checkerbeater2003's Blog

This is someone who is making a true difference with children. My hats goes off to this man. He simply shows the world that the impossible can be done.

Andre says The Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation has done a lot to help children through the years. "But I realized the best way to impact a child is to educate them, to give them the tools to not only dream but also to reach out and take ownership of those dreams and get them," he says.

President Clinton says he featured Andre's school in Giving, his new book, because charter schools are an issue he has cared about since he worked to create more of them during his presidency. "In the entire county in which Las Vegas is in Nevada, including all the wealthy areas, his school was the only one that received the highest designation in performance from the State of Nevada in the poorest neighborhood in the state," he says. "I featured him because I wanted people to know that this could be done."

In addition to its achievements, President Clinton says he wanted to show people the school's rules and Code of Conduct. "I think a lot of people have given up on public schools. They don't think this can happen," he says. "[Andre] has proved that if you have the right rules, the right school culture, you can do it."

As a kid I thought my teachers knew everything. My teachers carried the same level of respect as a mother and father. My parents never worried about my teachers, because they knew that they were going to teach me whatever I needed to know. My mother would say at the beginning of every school year, "Shut your mouth and listen to your teacher." If I were to bring home a bad conduct grade, no questions were asked, it was a spanking for sure. Boy, how times have changed. When I became a teacher I was shocked to find out that many of my colleges didn't have the same passion as I had for teaching. I wanted to change every child's heart and show them the way to make all their dreams come true. In fact when I first started many of my colleagues laughed at my passion. They told me I am just wasting my time if I think I am going to change any of these children. Their parents are a "nobody" and so are they. That was a big blow to what I thought about teachers. I was disappointed. I thought all teachers cared. I found out that many children failed not because they were incapable, but failed because the lack of support from teachers, schools and parents. Parents, don't leave it up to the school to educate your child, get involved. Times have changed. It is a minority of teachers that will shoulder all the responsibility of your child becoming successful. Many teachers are not going to push your child to their full potential especially if you are not involved. You may say, " I am too busy, I work long hours and I am tired." We should want better for our children. We want our children to do better than we did in our lives. Parents educate yourself. Go to the state and district website and pull up the curriculum. Know what are the expectations for your child. Know what is expected of them before they graduate to the next grade. Schedule conferences with their teacher several times during the school year. Write a list of questions and concerns and bring that with you to the parent/teacher conference. Make sure you walk away from that conference with clear answers. If your child struggles in school, don't accept it, ask questions. Ask for help from your child's teacher and school. I hear so many parent accept their children failing. Don't accept, react. React by finding out the resources available to your child, so that he or she can be successful. Don't accept until you see progression in your child. I once asked a colleague of mine, who attended private schools all of his life, what is the difference between private and public. He said, "in private schools parents don't accept anything less from the school and teachers must rise to the highest level of expectations." RISE PARENTS! and make sure your child's teacher and school rise to the highest level of expectation.

Author: Miriam Flowers

As an African American teacher, I have always strived to be the best teacher to all my students. I have always chosen to work in low income area schools, because I felt the children their needed me more. As the years go by, I have become more frustrated with my African American students. When I pass by the office, who do I see sitting in the principal office. When it comes to testing, who receives the lowest test scores. Well you may think of every excuse in the book, but we have nobody to blame but ourselves. When I call an African American parent about their child's behavior and grades, I rarely get a response. If their child accuses someone of hitting them, I hear from them immediately. Why is it that I only hear from African American parents when something bad goes down. When it comes to talk to the teacher night, family night, math night, reading night, other races are there in abundance. Less than 10% of African American parents show up. Do we care about our children performance in school? We need to be more concerned with their grades and behavior and little less concerned with all that other mess.