Franklin Schargel’s Blog

The New York Times recently reported “that the nation’s suicide rate (11 victims per 100,000 inhabitants) is almost precisely what it was in 1965.  In 2005, according to the Injury Control Research Center, approximately 32,000 Americans committed suicide, or nearly twice the number of those killed by homicide.”

Yet according to the Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,”young adults aged 10 -24 years of age accounted for 4,599 deaths.  During 1990-2003, the combined suicide rate for persons aged 10 – 24 declined.  However from 2003 to 2004, the rate increased by 8.0%, (emphasis added) the largest single-year increase. The suicide rates for three sex-age groups (females aged 10-14years and 15-19 years and males aged 15-19) rose significantly from otherwise declining trends.  Suicides both by hanging/suffocation and poisoning  among females. rose significantly.”

Suicide is the eleventh leading cause of death in the United States but the 3rd leading cause among youths and young adults.  Even though suicide rates have fallen in the US, young people have been committing more suicides with dramatic increases among females.  Over 14.7% of all suicides are now being committed by youths and young adults.

The warning signs to look for are:

1. previous suicide attempts.
2. history of depression
3. alcohol or drug abuse
4. family history of suicide
5. physical illness
6. feelings of loneliness.

If a young person tells you that they are contemplating suicide, treat it seriously.  If you cannot help, find someone who can, ie. a counselor social worker or the school’s principal.

The San Francisco Gate reported that 24% of California’s high schoolers are likely to dropout of school.  “Using a new student-tracking system, state educators found that 127,292 high school students in ninth through 12th grade quit school during the 2006-2007 school year.  The new dropout rate is far higher than the 13% educators had earlier estimated using less-sophisticated counting methods.”

53,600 students who said they were transferring to a new school last year never actually showed up.  Earlier estimates  were that 10,000 African-American students would quit.  But the expected number is nearly twice as high: 19,400  For Latinos, the estimate was 37,716. The actual number is now estimated at 69,035.

California’s dropouts cost the state $50 billion per year because of the need to pay for the crimes they commit and the incarceration rate, additional health costs, lost taxes and productivity, welfare costs, etc., etc.

Some communities have higher than the 24% statewide figures:  Oakland Unified (37%),  West Contra Costa Unified (40%), and Vallejo City Unified (42%).

Imagine if 1 out of 4 airplanes crashed.  What kind of uproar would be heard by people and yet as a nation we accept these figures with little acknowledgement?

(Source:  http;//sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/20088/07/17MNS211PQQE.DTL)

It is in the vested interest of every educator to know what the presidential candidates are saying about what their plans are if they are elected president.

Presumptive presidential nominees Barack Obama (D) and John McCain (R) have released additional details about their education platforms in recent days, with both candidates making technology a focal point of their plans.  There are stark differences in their proposals that reflect deeply different philosophies about the government’s role in education.

McCain favors federal funding for virtual schools and online courses as part of a larger focus on school-choice initiatives””including private school vouchers for low-income families. Obama, on the other hand, wants to invest more federal money into research and education for science, math, and technology.

“For all the best efforts of teachers and administrators, the worst problems of our public school system are often found in black communities,” he told the NAACP.

McCain supports the giving of public money to give private school vouchers to low-income families. Obama opposes private school vouchers.

“Too many of our children are trapped by geography and by economics in failing schools,” states the McCain campaign’s web site.

McCain plans to target $500 million in existing federal funds to build new virtual schools and support the development of online course offerings for students.

“Low-income students will be eligible to receive up to $4,000 to enroll in an online course, SAT/ACT prep course, credit recovery, or tutoring services offered by a virtual provider,” the plan states.

Obama also recently posted more details about his education policies on his campaign web site, outlining his plan to invest in the research and development of science, math, and technology education.

“As president, Barack Obama will double our investment in early education and educational [research and development] by the end of his first term in office. Part of this investment will involve [a research and development] program for improving science education.”

According to the plan, Obama also intends to focus on recruiting high-quality math and science teachers through a scholarship program.

Obama expanded on his teacher service scholarship plan during a July 5 speech to delegates from the National Education Association (NEA), the country’s largest teacher union.  “My plan includes service scholarships to recruit top teachers and residency programs to prepare them to serve in high-need schools,” he said to the group via satellite, in accepting its endorsement. “And because too often undergraduate debt discourages our young people from choosing education as a profession, I will make this pledge to all who sign up””if you commit your life to teaching, America will commit to paying for your education.”

Obama’s plan also focuses on ensuring that all children have access to high-quality early childhood education programs and child care, closing the achievement gap, and rewarding expert, accomplished teachers for taking on challenging assignments and helping students succeed.  “When our educators succeed, I will not just talk about how great they are, I will reward them for their greatness with better pay across the board and more support,” he told the NEA representatives.

Supporting higher pay for exemplary performance is one area where the two candidates appear to share common ground, as McCain also called for merit pay for teachers in his speech to the NAACP.

Noting that Obama has dismissed support for private school vouchers for low-income Americans, McCain added: “All of that went over well with the teachers union, but where does it leave families and their children who are stuck in failing schools? No entrenched bureaucracy or union should deny parents that choice and children that opportunity.”

Obama has spoken in favor of performance-based merit pay for individual public school teachers before, even telling the NEA the idea should be considered in a speech last year. However, in his July 5 speech to the organization, Obama said he doesn’t support merit pay as it is commonly understood””where teachers are rewarded based on how their students perform on standardized tests.

“Under my plan, districts will be able to design programs to give educators who serve them as mentors to new teachers the salary increases they’ve earned. [Districts will] be able to reward those who teach in underserved areas or take on added responsibility. And if teachers learn new skills or serve their students better, or if they consistently excel in the classroom, that work can be valued and rewarded as well,” he said.

“Now in some places, we’ve already seen that it’s possible to find new ways to increase teacher pay that are developed with teachers, not imposed on teachers,” Obama continued, to boos from the audience. “I know this wasn’t necessarily the most popular part of my speech last year, but I said it then and I say it again today””because it’s what I believe.”

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.

Read the speeches as they were shared.
Links:
John McCain’s education policy <https://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/News/PressReleases/b9a7c28f-141c-4008-b724-debd2df51642.htm>
Barack Obama’s education policy <https://www.barackobama.com/issues/education>
John McCain’s NAACP speech <https://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/News/Speeches/Read.aspx?guid=611f71e>
Barack Obama’s NEA speech <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQRGpAPnfjE>
eSN TechWatch newscast with Obama/McCain education advisors <https://www.eschoolnews.com/tw708>

I am indebted to Bonnie-Bracey Sutton for making me aware of this material.

As the school year begins, you might want to teach the lesson below to your students.

Everyone wastes time. At-risk students because they are less focused, tend to waste more than most students.

The following lesson may help them to see what causes them to waste time and what they can do to prevent it.

1. Put the following quotation on the board.

“Time is not the problem. It’s how we use it that counts.”
Peter Drucker

2. Ask students the following questions:
What is Peter Drucker trying to tell us? Do you agree that we need to use time better?

3. Read the following paragraph to the students:
Time management is really management of your behavior. You are the ultimate decision-maker about the way you spend your time. There are things that you can do to “work smarter, not harder.” Using the same amount of time to accomplish more should be one of your top priority tasks. The extent to which you can control your time is the extent to which you can control your life.

4. As a group, answer the following questions:

-Do you agree that controlling your time would make you more productive? -What prevents you from doing homework regularly? -Why is it difficult to study for a test? -Can you identify the time wasters in your life (ex. TV, computer, radio, distractions, etc.)-What can you do to eliminate or at least cut down on these time wasters?

5. It is ESSENTIAL to have an open-minded discussion about this topic guiding it in the appropriate direction as needed.

Excerpted Best Practices to Help At-Risk Learners – Franklin Schargel Published by Eye on Education, Inc.

The price of a barrel of oil has declined below $130 for the first time in more than a month according to an article written by Adam Schreck for the Associated Press.  According to Mr. Schreck, the “oil price declines accelerated amid growing concerns about the weakening U.S. economy.”

Did the price of oil fall because China and India decreased their usage?  That was one of the reasons given for the price of oil going up.

Did the price of oil fall because the OPEC nations are producing more?  NO!

The price of oil fell because people are using less because the US economy is on a slide.

Several people are getting rich while the rest of the world grows poorer.  It appears that it is not a question of supply and demand. But rather a question of supply, demand and greed.

Until next time.

Not only has the economy and $4 a gallon gasoline had an impact on our personal lives but it is having a major impact on the schools.  Some schools districts have been discussing a 4-day a week school week.  Others have been discussing lengthening the area that students need to walk to school as opposed to bus pickups.  (The cost of diesel fuel has increased even more than gasoline.)  As school districts need to address their increased costs including the costs of heating buildings during the fall and winter months, they are looking at cutting costs.    What can school boards cut out of existing programs in order to save money?  Among the items some schools are discussing are cutting out after-school programs, sporting events, “unnecessary frills” like field trips, school performances.  Some districts are even considering eliminating school nurses and increasing counselor loads.  It will definitely be an interesting year.  Stay tuned.

Related to the above, I read an interesting article by Doctor Peter G. Temple, a petroleum geologist.  He wrote, “Our oil consumption rate has not changed much in 20 years (570 million barrels annual consumption 20 years ago.  In truth we do not ‘over consume’ given the diversity, geography and social structure.)  In fact, the U.S. consumption is 7.6 billion barrels of oil per year.  These numbers are from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the official energy statistics from the U. S. government.  Over the 21 million barrels of oil per day, 15 million are imported.  Seven hundred billion dollars per year are leaving the shores of the U.s. and going into the pockets of foreign governments, many of whom do not like us.

Far from stabilized consumption, we have been increasing our consumption at the rate of at least 1 percent per year-and our U.S, production has been declining since 1980.  In other words, we are combining increasing consumption with declining reserves.

These numbers have obvious and ominous implications for our future. We cannot drill our way out of this problem.  There is not enough legislative will, but we do not have plenty of oil.”

I found these comments from Dr. Temple interesting.  I hope you did as well.

‘Till next time.  Franklin