good as or better than this youngster. Demias must not be allowed to excel or other children will give up, not try harder to become better.

Our culture is failing to appreciate that anyone who performs on an excellent level elevates everyone around him. It motivates others to try harder. Instead we are protecting our children from the difficult lessons taught by reality.

This psychological and emotional coddling is happening throughout our educational system. We have established policies that promote grade inflation to assist unmotivated students to learn the rewards of laziness. We do not even keep score in children’s sports.

In the business world our government is prohibiting employers from giving honest evaluations of former employees. It is even being considered that asking a potential employee how long he has been unemployed would be discriminatory. The government rationalization is everyone should be given a new start by disregarding the mistakes of the past. We do not want people to be harmed by the harshness of the truth. Rather than allowing an individual to improve we are willing to pass on a flawed worker to another unsuspecting employer.

Even though our government is attempting to legislate fairness in the workplace, Occupy Wall Street, also called the 99% Movement, is about the unfairness of life. They would like to prevent a talented person in a particular field from using his accomplishments or high level performance to economically rise above the 99% of the people. Many believe the entrepreneurs need to be held back from receiving their just rewards or many less hard working will feel envy. The profit motive of capitalism is seen as a cruel and unusual consequence for the 99% unless they are involved in business.

The OWS believe the unequal distribution of wealth within a society is criminal to the less fortunate. This concept means 99% of the American citizens need to have their wealth confiscated by the citizens of poor nations. These poor Americans would be the 1% of rich people when compared to the entire world. In poor nations the average worker’s yearly salary is less than the average US poor worker’s weekly salary. For world equality the worker of a poor nation should have the right to a fairer salary provided by the “poor Americans.”

International progressives are philosophically against hybrid capitalism. China and Cuba are now using some legal and illegal strategies of capitalism to increase the national wealth. This should be stopped because they are encouraging an income gap between the slackers and the profit seekers. Cuba is encouraging home ownership and private business. China is employing economic incentives to foreign businesses to relocate to their country and price fixing to discourage foreign competition to increase their market share. Producing more wealth by turning a Marxist nation into a capitalist one only enlarges the gap between rich and poor.

There is one foolproof way to gain world equality. It is through One World Governance. Creating a world without national borders will make it easier for the ruling class to more evenly distribute wealth equally to all the workers. They believe it is imperative we create a global society to level the playing field. Equality in a poor country is much more virtuous than developing a rich country where there is a large gap between rich and poor in the view of progressives.

The current strategy of dismantling standards and expectation of excellence is too slow a process. Once positive incentives to work are banned, the nation’s spirit will deflate. Diverting the behavior of the masses to the lowest common denominator does achieve lower national standards of living while increasing dependency on the government will take generations.

American elites must lead the way to open the borders and to punish the capitalist 1% worldwide for being over ambitious, productive individuals. This would be done for all people except a small minority of ruling class intellectuals who would deserve all the privileges of wealth for making the masses equal. This will bring the people to a level of equal mediocrity, which will be distributed throughout the world.

This ruling class will have the moral dilemma of living in extraordinary luxury while maintaining their agenda for a total equality as the best method of living for the masses. Deep down the ruling class knows with all it’s heart that they are superior but they do not want the hassle of having to keep up with arrogant upstarts. They understand that mediocre quality for the masses is an inoculation against worker uprisings. It is best to squash all competition for everyone’s benefit especially for the chosen few.

Dr. Maglio is the author of Invasion Within and Essential Parenting. He is a psychotherapist and the owner/director of Wider Horizons School.

Visit: www.drmaglio.com.

HOMOSEXUALITY ACCEPTANCE IS NOT SCHOOL BUSINESS

HOMOSEXUALITY ACCEPTANCE IS NOT SCHOOL BUSINESS

By Domenick J. Maglio PhD Traditional Realist

Public school teachers do not have an easy job. They often complain about the lack of student preparation when children enter school. Teachers have advocated for higher readiness skills for kindergarten entrance. The lack of sleep, poor nutrition, obesity and acting out children have been highlighted in the media recently as obstacle in the education of modern students.

Our public schools are not functioning as well as in the past compared to other developed countries. Our national drop out rate in college is approaching 50%. The National Assessment of Education Progress has demonstrated we are 31st in math 23^rd in science and 17^th in reading as compared to other developed countries. The 2011 SAT results were the lowest ever recorded in reading and writing sections for college bound seniors. Only the scores of 43% of the students taking the SAT were predictive of success in college while 67% were not.

We as a nation have made education a high priority. The present administration has increased the education budget by billions over the past three years with no significant positive results. Public education is receiving half a trillion dollars per year from local, state and federal governments with little return on the investment.

The issues facing public schools are deep rooted and complex. Yet progressive politicians and educators are engaging in social engineering instead of focusing on improving student achievement.

Dakota Pope a 14 –year-old student from Ft. Worth, Texas was given an in-school suspension for telling a fellow student that homosexuality was wrong. According to Liberty Council attorney, Matt Krause, representing Dakota, the student was inappropriately informed by his German teacher that homosexuality was ”happening all over the world and you have to accept that homosexuality is just part of the culture now.”

Furthermore, Attorney Krause stated “There has been a history with this teacher in the class regarding homosexual topics. The teacher has posted a picture of two men kissing on the wall that offended some of the students.”

This teacher’s off subject attempt at desensitizing and indoctrinating students in homosexual acceptance is undermining the focus and quality of public education. This teacher is wasting student’s valuable time by attempting to impose his personal progressive agenda. The teacher’s subjective opinion on the state of homosexuality is not part of his job description of teaching German. This is an abuse of his power as a teacher sanctioned to teach German and malpractice by the school district for not monitoring and disciplining the staff member.

The school district has not explained why the 9^th grade German teacher was discussing homosexuality. There was no comment on any disciplinary action for the teacher‘s unwarranted comments. Students should not lose their First Amendment rights just because a school official feels their comments may offend some other student.

Even if Dakota’s comment personally offends someone he still has the right to Freedom of Speech. In the United States an individual can inform a fellow student that he disagrees with his teacher’s controversial opinions and concerning the morality of homosexuality. This is especially true due to Dakota’s strong religious background, which is protected by our Bill of Rights.

Acceptance of a person’s sexual orientation is not the same as tolerance. Muslims, Christians and Jews should not have to alter their moral and religious beliefs to conform to an atheist or secular viewpoint. People who believe that homosexuality is contrary to natural law and is religiously sinful should not be punished for their views.

It is wrong when a student is punished for voicing his honest opinion on personal or moral issues. Once a school system allows its staff to engage in this unprofessional behavior it should be denied government funds. The public buildings are no longer being used for education but have become centers of indoctrination.

In the entertainment media it is becoming common place to titillate the audience with explicit homosexual behavior as two teenage boys kissing on the television show “Glee”. The parents have the ability to censor their children from watching the program. On the other hand government schools have a captive audience of young minds and therefore have an obligation to all the taxpaying citizens to educate the citizens in the fundamentals of a classic education. They do not have a public mandate to alter or to eradicate the moral values of our children.

There is no place in our Constitutional Republic where our government can or should force the public to accept homosexuality or any other type of sexual relationship. Our Constitution does not permit our government to deny citizens their moral beliefs. Public schools should concentrate on giving our children a solid education while protecting their individual liberties

Dr. Maglio is the author of Invasion Within and Essential Parenting. He is a psychotherapist and the owner/director of Wider Horizons School.

Visit: www.drmaglio.com.

IB DEBATE SHOULD HAPPEN BEFORE NOT AFTER ADOPTION BY OUR SCHOOLS

IB DEBATE SHOULD HAPPEN BEFORE NOT AFTER ADOPTION BY OUR SCHOOLS

By Domenick J. Maglio PhD. Traditional Realist

The International Baccalaureate Program has been rejected after being implemented in 74 schools. Recent schools that have dropped the IB Program are: Coronado High School, CA, Loara High School, Anaheim, CA, Wilmer Amina Carter High School, Rialto, CA, Woodland School, Cartersville, GA, Zionsville Community High School, Zionsville, IN, Apollo High School, Owensboro, KY, Hillwood High School, Nashville, TN, Virginia High School, Bristol, VA, William Fleming High School, Roanoke, VA.

October 27, 2011, Education Week reported in Idaho, “opponents have taken to the streets to publicize their concern that the IB Program is spreading an anti American ideology in local schools…similar controversies erupted in Utah in 2009 and Michigan in 2005, the AP notes.” UN Agenda in Public Schools, Donny Harwood www.youtube.com/ watch?v= NG10x_RLBXI

There is blowback not only nationally but also internationally. Premier Gordon Brown abandoned the IB Program in the UK as being too expensive. The actual cost in the United States is difficult to ascertain. “Cost of the IB Programme is perhaps the most difficult information to acquire. We have done exhaustive research on the subject and without exception every school district that has purchased the programme has hidden information or otherwise blocked our efforts to obtain any definitive understanding of what this program costs. “ Jane Aiken, Merrimack Valley Taxpayers About to be Scammed,” Bedford Journal.

In Merrimack Valley School District, NH, cost for the program was estimated to be $135,000 by the IB presenter at a school board meeting and $3.1-3.7 million dollars over five years by the knowledgeable expert on the IB Program, Lisa McLoughlin. State Representative of NH, Seth Cohn, had to intervene to emphasize that a board member contradicted herself in stating where the IB training took place and its cost. The actual breakdown of the IB proposal for the length of the program should be provided to the public to make an educated decision. http://truthaboutib.com/ usschooldisputes/merrimackvalleynh.html

The IB Program has flown under the national media’s radar scene but is bursting forth in many local school districts throughout the USA. The issues are similar from district to district. The local citizens were not informed and did not participate in the debate to adopt this expensive and controversial program. The more the communities learned about the IB Program, the greater the objections they had. The implementation of the IB Program without wide local acceptance is done by design. International Baccalaureate in Bedford, Anti-American? www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTI0osj4W9w

In 1996 the IBO joined with UNESCO, part of the United Nations. They formed an international educational model that is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. A major goal of IB is to develop global citizens who will support the legitimacy of legislation for the international common good, not for their nations.

Thomas Sowell, a renowned Stanford University economist, wrote in the Jewish Review, “It (IB) also has a left wing hidden agenda as so many fad programs do. One of the program’s supporters gushed that it teaches students how to think globally and how to make us part of the world. One of the parents critical of the program put it quite differently. She said it "promotes socialism, disarmament, radical environmentalism, and moral relativism, while attempting to undermine Christian religious values and national sovereignty."

The IB Program has been artfully marketed to local school districts. Terrice Bessier, educational development specialist of the Open Society Institute, documents some of the progressive heavyweights such as George Soros, then Senator Obama and Arne Duncan to be proponents of this program.

The Obama administration through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has provided millions of federal dollars as seed money to defray the start up costs of the program. Local leaders are often seduced into backing this program to receive the federal funding. The local citizens get stuck with the recurring costs to complete the program.

There is minimal transparency in the stealth process to receive approval of the school board according to people around the country as voiced on their websites and on YouTube. Concerned citizens receive minimal notification and the meetings are made as inconvenient as possible to discourage participation. They are packed with proponents of the IB Program and any vocal opponents are isolated, ridiculed or personally attacked. These techniques have been effective in limiting opposition to the program.

There are many good reasons to silence public discussion. The assessment of the IB student’s work is not done by the local district but by international examiners, which numbers range from 5000 to 10,500. What are their qualifications? Local community parents have said the IB Program has an anti Christian bias. Does this program have a “pro-bias” to any religion? Does the school district relinquish control of the curriculum content? Does all the money paid for the program go to Geneva, Switzerland? What is the exact cost of the program to the taxpayers?

The IB Program controversy is far from over. It continues. These questions should have been asked before, not after school districts decide to adopt the IB Program.

Our school board, along with citizens should do their due diligence to protect our children’s minds and the future of our nation from being hijacked from within.

Dr. Maglio is the author of Invasion Within and Essential Parenting. He is a psychotherapist and the owner/director of Wider Horizons School.

Visit: www.drmaglio.com.

WALL STREET OCCUPATION IGNORANCE: A PRODUCT OF OUR EDUCATION SYSTEM

WALL STREET OCCUPATION IGNORANCE: A PRODUCT OF OUR EDUCATION SYSTEM

By Domenick J. Maglio PhD. Traditional Realist.

The Wall Street rage started on September 17^th, 2011. Most of the original occupiers of this festival of alienation were college students, the unemployed and individuals who wanted to revisit the sex, drugs, filth and arrests of the 1960s counter-revolution that their teachers glorified in high school and college. They are joined by union organizers, celebrities and some participants who reportedly get $300-600 per week to attend.

There was the same freaky communal democratic chaos and feelings of the 1960 hippies being surrounded by like-minded people. These predominately young adults were disenchanted by their unfulfilled dreams. They continue not to have a specific focus to correct their many grievances. These concerns are all over the map from animal abuse, global warming, racism, corporate greed, and personal financial issues.

These protestors had plenty of gripes. A college student wanted her college loans and rent paid for by the government. A well-dressed young man in his early 30s complained he worked as a lawyer. He said he was overworked and underpaid. A protestor was asked why he was there and he said he was against capitalism. When asked what he would replace it with, he was unable to reply.

The origins of the Wall Street protests was derived in the 99% Movement that went through Europe. Many progressives fanned the flames of class warfare such as Van Jones, George Soros, Nancy Pelosi and Maxine Waters. This movement was planned for over a year to arrive in the USA on September 17^th as the Day of Rage. This is an international effort to bury capitalism.

The anger towards bailouts of financial institutions and picking winners and losers is a mantra of these anarchists. However these “educated” students did not seem to understand that picking winners and losers was contrary to capitalist principles.

These malcontents did not know the difference between a centrally controlled economy and a free market economy. They did not seem to know the Tea Party was against the government interfering in the free market forces to determine who would succeed and who would fail. They seem not to understand unregulated competition is a capitalist concept or that President Obama’s administration picked winners and losers. They did not know that President Obama received significantly more money from the financial corporations than did candidate McCain during the 2008 presidential elections. Do they know that many 1960 radical hippies joined the establishment becoming corporate big wigs and educators?

The ignorance of the Wall Street protestors is understandable when you realize American civics and history are often not taught or taught from an anti American perspective in our public schools. They have been indoctrinated to believe that Marxist ideals are viable while are shielded from the facts that every nation that followed this path throughout history has resulted in economic and human rights

failure.

Most shocking is they accepted the propaganda that they are entitled to start at the top once they receive a degree. Many of these “educated” adults believe their credential is more important than their productivity on a job. They have been sold a bill of goods that sitting in a classroom insures a great job and the United States is greedy. They believe they have a right to receive the wealth of others to put them on the same footing with the rich and famous.

This naïve, unruly mob wants financial equity with the rich without earning it. This is a dream scenario when entering the work force but a nightmare when you worked yourself up the capitalist ladder. This immoral approach of robbing (redistributing a person’s wealth) is the reason our brilliant founding fathers insured the right of the individual to his private property.

The exceptionalism of the USA has to be emphasized in schools instead of magnifying every blemish to diminish America’s great accomplishments. This anti-American bias has to end.

American education is doing a great disservice to our children by perpetuating over inflated evaluations, false high self-esteem and encouraging students to live in an alternate, utopian fantasy world.

The 1960s hippie experiment was a pathetic failure. This latest attempt of the radical left to hold America hostage will help our young citizens gain insight into the thinking of these delusional people.

This fiasco of attempting to destroy our free market economy has to be exposed. The international 99% Movement will come to light with time. The free marketplace of ideas will put the United Stated back on firm footing. America pragmatism will again give us the edge in the global economy to lead the world out of chaos towards stability and prosperity.

Dr. Maglio is the author of Invasion Within and Essential Parenting. He is a psychotherapist and the owner/director of Wider Horizons School.

Visit: www.drmaglio.com.

WHO SHOULD RAISE THE KIDS, PARENTS OR SCHOOLS?

WHO SHOULD RAISE THE KIDS, PARENTS OR SCHOOLS?

By Domenick J. Maglio, PhD. Traditional Realist

Our nation has thrived with parents having the right and responsibility to raise their children as they see fit. Parents are not perfect in all their decisions but for the most part they have given us strong morals and insight to succeed in a complex society. The state has only been allowed to intervene when the child’s life was in imminent danger. As government has grown local, state and federal laws dictating when a representative can invade the sanctity of the family has expanded.

The current line of attack on the family unit is being fought in public schools. Prayer and almost any mention of God have been nearly eradicated although the overwhelming majority of citizens approve of them. Even the concept of the family has been blurred by including all types of configurations of people residing in a house as equal to a father, mother and children.

Now the rights and responsibility of parents to determine what is proper for their children to eat and drink are being usurped by government bureaucrats and enforced by school officials. First certain foods and drinks were banned in vending machines. Now Los Angeles county school district is outlawing chocolate milk in the lunchroom.

According to the Los Angeles Daily News, children in the LA united school district responded to soda being restricted in school vending machines by bringing their own to school in their lunch boxes. Ultimately parents have the power not to give their children money to buy soda and to refuse to provide soda for them to put in their lunchboxes.

Students may not have the availability to buy soda, cigarettes or drugs in school but it does not mean they cannot obtain them somewhere else in the community. By removing the opportunity to make reasonable and simple decisions like what beverage to drink, we are setting the child up not to learn to making good decisions.

Children who are not used to denying themselves are more susceptible to addictive behavior. A student whose parents tell him not to buy soda should listen to them or suffer parental consequences for not listening. These are wonderful lessons for instilling the values that keep the child on the straight and narrow path.

Parents have more time and intimate knowledge of their child than any government bureaucrat can possibly possess. By government schools decreeing what children should eat, they are undermining the authority of the parents. Some modern parents may initially be relieved to have the state taking over their child’s eating habits. These same people will not be so receptive if the menu in their homes or particular physical exercise would be dictated by government bureaucrats. Limiting parental freedom to educate their own children as to the best way to live is a slippery slope. We have seen intellectual elites in centralized nations like Cuba, Nazi Germany, and the Soviet Union attempt to indoctrinate instead of educate children. When government attempts to micromanage every aspect of society by gradually reducing personal freedom citizens become more dependent until they become enslaved.

Unless we want to live in a totalitarian regime, the responsibility of raising a child needs to remain in the most efficient social unit, the family.

United States citizens need to evaluate the type of society they want. The more our government schools offer programs and mandates that minimize the role and power of the parent and increase the already unrealistic job description of the teacher the more student’s education will suffer.

Educating students and parents about the importance of nutrition and exercise for health and longevity affects people’s choices. This is already happening in public schools where soda consumption is declining even in schools with soda in vending machines.

Our children should learn to make good choices not be limited in their freedom.

Better choices will not only happen in the school building but throughout the community. Students should not be denied making age appropriate decisions. They should be taught how to make rational choices, which will protect them in a multitude of situations.

Modern parents need to be empowered to be strong authority figures by our schools, not be dismissed. When parents are more precise in their expectations and standards at home, students do perform better in school. Parents and schools need to be on the same page in order to maximize the student’s learning.

There will never be enough state workers to replace the parents in the life of the child. Parents have the primary responsibility to buy the food, provide opportunities for physical activity and teach children to make good choices. Parents should be encouraged and inspired to be the best parents they can be. Hopefully no bureaucrat will ever be assigned by law more power to control a child than a functioning parent.

Dr. Maglio is the author of Invasion Within and Essential Parenting. He is a psychotherapist and the owner/director of Wider Horizons School.

Visit: www.drmaglio.com.