Character

Recently I saw where Obama is proposing public schooled kids have longer days and school years. It seems that U.S. public schooled kids are lagging behind educationally compared to other countries. As many things as I may agree or disagree with as far as Obama is concerned, this is one I question.

Does he really think that keeping kids in school for longer periods of time is going to make them any smarter....hmphhh..I think not. And does he really think that education is the most important issue our kids have these days?

I believe the problem with kids today is they don't get enough time to play or use their imagination.....even more so, they don't get enough time with their families.

What's even more odd to me is how the leader of our country thinks our kids problems lay solely on educational issues and they way to fix them is to cram the Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic down their throats. Whatever happened to emotional intelligence??

I remember one time I found one of my dad's very old school books. It was tattered and torn and was barely held together by the binding. I opened it up and flipped through it. I made note to him that I saw nothing that resembled Math or English in the book.

That's when he told me that "back in his day" they focused on teaching things like morality, respect, hard work, manners, responsibility, and integrity. As I flipped through the thick, old book their were large chapters on these qualities mentioned.

Just recently I read an article in the Elgin Courier. In certain schools in our area they are implementing the subject of Character. Here is a little of what the article suggested we could do individually...

We strongly encourage all communities to join in this message to our young people: Character does matter! We are asking you to:

1. Read a book to a child about the importance of honesty.

2. Talk to a class about why we must all be responsible.

3. Be a speaker for a class explaining why compassion is critical to society.

4. Place a flyer in your place of business showing that perseverance matters.

5. Donate a biography to a school library about a person who modeled loyalty.

6. Design a puzzle/game/skit related to justice and its place in our society.

7. Write a letter to the editor illustrating why self-reliance is a valued trait.

8. Ask your church members to visit with young people about self-discipline.

9. Start a discussion with co-workers, neighbors, family to emphasize integrity.

Maybe as a society if we start instilling some of these traits into our children our World would be just a little better place to live.

Sure, education is important...but I believe some things are more important.