Brain Booster!

Life is not all about studies. Go get a life! For a moment, you may think are you reading some health and fitness article? Don't worry, continue reading you will know what I mean. Being healthy, exercising will make you feel fit and when you are healthy you will be able to achieve much more things in life.

Do you remember after your run the last time, you feel great, you feel fresh? Why do we have these feel good feelings? Studies have shown that when you do aerobic exercises, you are getting more fresh air, oxygen into your brain. Your diaphragms open up, you breathe deeper, and you are getting more oxygen supply into your blood stream. All these makes you feel good. It will also help suppress stress.

Don't all these encourage you to go out and exercise? You need not necessary must go jogging, you can go swimming, cycling, working out in the gym, playing basketball, football, volleyball, tennis, brisk walk etc. Go sweat it out, you will feel good and your body will appreciate you for doing that too. In fact, according to brain expert John Medina, exercising two to three times a week, improves the brain power for problem solving. Exercising not only keeps you fit, makes your mind sharp, gives you more energy, it also prevents obesity which could lead to many potential illnesses.

Examination period is so stressful, some may say where got time to exercise. Wrong! I make it a point to jog at least twice a week during exam period. It relieves my stress and makes me feel good after the jog. It also keeps my body in top form so that I know I'm ready to face the brutal exams. And you might realise during exams period, a lot of students seem to fall sick easily. Tremendous period of stress, not having sufficient rest plus body not in good form, that's why students fall sick easily. If you have a healthy body with good immune system, you will not fall sick easily. Falling sick during exam period is really bad, you won't feel good and you cannot perform at your best. So take good care of your health and mental well-being.

Fulgent prospect for a child education

Do you want your child to have a first-class internationally recognized education that will allow him or her to be successful in their chosen career? Do you want your child to have an enriching and fulfilling educational experience with access to a wide variety of extra-curricular activities? Lancers International School is a new international School in Gurgaon with excellent transport links to Delhi, India and the world! Gurgaon is rapidly becoming the commercial capital of India as well as a peaceful and secure residential area offering desirable accommodation.

Many multinational companies are based here in Gurgaon, making Lancers International School an ideal location for the children of both expat and Indian employees. Lancers is a new school with a new ideology and a holistic approach to education, aiming to produce a healthy environment to nurture both mind and body.

The buildings are aesthetically pleasing and spacious, set amongst lush green lawns. Here at Lancers International School the importance of up-to-date technology is fully recognized and the campus has a sophisticated wireless computer network with fast internet connections and videoconferencing facilities. Access to the campus network is available from most locations on campus. There is also sophisticated school management software that integrates the various functions of school administration. There is 100% power and water back up and automatic light and temperature control. As well as spacious, well-equipped classrooms, Lancers International School has an integrated science laboratory, as well as individual laboratories for physics, chemistry, biology and design technology.

The laboratories are equipped to high standards of safety, and support the core program of learning science. The centre of an international school is the library and the library at Lancers is one of the best of any international school in India. The 10,000 square foot library is divided into separate areas for the primary and secondary sections of the school and is staffed with qualified librarians. There is a large and varied selection of books covering all genres complete with audiovisual aids. There are online search facilities with access to the internet and email. There is a digital library section with multimedia CD ROMS and e-books. An automated catalogue gives flexible access to all the resources of the school. The library is used for reference, research and project work as well as for recreational reading. It is fully air conditioned with a welcoming, comfortable atmosphere that creates the perfect environment for learning.

A healthy lifestyle and diet are the building blocks on which a child's education is based. Lancers International School believes in nurturing the whole child so of course healthy, nutritious meals are prepared by professional chefs in the well-equipped kitchen and served in the spacious dining room. The school provides for day school, day boarding and full boarding options. Day school students leave at the end of the academic day, and day boarders are provided with a healthy lunch. The afternoon program includes tutorials and activities. The children are actively encouraged to take part in a wide range of sporting activities - as well as providing healthy exercise this helps the students learn about the importance of teamwork and leadership.

There are also state of the art facilities for music, theatre and dance and instruction in both Indian and Western musical instruments are provided by experienced full-time staff as well as by visiting teachers. All in all Lancers International School in Gurgaon can offer your child a fulfilling pathway to future success. Lancers International School can compete with any international school in Delhi, or in India or in fact in the world!

Alternative Places of Learning in Schools

As many have come to know, schools are places of instruction and learning, depending on your standpoint. Students spend a very significant amount of time inside their respective classrooms, listening to the lectures and litanies of their teachers and instructors.

But sometimes, what you learn in the classroom does not come close to the things you learn outside of it. This article aims to explore other parts within a school that have the potential to give valuable lessons in and about life.

Our first stop is the gate. Yes, that gate. The sometimes rickety, sometimes rusty gate that serves as a boundary between school life and the outside world. The gate where you enter the hallowed grounds of the school. The same gate that so painstakingly gives students a choice: enter or do not enter.

Some make this choice unconsciously, resigned or just willing to step inside the campus to do their tasks. Others face a more conscious decision, others who aren't too keen on the idea of attending school. In any case, the gate is a symbol for the first measure of responsibility in a student. Do your thing or skip class.

Next stop: the library. With its quiet atmosphere and often just-right room temperature, where else would be more conducive for studying, doing your homework, and...sleeping? Many have gone there intending to study, but instead of putting a book's content into their head, they end up putting their head on the book. So the library is one place to test one's will and discipline.

The cafeteria is another location in school that has the potential to teach alternative lessons to the students. For many, the canteen or cafeteria is only a place where they will take a quick lunch before proceeding on to cramming for their remaining homework. As author Douglas Adams once said, "time is an illusion; lunchtime doubly so." Students, in many ways, can attest to that.

Still, the cafeteria is an invaluable environment that further makes the school a valid microcosm of adult society. On one hand, you have the economic aspect of the cafeteria. It is, essentially, a place where students get one of the basic needs in life: food. It is a market for a commodity, and thus represents problem solving in terms of how to budget one's lunch money.

It may seem a trite task, but you definitely won't be laughing when you are budgeting the lunch money of an entire family in the future. It is also the kind of microeconomics that poses such options to students: do I buy this lunch, or do I go for something cheaper and save money for that video game I want to play? This, then, provides a scenario where the student has to identify his or her priorities.

On another hand, the cafeteria provides a social environment as well. Who are the kids sitting together? In what way can you classify the groups? Who are left out? How do the students treat their teachers in the cafeteria environment, and vice versa? The cafeteria doubtlessly illustrates how robust and dynamic the interactions between this microcosm of society is.

The gate and the cafeteria are just a couple of locations within schools that surely offer valuable alternative lessons for the students who spend countless hours on their chairs facing a blackboard or whiteboard while listening to the drone of instruction. These locations allow a different kind of instruction altogether, the kind that the individual student finds out on his or her own. Sometimes, it is the kind of lesson that could prove to be more valuable than any formula or any fact.

5 Fun Activities Ideas for Your Nursery School

Children under five have active minds that require constant attention. To help you keep your nursery school children occupied, learning and having fun, here are five activities ideas for you to try out at your nursery school.

1. Make your own festive decorations

This is a good example of multi-tasking. Have a decoration making session with your children. You can choose how you'd like to decorate your nursery for the festive season and then as a group make all the decorations using art and craft materials. This is a fun, educational activity that might also save you some money on decorations. A tip for this activity is to plan exactly who does what, so that your decorations have coherence.

2. Go out into the wilderness to explore nature

It's important that children understand nature and start to gain an understanding of science, ready for when they go to school in a few years. Why not go on an expedition into the playground or garden if you have one, to see what creatures your children can identify and what animal groups they belong to. For example, is a spider an insect or an arachnid? And is it dangerous? Do some people react differently to wasp stings than others?

3. Roll Play

Society is a huge and complex system. Children often learn about complicated things more easily when they copy. Role playing can be an effective way for children to learn about work, emergency services, school and family life. So why not try dressing up and building a simple cardboard set to role play different activities.

4. Learn to ride

Some of your children might not have ridden a bike or trike before. One of the easiest ways to learn to ride is with a 'balance bike'. These don't have pedals or chains. Children use their feet to adjust their weight. This way they learn to balance naturally. They can be riding normal bikes within weeks of practicing on a balance bike. It might be worth investing in a few in your next nursery school supplies order.

5. Build bridges

This is a great activity. Split your nursery into groups and ask them to build a bridge between two tables or other pieces of furniture. You could use paper, Lego, building blocks, the choice is yours. This can be a very challenging task but children are very creative and imaginative. It's good to challenge them and see what they can do. Maybe some of the children at your nursery school will be future architects.

Knowledge on Online Computer Forensic Course technology

Tech savvy and tech savvy wannabes alike can now learn more and more even at the comforts of their homes and couches. Those who already have a bachelor's degree in computer or Information Technology related courses can further expand their expertise with an ease through a higher computer course online. Similarly, non-IT professionals or career people who are in need of basic or advance IT training constrained by distance or busy schedule can opt for the online education option.

Working in an IT-based or IT-intertwined company means continuous upgrading, learning, and exposure to the latest trends and knowledge on computer technology and all its related facets. In the IT world, innovation, competency, and modernity are essential for survival and longevity. With the advent of more sophisticated internet, expanding skills and competencies in information technology has become easier and more constraints-sensitive. An online computer course is now just clicks of a computer away.

For those who have just stepped inside the world of information technology, a number of beginner's courses are available. Starters usually have to begin learning various computer programs and applications. Many software and computer companies, like Linux, are now offering online computer training and programming courses. For *Microsoft applications*, training courses on Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000, MS Project, MS Office 97, MS Office 2000, Windows operating systems basic, and Windows NT Workstation are mostly taken up by beginners. MAC OS9 and MAC troubleshooting training courses are the ones mostly sought by MAC starters. These online training courses mostly come in packages priced based on extensiveness and promotions campaign by the manufacturers.

Web design, web development, web management, web graphics and animation training, HTML courses, and many others are available for people already equipped with basic computer applications training. For more advanced IT enthusiasts, online training and full-blown computer courses are also abundant. There are online courses on telecommunications, technology and security, search engine positioning, wireless technology, networking, systems design, and systems management.

In a more complex note, there is already an online course on computer forensics. The high-tech Crime Network now has an online training center providing computer forensic training. The training program is especially intended and designed for professionals in the field of network administration, IS and MIS specialization, auditing, investigation, and fraud examinations. The program trains them in handling computer sources that potentially contain pieces of evidence and pertinent data pertinent to the cases they are handling.

The computer forensic training course trains a forensic person in recovering, retrieving, and analyzing data from disk operating systems, Windows operating system (with concentration on Windows 9.x), and even from NTFS structures used by Windows NT, 2000, and XP operating systems. Data gathered from these sources are then studied for their potential use in legal investigations or even court hearings and other investigative proceedings.

The program is very time-flexible, giving its students enough time to fully comprehend the principles and procedures of modern forensics method. It is also lenient in terms of workshops and practical applications, allowing the trainer and trainee to have more time in digesting the data at hand. The program allows the students to proceed to the next level of training in the time most convenient for their schedules.

The program employs advance methodologies in forensic investigation like recovery of pieces of evidence from a magnetic source and transforming these raw data into accurate translations. This is followed by practical exercises on data presentation and analysis. These exercises are aimed at training the students in conducting sterile examination on various media, creation of forensic boot storage devices, replication of various media into forensic forms, and recovery of erased, altered, hidden, and even lost data. The exercises prepare a student to learn unlocking passwords, formatting data, accessing mail, and other private web-based information storage media, collating internet related files and cookies.

For about four months or so, a student in this program will be able to formulate sound analysis on technology-based pieces of evidence. Graduates of this program are expected to aid in more expedient and accurate investigations of hard-to-solve frauds and felonies. This program boasts of a partnership with Kennesaw State University.

3 Things Every Parent Should Know About Education

Every parent wants the best for his or her child. However, they do not always know the best way to go about getting the best education for their child. The public school system is really a very good system for achieving a great education if you know how to work the system. Unfortunately, that is a very big IF.

Contact Your Child's Teacher on a Weekly Basis

This will do two things. First, this will put you on a short list of parents that are highly interested in their student's academic success. Since teachers are overwhelmed as it is, you will want to make sure your child is on the list of student's that need to be watched and not fall through the cracks.

The other thing is this will make you known to the staff of the school. Teachers do talk and you will be passed along to the next teacher. The next year your name will be passed along for the next teacher to be aware of. This way everyone knows that you will be watching out for your child. In addition, your child will be placed with better teachers who won't make careless mistakes because everyone knows you will catch it.

Insist that the Teacher Sign the School Planner

Nowadays, every school including kindergartens has a daily planner. Insist that every teacher sign the planner on a daily basis and so should you. This way you and the teacher can know what homework is assigned and when it is due. There is no mistaking a missed assignment when it is clearly written and signed by the teacher and the parent. (The same can be done for misbehavior.)

Ask about SnapGrades

Many schools have SnapGrades. SnapGrades is an online grading system where teacher input the grades into the computer and parents can access the grades instantly. (I have absolutely no affiliation to the system. I get no money from promoting the system at all. I simply love the system as it helps promote accountability to students.) If your school does not have SnapGrades, ask the teachers how you can get a copy of the grades on a regular basis.

These three secrets may not make you the most popular with your kids but they will get you on the short list with the teachers. As a former teacher, when the teachers know who you are, your child will be watched and everything will go smoother. Of course, you still need to take action once you receive information but your child won't fall through the cracks if your follow these three steps.

Man Men Principles Can Build School Culture

You really have to be excited about possibility to work in education. You really have to be excited about possibility to work in marketing and branding. That's not a misprint. There's not an echo. Contrary to what business and education once thought, these two systems have a lot in common. It's really exciting to think about that in today's new economy. Can Mad Men PRINCIPLES of marketing and branding inform school PRINCIPALS, the men and women who are the CEO's of school culture and Identity?

It's not the sixities anymore, but "admen madmen" are flexing their practiced Madison Avenue muscle in 21st century schools, and not just through a popular TV show. And their stylized tenets can become power tools in the hands of school leaders who want to create powerful conversations about the branding and selling of the brand to school customers: kids, teachers, administrators, school board members, parents and the community.

Whether we like it or not, teachers, students, parents and community members are all subject to the influences of BRANDING in modern society, and making use of these subtle but powerful forces can positively impact school culture. Contrary to what educators once imagined, good business and good education can and should mix. What works in business can make for better education, and skillful use of the Madmen principles can create or strengthen a school wide identity, and can make all the stakeholders in your school more willing participants in a common cause. Branding is not new in business, but it has now, in the current vernacular, "gone viral." And why? BRANDING is "the implied promise of quality"... And quality is what school customers naturally seek. A quality education, after all, is what promises access to the American Dream, and more so today, than ever before. So here's an ESSENTIAL QUESTION to ask yourself if you are an educational leader: Can a "Madman" Principal or Central Office Leader bring new energy, language and thinking to a district culture through using BRANDING principles? If you want to be a Madman Principal ask yourself... Do I care how my school/district is perceived by parents, school board, teachers, students, businesses and community at large? Do I want new ways to communicate core messages, especially for budgeting and referendums?

Understanding the need to bring BRANDING conversations to the school organization may be new thinking for public school educators. Its time has come. Universities and private schools have gotten on the branding train, knowing that BRANDING is "the sum of all user experiences with a product/service, building both reputation and future expectations of benefit" according to brand expert, Jason Miletsky. Logos and taglines only scratch the surface of developing an emotional connection to consumers.

Step One in the Conversation is the Understanding of what branding is and its value to building school identity. It's time for schools who are part of a global society of social media --and who educate students in navigating life through building educational skills...building a personal brand--to think about how Madison Ave Mad Men strategies can help schools. Mad Man Principles for Principals?...you'd be crazy not to begin the conversation.

Caution! Public Schools Are Teaching & Breeding Failure

With all due respect to those educational administrators that are trying desperately to make a difference, I believe that if we are not teaching success in our schools, we are teaching failure through negligence. On the bright side, educational philosophy has always been about teaching our children math, science, reading, writing, social studies, history, and so on. We all know the basic subjects taught in our public schools, and we generally agree on the importance of these matters. More "specialized" curriculum - like "life skills" - are typically elective classes, and instruct children on the basics of financial management, and the like (life skills that deal in the linear, the exact, the non-abstract are generally regarded as teachable on an elective basis).

On the negative side, however, we do not teach our children lifelong accomplishment - to succeed - and how to create abundance in all areas of living. We do not instruct kids on the commonly accepted elements of success, and therefore what it means to be a contented, productive, accomplished, or happy person, if you will. Any adult of reasonable intelligence and caring should be interested in why we do not teach such skills to our children, and indeed what those "hard skills" of success, achievement, and abundance would be/could be. I would argue that the core components of success have not changed (and are in fact readily teachable), but it is the terms of measurement - or what constitutes the actual acquisition of success - that is relative, inconsistent, and ever changing. If teaching these success elements were compulsory, we might repair many homes, create better professionals, reduce crime rates, and simply spread more hope.

The prevalent educational philosophy is that success skills are left to the parent(s) in the home (or arguably 'the streets', or the child's peers); it is not the responsibility of our educational system to teach abundance and success. The skills needed to enjoy a successful life deal in the realm of the inexact, the intangible, and the arbitrary or capricious, as opposed to the realm of letters, numbers, empirical data, scientific hypothesis, and events in history. We can readily teach "uniform subjects" that are widely accepted as truths, proven, de facto empirical, but teaching essential emotional management skills, effective and realistic goal setting, and across the board abundance acquisition is messy, highly subjective, relative, and inconsistent. It appears that to our educators and those who determine proper educational curriculum, our school agenda and teachers cannot be adequately "equipped" to teach such controversial and "inconsistent" (non-uniform) subject matter. They cannot conceive of a universally acceptable curriculum to teach lifelong success skills. And beyond the educational philosophical matter, perhaps, is the political aspect. To enter into the responsibility of teaching "success" is intrinsically perceived as politically impossible; we cannot all "universally" agree on exactly what those skills to be taught would be - or what would be overwhelmingly acceptable - and conceivably it borders on the spiritual, or perchance the individual belief system, and therefore laissez faire.

Let's take a peek at the murky waters of the subject of success (and why it is not taught in school). So much has been written about success. So many success programs, books, CDs, and other media exist on the subject. A Google search (conducted on 10/21/2009) on the keyword "success" returns over 312-million results. The term is like one tiny star in the cosmos. I think it's safe to say that 'success' is/has been an over-used word throughout our human world and throughout (recorded) history. It's also fair to say that success means something different for each and every person, and yet most would agree that a simple and accurate definition might be: to obtain a desired result (or results).

Perhaps Dr. Norman Vincent Peale (1898-1993) was among the first of the modern-day success gurus with his "Power of Positive Thinking" work (circa 1956). And today we have success consultants, coaches, lecturers, and millions more people who make their living in one fashion or another from/on the subject of success (I wonder if there would be fewer of these private instructors if success were a scholastic subject?). In just my amazing lifespan (I'm 47), the technology boom has contributed (information) so overwhelmingly that it has made our world smaller in many senses, and yet so much more confusing because of all the voices that are now heard, increasing sensory overload. But success has not changed, in and of itself; as mentioned, only the "terms of measurement" are ever changing.

I remember thinking as a teenager in school: why is there no 'owner's manual' for living a successful life? I would ponder being alone in a cold world; born unto inadequate role models, cloned teachers, and empty influencers, and realizing that ultimately we must invent our own 'success manual' for living. An extension of much of my early thoughts was to be in awe of the humility of life; the more I learned, the more I realized how little I truly knew. As time progressed I studied the success gurus and motivational experts. It was then that a 'success manual' did emerge from my thoughts, and I committed it to book format; the content would easily serve as course curriculum.

As I've noted, the body of work on the subject of success is nearly limitless. Therefore it must be hubris to suggest that I have something of value to add to the issue of human success, right? No, I do not believe that to be true. I believe that I have conceived something of extreme value. At the risk of being perceived as turning this article into a promotional piece, what I have developed and refined is a six-step system that virtually guarantees success and abundance in all areas of life, and the ability to maintain success over a lifetime. It is only recently that I understand how effortlessly these materials could be hugely useful in our schools. In brevity, the six steps are these: 1) Motives/Motivation, 2) Preparation (emotional/mental/physical), 3) Goal Setting (workshops), 4) Research and Development (of a plan or vehicle for attaining goals), 5) Consistent Action, and 6) Flexibility (in order to account for the human element).

Every once in a while something special and unexpected comes along. True, not very often does something new appear on the scene, but it certainly happens. Yes, even though it might seem that success is an exhausted, and exalted subject - and thus far academically or scholastically taboo - I have assembled in detail the exact six steps that are necessary to achieve lifelong success.

The book is entitled: "Lifetime Success in 6 Simple Steps". It is my sincere promise - as the result of decades of study - that this is a brand new approach, encompassing the very best of what is known about the components of success, and combining that knowledge into teachable, logical, and progressive steps that ensure sustained, lifelong success. I invite you to check it out for yourself. If this work helps a pondering teen, makes our educational system take notice, or helps any of the millions of unemployed to a new, successful life then I am thrilled! Here is the link for the book: http://success-dude.com/lifelong-success/. Let's teach our children to be a success!

The Australian education system

The schools in Australia are broadly divided into two categories, government schools and non-government schools (private schools). Non-government schools are classified as either Catholic schools or independent schools. Most independent schools have a religious affiliation, but some are non-denominational. All government schools are non-denominational.

Schools in Australia are also classified on the basis of whether they are single gender or co-educational. Although the majority of the school are co-educational, some Catholic and independent schools are single gender, generally at the secondary level.

Australian kids start preparatory school at an age of four or five in order to start primary school by age six. This is followed by secondary school (often called high school). Students generally spend 13 years at school in Australia (including prep school). Further studies can be continued at Universities or TAFE (Technical and Further Education).

Choosing the right school is very important and if you are new at it you will need some professional advice. Regent Consulting specialises in advising parents about school choice. Their unique, independent service will provide peace of mind, save you time and money and make sense of all the marketing material that you have collected. They will demystify the whole process and provide you with the ability to make an informed decision.

They help a wide range of individuals and families, ranging from Melbourne based families requiring guidance, to those newly arrived from overseas and interstate and have been able to successfully help many families clarify exactly what they want in a school and point them in the right direction. Apart from helping parents choose the right school, Regent consulting also conducts culture audits for organisations as well as health and wellbeing assessments.

Branding Lessons: Build School Culture and Identity with A BRAND

You're an educator and you are starting to think about branding. Of course, you can't help but do this. When I am asked in business settings about my ability to work within the business community, since my perspective is informed by education, I simply smile and say..."I've been in the business sales all my life. I've sold "education" to a diverse marketplace: students, teachers, parents, administrators, school board members and the community."

So today, with my sales perspective, I'm traveling the country speaking to educators about the common ground of educators and business people. The ground of selling and living a BRAND for ROI in education.

Let's capture one Branding definition to work with. Branding is a total experience for the user that is based on relationship. It's more than a logo or a tagline.

If we lead with that principle, then as educators, we should feel a good fit. Education is about building relationships. Educators work hard to do honor that, and have their own tools that make this harmony of relationship building happen everyday in schools. SO with that in mind, can a school culture be created through strategic understanding and a champaign to advance a brand? Can this result in brand loyalty among students, teachers, parents, administrators, board members and the community?

To define what education is today is as challenging as defining what a brand is. There are many ways people try to define both, and branding is in essence solid and changing at the same time. That is true for education as well.

The way to make connections right off the bat is through CULTURE. Branding tenets that are from Madison Avenue's hallowed halls are perfect tools to develop language and attitude for building CULTURE across the diverse market for education. The beginning of the work lies in the understanding that branding is based in an implied promise. In schools, the promise is achievement. Savvy principals today can be Madmen...or women leaders by applying Madison Avenue tools to include branding, some marketing and a dash of social media to create culture that feeds a loyalty to the organization. Madman Principles? They work. And you'd be crazy not to try.

Educational Leaders in Public Schools

Public schools are well known for careful stratification and segregation of age groups. Public schools are so poorly run (take DPS for example) that all of those kids run across the county line to attend any school that will accept them. These kids are so far behind academically because of the crap that DPS taught or didn't teach, that they will never be academically successful. Public schools are not required to answer to parents, but they do need to heed the words of politicians and school boards-all of whom have their own political agendas. It would not be an exaggeration to say that these agendas are weakening the entire system.

Public schools are operated at the state level through departments of education, and locally by school districts and publicly elected or appointed school boards. Approximately 15,000 different school districts operate in the United States, and most are run by counties.

Educational leaders have focused in recent years on providing safe and disciplined school environments for students and teachers. Many schools have increased expulsions of violent students by adopting "zero tolerance policies" toward serious offenders. Education outcomes become irrelevant. Educators and parents can post a "viewpoint" page on the site that acts as an online profile, and they can participate in discussion forums, share links and resources, and review teaching materials.

Education reformers and policymakers who consider higher academic standards a centerpiece of their movement should not count on teachers to be a driving force, added Wadsworth. It may be that the academic energies of even the most motivated teachers are sapped by what they consider to be the stressful day-to-day demands of the classroom. Education costs have been rising faster than inflation. Many parents want, but cannot afford, these private alternatives. Educating for citizenship, work and the public good has been replaced with models of schooling in which students, especially poor minority youth, are viewed narrowly either as a threat or as perpetrators of violence. When not viewed as potential criminals, they are positioned as infantilized potential victims of crime (on the Internet, at school and in other youth spheres) who must endure modes of governing that are demeaning and repressive.

Educators must recover their higher motivation, a spirituality that comes from faith not in religion but in civilization, humanity's sanctuary from the cruel vortex of nature. Educational alternatives would be unlimited. It would be the source of enormous progress, and a model for the nation.