Speaking Out about Education- Part 3/6

September 14, 2010

While teaching, I made more phone calls and wrote more referrals for unacceptable behavior than any teacher at the schools where I taught.  I know this because administration pointed it out and it wasn’t meant as a complement.

When I heard what Meyer says in the ABC news segment in Part 1 of this series, I got angry, which motivated me to write this series. 

How do you explain the results I had as a teacher?  According to the district I worked for, my students showed improvement annually on state standardized tests.

  • Stop Blaming Teachers for Everything – Parents are Responsible too.

Some of my students won awards for poetry and short stories, while my Journalism classes placed in the top in regional, state and international competitions.

My standards were high. Class work and homework made up the majority of my grading formula.  Tests and quizzes never represented more than 15% of the grade. 

When students earned failing grades on a progress report, I called every parent I could reach and told them about the homework hotline and invited them to come to class and sit with their student to motivate them to work. 

Most of those phone calls to parents resulted in no changes. Those kids still didn’t do the homework or class work.

– to be continued

Return to Speaking Out About Education – Part 2

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

If you want to subscribe to this Blog, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

China’s Spring and Autumn Period 3/3

September 13, 2010

Qufu allows visitors to experience the full customs of the Lu kingdom during the Spring and Autumn period.

The narrator shoots arrows then shows how corn was ground to make corn meal. There is also a demonstration on how people cooked followed with a Confucian lunch.

Confucius said meat had to be prepared a certain way and that diet must be balanced.

He was also firm about eating in silence.

It is said that Confucius taught his son under a Ginkgo tree, because he loved reading and pondering under one of the trees.

To the north of Qufu is the family cemetery where Confucius and his decendants are buried. 

It is the oldest family cemetery in the world. The cemetery is 1.5 times the size of the ancient city of Qufu.

It is estimated that there are more than 100,000 grave mounds and over 3,600 cemetery tablets were constructed.

Confucius had a deep interest in paying respect to heaven and the ancestors.

The Spring and Autumn Period during the time of Confucius was chaotic, but it was during this turbulence that Confucianism slowly wove itself into the fabric of Chinese culture.

See Confucius with Chow Yun Fat or return to China’s Spring and Autumn Period – Part 2

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

If you want to subscribe to this Blog, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Speaking Out about Education – Part 2/6

September 13, 2010

One year, a vice principal at the high school where I worked pulled me aside and in confidence urged me to lower my standards so more students would pass my classes.

The the failure rate  in my classroom sometimes reached 50% and was often hovering around 30%.  Few earned ‘As’.  Many earned ‘Ds’ and barely scrapped by.  While I was being tough on grades and demanding of my students, many of my colleagues were not.

The reason why standards were low among most teachers was due to pressure from admisntration and parents who wanted their children to feel good about themselves—which means boosting self-esteem artificially.

  • What the narrator leaves out is that the self-esteem movement started outside of the schools and spread to the schools like a virus. The schools were forced to comply or else. Source: Free Republic and Self-Esteem

However, wanting kids to have high self-esteem is a double-edged blade. 

When I graded the lowest failing grades with a minus ( – ­) sign showing that a student had done next to no work in class and no homework, I was called into the office by one of the other vice principals.

She ordered me with the threat of administrative action to drop the minus sign behind the failing grades, which I did.

She said, “They (the students) feel bad enough as it is. Why do you have to make it worse?”

– to be continued

Return to Speaking Out About Education – Part 1

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

If you want to subscribe to this Blog, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

Leave a Comment » | America, China, cultural differences, education | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

China’s Spring and Autumn Period – Part 2/3

September 13, 2010

Ancient trees with many birds surround the Confucius temple.  

The platform where Confucius taught his students is called the Apricot Platform since there were once many apricot trees on the site.

Before Confucius, only the elite were allowed to receive an education. However, Confucius believed that education should be available to everyone.

He also believed that education shouldn’t be just for knowledge but to also cultivate good people.

Modern Qufu has cars, motorcycles, bicycles and a special mode of transportation, which the narrator of the video will show you.

If you visit Qufu, the three main attractions are included in the UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

The Confucian mansion is next to the temple and was the resident of Confucius’s decedents.  The mansion contains 460 rooms.  The narrator takes you on a brief tour.

See The Life of Confucius or return to China’s Spring and Autumn Period – Part 1

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

If you want to subscribe to this Blog, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

China’s Spring and Autumn Period – Part 1/3

September 12, 2010

The Zhou Dynasty (1126 – 222 B.C.) was still around when China’s Spring and Autumn Period arrived, but the Zhou king had lost his power to the nobles who often fought wars with each other.

The Spring and Autumn Period of the Zhou Dynasty took place from 770 to 476 B.C.

During this time, Confucius lived in Qufu, in Southwest Shandong Province, which was once the capital of the Lu Kingdom.

There were 150 kingdoms competing with each other. Constant warfare meant chaos and anarchy.

However, during the 5th and 6th centuries there was a period of learning around the world.  In Greece, there was Pythagoras, Sakyamuni (Buddhism) Nepal, and Confucianism was established in Qufu, China.

Today, Qufu’s ancient city opens each weekend with a large ceremony before tourists are allowed to visit.

Confucius home is inside the ancient city walls. Two years after Confucius died, the king of Lu turned his home into a temple to honor the sage.

To continue honoring Confucius, emperors of the Han, Sung, Ming and Qing Dynasties had more buildings built on the site of the original temple.

Sacrificial ceremonies have been held there for more than two thousand years.

See Emperor Wu of Zhou Dynasty

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

If you want to subscribe to this Blog, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

1 Comment | China, Chinese Culture, Chinese history, family values, history | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

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