2-17-2024
The following is a letter written to our local school district’s Middle School principal in April of 2005 when Tommie Jr was having difficulty passing the 8th grade. I am happy to report that Tommie Jr has carved out an excellent life for himself in spite of the fact that the school system failed to educate him. He has been self educating for many years now.
To Whom It May Concern,
This is in regards to my son, Thomas Pain Jr. and his lackluster academic performance.
Thomas is the oldest of four. His siblings have all either been, or currently are, Gate students (Gifted and Talented Education – it’s a separate school for the smart kids). Both my wife and I hold demanding jobs and spend as much time as possible in rearing and educating our children. We have Sunday night discussions, private conversations, and collective excursions and projects. We are a close, however competitive family of independent thinkers.
All this year, as well as in the past, my wife and I have encouraged Thomas to improve his studies. We began in the fall with questions. “Are you caught up?” “Do you have any homework?” “What are you studying?” After the first report period, I began clocking his study time and increased my intensity during our talks. All along, Thomas claimed he was doing his best and was most likely going to make ‘C’ or better in his classes. This did not happen.
Progressively, I have watched his performance deteriorate while my reaction to his poor grades has resulted in his loss of privilege after privilege. For all practical purposes, he has been grounded since December with few exceptions. Still, he is not motivated. My son is the most intelligent person I ever met with so many ‘D’s and ‘F’s. It is beyond my comprehension.
Since he was in the first grade, we have noticed how easily Thomas becomes confused or mixes up his answers to a series of questions. He has never been technically diagnosed, but when he was having difficulty in learning to read, I began to suspect he was a victim of dyslexia, just like my younger brother. I sat with him and taught him how to concentrate and focus not once, but twice through his material. Since then, he has always been a slow, but accurate reader. As I said, he was never diagnosed and since there is no pill he can take to improve his vision, I see no sense in it. He must work hard for a ‘C’ grade, harder for a ‘B’ and in order to make an ‘A’, he would need some love of the subject matter or be aroused by an energetic, proficient, inspiring teacher. To date, he has not had one.
I believe in confronting weaknesses. I believe in honesty. I believe in corporeal punishment. I have made my very best attempt to teach my children that they are responsible for their actions, must work hard to succeed, and will be loved in any case, but not necessarily approved of should they neglect themselves and their responsibilities. Call me ‘old school’ if you will, but the world only becomes harsher as these young people progress to become adults. They have not the luxuries that my generation did. I feel strongly that they must be better prepared to enter their world, than we did to enter ours.
Thomas is very logical. He has done minor computer programming, built tremendous models, mastered certain skills beyond his years and developed a sense of humor I wish I had. His disposition is excellent. He is humble yet confident, bright, but not egotistic. He has a heart of gold and I am proud to call him my son. BUT THOMAS IS LAZY.
I strongly urge all involved to insist that he repeat the eighth grade. The normal procedure is to pass him along to the next level and pretend things are on the mend. It seems everyone is more concerned with social comfort and self esteem than the training and discipline of a young man. The easiest thing to do for all concerned is to pat him on the back and encourage him as he goes on to ninth grade. “There, there, young man, you can do it.” I know this is NOT in Thomas’s best interest. He needs a wake up call. He needs to see that the fruit of his labor, or lack of it, is equal to what he has put into the task at hand. The sleeper needs to be awakened. Passing him on will not do the job. It will only set him up for yet another failure.
Taking the hard route will make his life less enjoyable. He will lose friends, be forced to deal with younger students who will most likely make fun of him – thinking him slow or impeded. He will wine, complain, and beg for forgiveness. I am willing to deal with this for the sake of his future. The question is, is the school district interested enough in their students to do what is best for them, or do we truly have a system dumbed down and grinding meat for the next influx of state monies? Are you teaching children? Or babysitting them?
Should the decision be made to pass him along, I will continue to counsel him with harsh honesty and sincere caring. I will warn him that even though the school has blessed his poor performance, a private sector employer would not. I will tell him that the school district doesn’t give a damn. That he is in the ninth grade because the school district is as LAZY AS HE IS. That the reason he doesn’t understand his current classes is because he never learned the formative material that is the basis for dialectic progression. That most likely, he will never ‘catch up’. Of course in the meanwhile I will try to help him to do the impossible. But he will laugh at me, sighting his admission into High School as proof that he can get away with a half assed effort.
Years from now, I will say I told you so. To all of you. Thomas’s GPA does not merit advancement.
Sincerely,
Tommie Pain
( File date 4-22-2005 )
Only the name was changed in that piece folks. And I was not the only angry parent that year. The problem in our schools today is a result of decades of union corruption, lower and lower standards, a total lack of expectations and a moral bankruptcy from within and without. As an employer I have witnessed the job interview descend from an evaluation of skills, potential and character, into a simple matter of two questions:
“Can the applicant read and write, add and subtract?”
“Can the applicant show up on time and work 40 hours per week?”
Now a days, the applicant downloads his resume from some site Google told him / her about.
We are now several generations into a scenario where teachers no longer have command of the subjects they teach. Attendance is the only requirement and THAT is often overlooked until the school needs more federal funds at which point they crack down in order to count more bodies. The up and coming generation will never understand the word “rigor”. They will never see an example of dedication. They will muse at the thought of discipline. They will have a viewpoint of liberty and freedom that is akin to “study hall”. All the while they will view technology as though it were a religion to be honored and obeyed.
We have castrated mankind.
You only need talk to a college graduate to see the dilemma. You only need watch a press conference to see the total inability of our current leaders to exercise analytical thinking. Many people in media today cannot conjugate verbs properly. Logic is as foreign a subject to them as Latin is. Simultaneously, we have a handful of the greatest minds ever. How many use their talent for civic duties? How many think only of themselves?
The internet is awash with garbage. But there are also voices on the web that can lift up and expand your consciousness. I fear we have lost all sense of discretion, another word that needs rejuvenated, but if one chooses carefully one can find these people of reason and learn to think for one’s self. And in this way, one may begin the long process of assimilating reality with the god given gut. That is our saving grace. Buried within, we all have intuition that tells us what is right and what is wrong. I call mine, the bullshit alarm.
The song says, “Teach your children well. Their parents health will surely go by.” If we do not take responsibility to educate our children it is they who will reap the rewards of ignorance. All of the components required for a Dark Age are now in place. Only by establishing a new foundation will our progeny have reason to hope. It is time to hoard and covet books. Not E-books, not summaries, not a synopsis, REAL BOOKS.
Only deep knowledge combined with humility can foster wisdom. And I daresay we are in dire need of wisdom.