Another Quote...

Here is a great quote on wisdom from Plato. Enjoy!

Wise men speak because they have something to say, fools because they have to say something.

The Epitome of Poor Football

I went to South Carolina, and I follow them. I worked in Athens, Georgia and became a fan of them. I love Mark Richt, but yesterday's game was a clinic on how to play uninspired, fundamentally inept football. Check it out for your self.

How Are We Doing?

It is time to check and see how we, as a country, are doing in the field of education. I usually compare us in the international competency scores, but those scores have changed little. We, as a country, are still hovering around the average score which is a poor score considering our educational spending is competing for the top.

Tonight, I thought we would look at SAT scores. The SAT has been around for a long time. It measures math, verbal and now writing. I thought... let us see how we are doing now compared with how we were doing... say, 40 years ago. What do you think? With all the experts floating around talking to us about education, surely we ought to be far out in front of those prehistoric educators of the past, right?

Wrong! Let's start with the critical reading scores. The total reading scores are listed below (and found at http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d08/tables/dt08_142.asp).

1966-67 543
1976-77 507

Okay, the experts are coming... things have to get better, right?

1986-87 507
1998-97 505
2006-07 502
2007-08 502

Well, let's now look at math; surely those scores will be better with all the new discoveries and all.

1966-67 516
1976-77 496

Okay, things have to get better with all the advances made...

1986-87 501
1996-97 511
2006-07 515
200708 515

Okay, let's now look at writing.

2005-06 497
2006-07 494
2007-08 494

Let's summarize... from 1966 - 2008 SAT reading scores have dropped 47 points in reading, our math scores have dropped 1 point and in the last three years we have already lost 3 points in writing. Remember, these are college bound high school students taking these tests. These are also scores dominated by the public sector as there are just under 100,000 public schools, each large and getting larger, compared to around 29,000 smaller private schools. I could make the case that the private sector scores are actually pushing these scores slightly higher than they are... but I will save that for another day.

So, what does all this mean?

I will let you come to your own conclusions. Check out the website for the National Center for Educational Statistics for even more information, but be warned, the information is not going to bring you any comfort to the current state of your country's educational system. Blessings!

A Little Upset

Okay, I admit it... I have had a bad week. The house is under repair, my son and wife are sick, I had a few tough meetings at work and I tripped and fell running. So, maybe I am in a slightly testy mood right now, but all of that would not matter because after reading the latest information... I would be in the same mood.

What will we do, as people, with our government? Something has to be done. Watchdog.com has an excellent article on where the stimulus money has gone. According to this article and at least two others that I have read, the money has gone to 440 congressional districts that, now get this, do... not... exist!

How can this be? Where is the press? Where is the transparency we were promised? Where is the accountability? The honeymoon is over. This administration has taken a large debt, which they inherited from George W. Bush (still mad at him for that) and tripled it in one year. They have TRIPLED it in one year. What is going on? What are we doing?

As people what will we do? Will we elect the same senators next year? Will we just sit on our hands and take it? Will we pretend it is not that bad? Something has got to be done.

The market goes up and continues to do well and unemployment is over 10%... does that make any sense to anyone? I admit to not being the sharpest knife in the drawer but, if the market keeps going up and unemployment keeps going up... that can only mean one thing... government spending is driving the market up. That is not good. So, what do we do?

We begin with what we have... the power to vote. Next year, we, as a people, should not elect one incumbent from either party. We should throw them all out and put new people in their place, and we should do it every election while we still have the power.

To say I am disappointed is an understatement. Read this article, and I promise you, it will make you mad, and you won't have to trip while running to get that way. Blessings!

Another Quote...

Here is another quote upon which to think. Enjoy!


We do not err because truth is difficult to see. It is visible at a glance. We err because this is more comfortable. ~Alexander Solzhenitsyn

John Rosemond on Parenting

John Rosemond spoke at a conference in Huntsville this past weekend. Our local paper did a good job of summarizing his remarks. What he had to say needs to be heard by every parent. I know it helped this parent.

Rosemond began by stating emphatically that parents listen to the so- called experts too much. He said that "people who think highly of themselves tend to think less of others and expect to be served rather than serve: Jesus did not say, 'Blessed are those who have high opinions of themselves." I tend to listen to a psychologist who quotes Christ.

His advice is to get advice from those who have parented and not some "35-year-old Ph.D who have been married five years and has one child, age 2. I believe that is what our parents used to do.

Now, the next batch of quotes are sure to rock your world. I never ever thought I would see such words quoted from a noted author, but here they are.

Rosemond stated that "the more attention you pay your child, the less attention your child pays to you... you cause your child to pay attention to you by acting like you know what you are doing." Rosemond went on to say that he believed one of the biggest errors made today by parents is that they are in relationships with their children rather than being figures of leadership and authority, and this leads to parents desiring popularity and acceptance from their children which all but nullifies their ability to lead.

An alarming statistic is that the average age of emancipation - the time when offspring are no longer truly dependent on their parents - is 28, and it is such a large figure because parents coddle and hover far too long. The parent who truly has his or her child's best interest at heart creates a home where the child has to be somewhat independent, resourceful and responsible.

Rosemond believes parents are too worried about being right in the eyes of their children instead of just being right. He said "parents can stop having arguments with their teenagers by giving up on trying to get them to say, "You're right, Dad." He states that it is the parent who makes the decisions. "If they don't like it, that's fine. So your kid might not talk to you for a week. Enjoy the vacation." Some might think his words a bit harsh, but his point is that kids are survivors and only become fragile when we treat them that way. Continuing to rescue our kids and do things for them will only make them weak and worthless.

Most of these remarks come from his new book, The Well-Behaved Child, which is now on our Christmas list. I highly recommend John Rosemond's advice on parenting. We have been reading him for years and have learned much. Blessings!

The Problem with All Sports

Let me make one point clear... I love all sports! I love playing them, and now that I am past the big 40, I love watching them. I really love to watch college football, and I enjoy college more than pro.

But lately there seems to be the same things creeping into the college game that have tainted the pro game. This latest incident when a Florida player tried to injure a Georgia player's eyes at the bottom of the pile has me really re-thinking the whole college and pro thing.

I hate pro sports because it is only about winning. There are no fundamentals in the pro game. Coaches coach little and manage egos. Strategy is gone and defense is unheard of... the team that wins finds the most loop - holes to exert and the best athletes have all the power. Of course these are extremes.

I love college sports because it is not only about winning but about being a student-athlete in support of your school. I love college sports because fundamentals are still important and taught and coaching matters. I love college sports because good coaches with good strategies can still win, and sometimes, good coaches with a less superior team will win. I love college sports because character is still important and needed in college sports. And my list goes on, but recently I have begun to see an ugly side to college sports.

The Florida/Georgia incident is just one example. It was an ugly game with both teams doing things once thought taboo yet one player was caught red handed. The responses to this incident tells us a lot. Originally, the player was not going to be suspended by the NCAA or the school. Coach Meyer's responses were typically coaching 101 classics... we don't condone that, teach that or allow that. The star Christian quarterback's response was a fallacy... everyone else was doing it so its all right if we do it.

As a fellow Christian, I must admit that, at times, I have been disappointed in Tebow's responses, but he is still a kid that thinks like a kid who is living in a fish bowl. I do not expect him to be anything but a kid, therefore he gets lots of grace from me. But, my point is this: are we now at the point in college football where the win is more important than character, safety and training these kids to not be self-centered pragmatic men?

We have already seen plenty of evidence in pro sports that it is only about the win. Are we now seeing the new breed of college coaches pushing this agenda? Is there no room for the coach who still believes his role is to build kids into respectful men? What that Florida player did was with intent, and any other player doing something similar did it with intent. A response sends two messages... it is okay to do this in life, or it is not okay to do this in life. Which message is being sent every Saturday? My prayer is that it is not the same one being sent on Sunday. Blessings!