Something from nothing, bringing something into existence by putting energy to it, writing it down and clarifying it, sharing it with a friend, drawing a picture or a plan, …. How does an idea, poem, picture, dream or goal start? Do you take a clean slate, a blank piece of paper and just start? Do you throw any color on the blank canvas? Does it have to be perfect? Are you concerned if you do the wrong thing, wrong project, wrong approach, wrong words, …… wrong everything, …., are you worried about that? …. And if it isn’t perfect, are you ok going for it again? And again? And again? How many tries is too many? Can this slowly evolve and how slowly? Can it grow and evolve and change completely? Do you have any doubts on whether you can do this at all? What do you have to get together here for this something from nothing creation thing?
They say if you write a goal down, you have a better chance of making that goal happen. They say starting is half done. So, what do you write down and how do you start? Where do you start. Start from where you are, they say. What if I don’t want to start from where I am? Can I start somewhere else? All this stuff seems so confusing when you have never done it before. What do you want to do with my life? Who do I want to become? What do I want my kid to do and become? These are such huge questions and I have so little experience. Maybe I should start small and get a better idea about this creation process. Start with something small and insignificant, then something a little more important, than work up to the even more important things after I have a little more experience.
I hope you got confused, fearful and doubting a bit. Kids have so many creative ideas, and so do adults, but they are harnessed by training. Put kids by themselves or with friends and all of a sudden, ideas and creations are flying everywhere. That first piece of paper is getting scribbled on over and over again. Now we need to get to follow through.
Do you follow through on you ideas? After three or four attempts are you giving up and thinking it wasn’t such a good idea. We are trained by schools to do that. Their curriculum is so overload with things to cover, they don’t have time to follow through and make sure it is really gotten, trained and available for their use. Cover it, is the mandate! Cover it, at this point and in this space of time. Good luck, and average “getting it”, is ok. Average will be what happens to most of your students when you cover it. So, bottom line is cover it: you will get, what you get and don’t throw a fit, and…. don’t bug the almighty curriculum committee.
There you go, the teacher tries a little, and if it works after a few tries, that’s good. If not, they move on. That is the same as give up and move on. This subtle underlying training is to give up after a few tries. Try, then assume whatever was meant to be happened, and it is time to move on.
We are already trained to be afraid of being “wrong” and now we are being trained to give up after hardly trying. I always wonder if Edison was incharge of the schools, what learning would be like. Goal: light bulb, 10,000 tries. Goal: spelling words, 3 tries and we’re done. No, Edison would start in the very low grades and get this idea of: we just keep working until we get it. He would want this ingrained early and securely in his students. Churchill: Never, Never, Never give up! Was he more successful than your School Superintendent, who is looking for tricks, techniques and “be nice” slogans to appease parents and calm his teachers.
BE NIce! Are our children being trained to be helpless and in need of being saving or what. Nice is becoming let them get by without doing their job. Students have to live with the person they become and they are capable of making that an amazing person. Is that being sold? That would mean selling hard work, discipline, challenge, losing, falling down and getting yourself back up, …… and so much more. Are we selling that this is something to be proud of? Are we selling this hard work as the partner of smart and clever?
Oh, no, the poor helpless, needing to be saved student must have the perfect class atmosphere, just the right teacher, no homework or at most fun homework, …. Do you not believe in your students? OH, that’s right, you are training them not to believe in themselves. You know they are fixed, bothersome brats. There’s no chance they are capable, strong, creative and productive students. Any production has to be forced out of them with a some ugly throat hold.
Oh, yes, we are conflicted. We believe in them, but we have so many obstacles and challenges. Look at our set up, the troublemakers, the supplies and a million other excuses we wield to protect us from being wrong in treating them as the stagnated troublemakers they are instead of the one in a million chance they could be amazing in this situation.
OK, OK, Ok, I was a teacher, and now you know how I saw my students and how helpless and incapable I felt. The challenge is huge! I got it! I was a horrible teacher and had no idea how to do it differently. I was trained to teach, by my best teachers taught but I alos had the administration demanding impossible results. They didn’t really want the results, they just wanted it to look good on paper. The accreditation people know the huge challenge and are only observing those few faked days with a lot of tolerance. They all come with their little pet ideas: engagement, objectives on the board, curriculum addressed, …. And this posed snapshot will make their paperwork look good too!
Hey, the whole idea here is that, kids and us are trained to not want to be “wrong” and helpless and incapable of taking an idea and bringing it into existence if it goes beyond three efforts. For some it’s fewer. It’s just how we are trained.
Kids and even us are capable of being very creative. We may not have developed this creativity, just like we may not have developed our drawing skills. Now, we are looking to see how Edison or Churchill might redesign the school system to get us to take it past 3 tries and then give up. In sales, when you leave money on the table, it is a HUGE deal. We are leaving so much money on the table by not training Edison-Churchill fortitude. What if each student had to get 100% to move on. No excuses! 100% or you don’t get to move on. Is that unreasonable? Is that mean and unkind?
Now, I’m going to take the teachers off the hook. Teachers don’t have to change. They are NOT responsible for the student getting 100% (so stop taking responsibility! … you don’t have to be a good teacher). The student is responsible. If you just want to give the test, and have enough of them so the students can take different one over and over again, that’s ok. Hey, make them harder, these students are going to get to be amazing and need a good challenge, just to be interested. There are so many ways to get the data, training, information and learning. Our goal is to get rid of the dependence on you, the teacher. We are going to develop strong, solid, unstoppable students. Not helpless, incapable, dependent, stuck students you have to be kind to, set up a special environment for them, explain it to them just so and make the test so they can pass and feel good about themselves.
Ok, I got it, parents are mean and ugly and want us to be kind to their students. Their precious child deserves the best. Let’s be like the rich dad that spoils his kids and they turn out softies and mentally disturbed by reality. OK, back up! We are not talking abusive. There is some balance. When you believe that you have strong capable children that you love, challenge and growth will come to mind before kindness.
Oh, that’s right, this student is coming to school from an abusive home, no food in their stomach, neglected and unloved. Shouldn’t we use kindness here? Love, yes, help the student to grow strong, capable and responsible for themselves as fast as you can. They are not helpless. Do not do the “poor thing”. Or do you see the very capable, strong and soon to be responsible student they are. It’s your job! Grow them! Believe in them to handle whatever comes up. Ok, if you can help, help, just don’t do it for them. Do not cripple them and feel sorry for them. This is one challenge, they will face with you and soon many others as they become presidential material.
Challenge is not to be feared, they are capable! They need to internalize all that belief in themselves, capableness, strong, responsible and taking action. Three tries and your done, is that how it’s going to be with them? This might be your lightbulb. Edison-Churchill fortitude is being trained. Can you be creative and not get stuck being afraid in being “wrong” or making a mistake? Can you push yourself past three tries to ten? Maybe, to 100 or more. That’s close to the 10,000 tries Edison pushed past. Hey, this might be the student that is going to change the world, but you have so many students, and the curriculum and your family, …. I guess teaching this Edision-Churchill fortitude will be covered later, or is that for their abusive parent to teach them.
Bullies, don’t get me started on who is worse the bully or the person that cripples and make them susceptible to bullying. Bullying is bad, but not the end of the world. Bullying is forever for a helpless, incapable person. Discourage bullying, don’t teach bullying back, train them to be strong, stand up for themselves, capable students that are kind, because they can be.
I think being kind to a person comes from a student who is strong and capable with Edison-Churchill fortitude. How can you do this with parents, school districts policy, curriculum overload and too big of a classroom student size? Maybe things need to change?
Classroom behavior is not a problem in college. That’s because the professor (big word for doesn’t need to be a good teacher) is not responsible for the student’s learning. Students either train themselves to get the material or they don’t. It’s the student’s responsibility to learn and it isn’t sold or forced upon them. It just is there’s. In K-12 classroom behavior is a problem as the teacher is responsible and not the student. Is this a big clue or what? It’s not your job to “make them” capable, strong with an Edison-Churchill fortitude.
What could be done to get student buying into their education and being responsible for it? Of course it starts at home and should be dealt with at home, but it isn’t. So here we are back at the start of the paper with 500 sheets of blank paper. Parent, teacher, administrator are you afraid of being wrong and losing your job? This fear is real, ….I don’t know! …. It’s always been this way, …. Do we really have to do something?
Could you imagine a 3rd grade class, where the teachers and the students know they must get 100% on a strictly graded spelling test. 100% is all that is acceptable, each week, with a totals of 4000 words. That’s right, spelled correctly, definition written, used in a sentence and determined if it was being used “wrong”.
The teacher and the students get a strategy and plan and go for it. They look at the results, modify, adjust and train and go for it again, and again and again. Yes, we can make this a team thing or individual. We can offer support groups and training. The class meets on Monday and the assignments are set out. Ideas and concerns may be discussed as students and teacher are trained in how to do this. After the morning session the school becomes a city where the students get their job done. Testing areas, training areas, study areas, rest areas and more exist and are created, purchased and exist with teacher and student contribution. The school is also a 100% school. They have an objective and it is the student’s responsibility to make it happen. Yes, there is self regulation and support. It is strong and flexible. Productive habits, results and the cultural productive workings follow the Edison-Churchill fortitude. Responsible student status can be earned up to 70%, but the parents are 100% responsible for their Children. They must attend meetings, strategy and planning sessions, certain trainings and accolade presentations. What if, this participation, was required by law or go to jail. On the third infraction their children will be taken from them. Parent training, education and participation is not optional. We view our children as too important. They are not owned by a biological birthing agent. They are owned by performance, participation and time tested love and care. The parents and the children run their education. They can do whatever they want, as long as they produce appropriate results, sort of like a driver’s license.
If they don’t see with the perspective of a freeway driver, including the fast lane, they lose their license and the child may be taken from them. Oh, yes, the mentally challenged that distract and move at a slower pace are fine. Our tough focused students can handle that. they will love this person enough, not to feel sorry for him and cripple him, but to see him as capable of his best. Is he getting better? Is his behavior getting more contributory? Is he becoming more responsible?
I don’t know! We are back at the top of this paper confused and afraid of being wrong. Hey, no one is saying the system is broke, are they? I’ll try a few little things a couple of times and feel good about myself, just like I was trained. I was forced to go to school, shouldn’t my kids be forced to go to school. I was treated as helpless and irresponsible, just as well treat my kids as brats, helpless and irresponsible. I have a hard time standing up and being wrong, why should my kids be more bold. I have a hard time trying more than a few times, before giving up and claiming it wasn’t meant to be. Why should my kids persist longer?
Can kids actually be responsible for their learning? >> that’s an absolute “Yes”, if they are trained. Can kids develop habits to figure things out and practice them? Can they be capable >> another absolute Yes! Can they practice, train and get stronger, and learn to be proud of themselves and what they do? Can they be trained to love themselves, believe in themselves, love and grow themselves. This is an absolute Yes, with a condition. What’s the condition? >>> if they are trained to be that way. It is not an accident.
We are born into this world a blank slate and helpless, Parents, family, schools, culture and society get us started and train us. When does the child take over the responsibility for his own training? Well, that depends on the parents, family, schools, culture and society. Schools and society could care less about what the child wants. They just want the child to fit in and not rock the status quo boat. Many parents and families have given up their control to the society and schools. The result: Kids never become responsible for their growth. They have to live with it, but they have been trained to blame their parents, culture, sex, government, situation,.... They have a very long blame list. Take control and be responsible, they have never been trained. They are helpless, incapable, stuck servants of a status quo, don’t rock the boat society.
I didn’t know, I’m afraid and I’m trained to give up easy. Now, you know. If your a parent what are you going to do? If you are a student or student of life, what are you going to do about it. Is there a solution and will there be doubts? …. of course. Start by yourself or as a group. Keep taking the next step and the next step and the next step. You don’t have to stop at 10,000 like Edison, you can go further. I don’t know the answers. You may not. …. But if we keep going we are going to keep eliminating things and get closer and closer, until we find a little success. Then some more and more and soon we will find something that works. You’ll be training yourself with the Edison-Churchill fortitude and it will probably be rubbing off on your kids, your family and the people that hang around you. They will spread it and soon our family, culture, country and world will be unstoppable.
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