THE 550 POUND TEENAGER

A mother of a 550 pound teenager was recently arrested and charged with parental neglect- this is a felony in the state of South Carolina where she lives-anyone who read this story-without knowing the facts might conclude that she is entirely responsible for her son's life-threatening obesity-but even a cursory look at the facts tells another story- it turns out the mother is a single parent who works two shifts a day-which means she is hardly at home at all during the week- except to rest-and most of saturday too-she obviously has very little money- and cannot afford to put her child in treatment-she was accused of failing to act upon offers of free treatment for her child- this is simply not true-in one case of a so-called scholarship for weight reduction treatment-the boy was turned away-because he was too fat-above and beyond what the facility believed they could successfully treat-nonetheless the mother was blamed for this-as if she had not tried at all to find some help for her son-it may be that the state authorities were looking to publicize the arrest to gain attention for the childhood obesity problem in the US-that is the best case scenario-but as the facts come out there will properly be a sense of compassion and sympathy for both the boy and his mother-and maybe-if he does get the help he needs- his case can be an inspiration to others to address this very serious issue in our country.

CURRENT EVENTS JULY 22ND 2009

THE NEWS IS FULL OF STORIES ABOUT THE HEALTH CARE ISSUE-HOW TO ACHIEVE SOME KIND OF NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE PROGRAM-IT IS LONG OVERDUE-AT LEAST 40 YEARS OVERDUE-BUT IT IS STILL IN JEOPARDY AS POWERFUL PRIVATE INTERESTS ARE ONCE AGAIN TRYING TO STALL LEGISLATION OR STOP THE PROCESS ALL-TOGETHER-ONE PROPOSAL THAT WAS MADE TO INCREASE REVENUE AND PAY FOR THE PROGRAM IS A TAX ON SODA POP-THE SOFT DRINK COMPANIES ARE ALREADY AT WORK LOBBYING AGAINST THE PROPOSED TAX-A SERIES OF COMMERCIALS CAREFULLY CONCEALS THE REAL POWER BEHIND THE AD CAMPAIGN- THE COMMERCIALS ARE OSTENSIBLY BY THE COUNCIL AGAINST THE FOOD TAX-IT IS OBVIOUS THAT COKE-PAPSI AND THE OTHER LARGE FOOD ANS SOFT DRINK COMPANIES ARE BEHIND THE CAMPAIGN-THE COMMERCIAL I SAW THAT HAS RUN MANY TIMES DURING THE NEWS PROGRAMS I WATCH SHGOWS A FAMILY AT A COOKOUT IN THE EVENING- THEY ARE ACTUALLY CAMPING OUT- IT ALL LOOKS VERY WHOLESOME AND HEALTHY-THE COMMERCIAL EMPHASIZES THAT THE PROPOSED TAX WOULD ALSO INCREASE THE COST OF JUICE DRINKS-NOW FOR THE REALITY-SOFT DRINKS LIKE COKE AND PEPSI ARE A SCOURGE TO NATIONAL HEALTH- THAT IS THE TRUTH- THEY ARE SO FILLED WITH CAFFEINE AND SUGAR THET THERE IS VITUAL;LY NO NUTRITIONAL VALUE WHATSOEVER IN EITHER DRINK- NONETHELESS A COKE OR PEPSI DRINKER USUALLY STARTS THE HABIT AT ABOUT 2 OR 3 AND IT LASTS A LIFETIME-IT IS INVARIABLY THE PATENTS THAT GET THEM STARTED-COKE AND PEPSI ARE FACTORS IN CHILDHOOD OBESITY-TOOTH DECAY-AND DIABETES-THEY SIMPLY ARE NOT HEALTHY BEVERAGES AND ONE DAY THE WHOLE TRUTH WILL BE KNOWN-AND POSSIBLY WHY THE TRUTH WAS CONCEALED- IT IS ALWAYS PROFIT-MONEY IS AT THE ROOT OF ALL THESE DECEPTIONS-AND THE POWERFUL MONEY INTERESTS IN WASHINGTON ARE A BIG REASON THEIS BILL WILL PROBABLY NEVER PASS-LETS BE HOPEFUL THOUGH AS IT IS TIME FOR PEPSI-COKE AND THE OTHERS TO START GIVING BACK FOR SOME OF THE DAMAGE THEIR PRODUCTS CAUSE THE GENERAL PUBLIC

Frank McCourt

A series of high profile people have passed away recently-Michael Jackson-Walter Cronkite-Karl Malden-one after the other- it makes you wonder who will be remembered as time goes by- will all of them?- certainly MJ will and Walter Cronkite is sure to be remembered-probably a few streets named after him- maybe a school or college-karl Malden maybe not so much but who knows- he was a great actor-one of the best of his generation-and michael Douglass may make a gesture of some kind- but the redent death of Frank McCourt should not be forgotten-his life is extraordinarilly inspiring- not for the books-they are inspiring for the quality of the writing and the fact that he won a Pulitzer Prize-but for the fact that at age 66 he pursued a career as a writer and succeeded so well at it-he spent 30 yeras teaching in the NYC Public School system before that-most of it at Stuyvesant High School-but at a lot of other schools as well-he was a good teacher-plain and simple-he talked about teaching all the time-in interviews and in his work- you can learn so much about how to be a good teacher just listening to his stories- and what wondeful stories they are- oh to have had a chance to have a lunch with him or just shoot the breeze some afternoon- i love the writing assignments he would think up for his students- one was to have them write their own obituaries- another was to have them write an excuse for missing school or a class or for not turning in an assigment- this is very funny and he relates some of the most unusual and imaginative excuses he read during his career- he mentions a disciplinay repoort he found at Stuyvesant that he found on the actor James Cagney-apparently he had been forging a few excuses himself during his time there-frank McCourt can also be a source of inspiration for those of us who have lived with or been raised by or have a friend or relative who is an alchoholic- that is what ANGELA'S ASHES is about in part-TEACHER MAN and TIS are about his life as an immigrant in NYC and his career as a teacher-I share a lot of life experience with this wonderful man-i have been a teacher for 30 years-and i have spent the last 15 years coming to terms with the disease of alcoholism and how it has shaped and influenced my life-My hope is that he will not be forgotten- that his work will be read for many years to come-but that also that his valuable insights into the teaching profession will be noted and followed for even longer-james B Turner

CURRENT EVENTS JULY 20TH 2009

The last month has brought a lot of news-most of it sad but some that just marks time for anyone over the age of 45-the deaths of Michael jackson,Walter Cronkite and karl Malden-have all connected us to our past in some way-but it is always intriguing to look at how and in what ways they are connected- some connections can be rather close and surprising-almost serendipitous- otheres may seem a little forced-one event i might add would be the first walk on the moon by astronaut neil armstrong-also in july of 1969-Walter Cronkite loved the NASA program- his most emotional moment on the air was not arguably the JFK assassination but when he saw Armstrong step on to the Moon the first time-Michael Jackson- whose death preceded cronkite's by about a month was famous for his MOONWALK-first seen by a large tv audience at the MOTOWN 25TH ANNIVERSARY TELEVISION SPECIAL-wonder if Uncle Walter was watching then-it was about 1982- a year after he retired from the anchor chair-the tv and cable coverage of MJ's unfortuante death brought out a key issue in how the news is reported these days-the coverage is almost always over done in an event of this kind but in maichael jackson's case it was overwhelming-every single station it seems gave it wall to wall coverage for weeks and it is still going on- there is no detail too trivial or mundane to discuss endlessly and get everyone's opinion on- this lasted through to the memorial service the next week but it is still going strong 2 weeks later-this is not how they covered the news in uncle walter's time- Elvis presley got a short discrete mention when he passed away and arguably he was as big a star as amichael jackson-as Dan Rather said when he was asked how Cronkite would have viewed the saturation coverage-he would have been appalled-he was alive at the time so he must have seen something about it but as he was suffering from Dementia he may not have taken it all in-Karl Malden is famous for a lot of reasons- he was in some great old films-i.e.-ON THE WATERFRONT AND PATTON for instance but he was well known to tv viewers in the 70's when he starred in a tv series called THE STREESTS OF SAN FRANCISCO-his co-star and partner in the series was Michael Douglass-who just received a lifetime achievement award from THE AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE-which is commonly known as AFI-the presenatation ceremony was televised on the night of july 19th 2009-just two days after Malden passed away- he was referred to on several occasions during the telecast and he was seen and heard during a taped segment at the end of the show- Michael Douglass referred to him as a second father-and malden said he would have been proud to have a son like Douglass-now how to connect all three-that is a little more difficult-but what the three deaths represent is an important pasaage for those of us who remember them so well- and all three were outstanding- the younger generation might wonder what all the fuss is about- you could not say you really knew who michael jackson was if you did not see him with THE JACKSON FIVE in the early 70's-this was an amazing start to an amazing career-and anyone who watched the news regularly from 1962 to 1981 knew who Cronkite was-he was in some ways the most famous man in America at that time-karl Malden less so of course-but he had a way of turning up and often through the 50 years of his acting career- that is in film tv and cable-so that's the way it is-Monday july 20th 2009

INFOTAINMENT

A NEW WORD WAS COINED ABOUT 20 YEARS AGO-RIGHT AROUND THE TIME EVERYONE HAD CABLE TV AND A CHOICE OF ABOUT 15 STATIONS FOR THEIR NEWS-THE 15 OPTIONS INCLUDES THE NETWORKS-ABC-NBC,AND CBS- for a short time the networks held to the old standard when deciding what to broadcast on the nightly news shows- but cable pressed the envelope with more and more gossip and entertainment news and the networks soon followed- it is all about competition for viewers and the competition is very intense- i recognise the pressure to be relevant and viable- but the standard for news stories is low right now- you can hardly see a difference between what is entertainmant news and or hard news- the entertainmant category would include stories that are chosen mainly because they are entertaining as opposed to relevant or important-there are many examples i could give but i will stick to the most egregious cases- the first one that comes to mind- and probably will never be surpassed is the FAMOUS WHITE BRONCO CHASE-almost everyone saw it or heard about it at the time- it was around 1992 when oj simpson was arested as a suspect in the murder of his wife nicole- he was released on bail but told to remain in the area and report on any travelling he planned to do- as far as I know he was not supposed to leave the state of California- on the day of the bronco chase NBC was broadcasting an NBA championship basketball game- not an inconsequential event for sports fans and for almost every NBA basketbasll fan-NBC stopped there coverage of the game to switch to a livew broadcast of the Bronco chase- it was a critical point in the game- i found out later that every other network had done the same thing only earlier then NBC- the cable news stations were all covering it live- the problem was it only had the potential to be a significant news story if you want to call it that-if oj simpson went to the airport or tried to leave the state they would have some real news- but if he just drove around with 18 police cars following him there was no story- not really- and that is exactly what happened- he just drove around for a time and then went back to his house- meantime the network anchors were doing a sort of play by play of the event- it made them seem ridiculous as there was nothing really to report after seeing the police cars following oj's bronco-nontheless they stayed with the chase for over an hour with virtually nothing to show for it-and what made it all the worse was the absurdity of the situation-people who knew the networks were covering the event went out of their way to wave to the tv cameras and wave to oj- often shouting encouragenment or somethiong else who knows- but it truly looked like a circus event-and none of the networks had the good common sense or courage to leave the story and go back to regular programming-NBC was given a pretty harsh judgement at the time but all this has long been forgotten- what we have now is the equivalent of a car chase everyday-maybe not as memorable- but there is always some story the networks cover incessantly and the cable stations cover all day long- the michael jackson story is a great example- at first it made sense to cover it- even for a few days or until the memorial at the staples center- but now it has become absolutely ridiculous- every little thing said every little wrinkle in the story iis covered ad nauseum-the prescription drug controversy- latoya's claim that he was murdered= the child custody issue- anything and everything-i am tired of trying to watch the very significant Sonia Sotomayor confirmation hearings only to have the coverage interupted by something about Michael Jackson- or someother news story of dubious importance-this is not to say that all the stories are not important in some way- some are- but the coverage- incessant coverage- is just too much-nothing really important or new is reported- they use any excuse to give an update and almost anyone can get in on the story-the cousin of a pharmacist who filled a painkiller prescription for Mr jackson can get on the news for a short interview- ok maybe a I am exagerating now but anyone- virtuallly anyone can see my point- in fact they already know it-the first thing the networks and cable stations would say-after trying to justify these decisions-is that i can simply turn off the tv or watch something else- but when the Sotomayor hearings are on i don't want to- most of the time i just change the channell when they get off the story but virtually every station eventually does get off the story- to report the latest in a story that has not really changed in any apprecialble way-last thing- i noticed that when CNN does a panel discussion these day almost all the panelists are looking at their laptops- they are not even listening to one another- i see this on other stations as well- and the reporters at the sotomayor hearings are doing the same thing- anything at all could be on those laptop screens- just use your imagination for a minute-i will have more on this subject in a future article-one interesting statistic is the man hours lost in office pools when the NCAA Basketbsll tournament is going on- they find that an amazing percentage of office workers are watching the games on their computers or at least keeoping track of the scores- how many of these people also have a bet on the game-games or the entire tournament? - almost all of them would be my guess-all for now

EDUCATION TODAY NO. 10

The current trends show an even greater degree of a business oriented model entering the field of education at all levels-Recently President Obama urged women and mothers in particular to seek out loans to continue their eduacation on line-I get about 10 advertisements a day on this-I cannot imagine what the good purpose would be in all this- eduaction neceesarily requires a classrom and a teacher or professor present - sitting in front of a computer all day is not good for anyone and especially a mother with children-this is part of the economic stimulus plan as much as anything else- bringing needed revenue to college and universities- it is entirely uninspiring and unrewarding to not have the person to person interaction with the teacher-and the idea that the advantages will some how counter balance the disadvantages shows an ingnorance of the fundamantal principles of education- Socrates was the first great teacher in Western Civilization the socratic method which involves a dialoguie between teacher and student cannot be replicated on a computer- it is a meeting of the minds and hearts of the teacher and student and last time i checked a computer did not have a heart- the personal relationship of teacher to student is what makes learning useful and effective- the mutual interest of both are part of the process-so are the mutual rewards and it is the teacher who usually learns the most in the process- the trust that is created in the process-the trust that leads to a committment by both is the main thing- computers are not a substitute in this respect and probably never will be- i recently had to battle with an administrator who wanted me to put my class in a computer lab to use a software program called READ ON-while it has its merits-it was never meant to replace a teacher or be a substitute for the teacher student relationship- the administrator could not see this- he could only see the efficiency of the process and the money that would be saved by not hiring more teachers-this is what is going on today in the field of education- not just here but around the world- i will have more to say on this subject later.

DECORUM

The interesting part of being a fomer teacher is seeing my former students at later stages of their lives- college-graduate school and beyond- my first students-back in 1979 are 48 years old now- it is always nice to see a former student-they are always respectful and apprciative-but i have found that recently many of them assume a first name basis with me-without having requested it or having been invited by me to do so- i have mixed feelings about it-some are just trying to act older then they are-some may think it is grown -up or a mature thing to do-i am a little startled by it as i simply would never have done so- not at my present age of 53-and certainly not at the age of 18 or 19-which is the age of some of my students who refer to me in conversation as Jim-and address me the same way in public and in private- in a school setting i think it is still a very important rule to refer to your colleagues and coworkers by their surname- at least in front of the students-outside the school or at any other time- i think the appropriate form of address is first names-any colleague or administrator who holds a PHD should be called DR in front of the students but at no other time unless it is requested-I live in a small town and see my former studnets on a regular basis - shopping in the grocery store, at the movies, somewhere on the sidewalks-it is a common experience to be called jim-even the college students do it- i imagine some of their professores have given them this privelege so it is assumed to carry over to their former HS teachers-i usually say nothing about it-but i feel a loss of some kind-if they address me as jim-as i would expect a friend to do- it might suggest that we are friends of some kind- if that is true then i am no longer their teacher- and in some respects i am no longer their former teacher either-the last school i taught at had a variety of customs where the froms of address were concerned- some teachers invited the first name basis -others did not- i always insisted on being called Mr Turner-and i referred to everyone else the same way- especially the parents- unless they requested that i address them by their first names- as i am older then a lot of parents now i go along with it-and have no problem with it- i guess it is a sign of the times-certain formalities have been lost and maybe that is a good thing- but the tendency to assume a first name basis by students who are as much as 30 years younger then me is still a little difficult to get used to-if i met a formewr teacher of mine-who would likely be in their 60s or 70s-it would be mr-mrs or miss-could not do it any other way unless instructed and even then i might be a little reluctant- i will still always enjoy seeing my former students- it is wonderful when i do-but when they call me jim-i feel a sense of loss that is hard to explain-well to each his own-and bless their good hearts either way.

EVERY MOTHER'S SON-EDUCATION 9.

One thing i have learned over the course of my thirty year teaching career is that every mother wants her son to grow up to be a GOOD MAN-you might say that she wants her son to be a great man but that is not usually the case in my experience- A GOOD MAN-is what she wants- a great man is nice-some might dream they grow up to be a President-but usually the mother realizes that a great man may have a lot of challenges in life- and maybe less of a chance for a happy personal life- a GOOD MAN-is one who is decent and kind- who loves his wife and children and who takes care of them-a good man is one who knows the joys of having a family-and who knows that doing the right thing is more important then loss or gain-to put it simply- he puts right or wrong over loss and gain-this kind of man is largely the result of a good upbringing-it is the mother herself who helps to shape his character etc- but the father plays a very important role too- after the mother and father teachers have a vital role to play-but actually above even teachers can be someone in the school who is neither a teacher or a parent-and that is a coach-i would add theatre directors, art teachers, music teachers and anyone else who guides and nourishes the growth of a child-my experience was largely with coaches-i would listen to them when i wouldn't listen to almost anyone else-i listened to them because i respected them-but also because i wanted to play and they had the power to decide whether or not i did-the coaches i had through middle school to graduaution taught me as much as any teacher did in the classroom- and it wasn't just fair play and teamwork-they taught me the value of hard work-practice- sacrifice-and looking after my teammates- they taught me about loyalty and honesty and always giving my best-they also placed the value of integrity over winning a game- to not cheat or stand around quietly when some one else did-i sensed that many of these coaches wanted to win- wanted to win badly- but they knew the higher value was to always find the right way to give each player the lesson he needed-one lesson was to give the prima donnas the lesson thet the team could get along without them-The coaches would never let anyone think there was a double standard for the prima donnas and they would never let the prima donna think the team could not get along without them-the only way the prima donna can think he is above the others is if the coach would rather play him in a game then sit him down if he needed to be benched-a prima donna brags and claims credit and doesn;t think the same rules apply to him as they do to the other players-he needs the lesson of his expendabiltiy badly and it is a great thing when he gets it- so many college and professional ahtletes seem to have never been taught this valuable lesson- sports magazines and news shows are filled with stories of great atheletes and former athletes behaving like the world revolves around them- they get used to this because everyone else encourages them to think that way- people clean up their messes-make excusues for them and pay them way too much money-they also receive admiration and praise entirely out of proportion with their accomplishments-this is not a GREAT MAN or even A GOOD MAN-this is a child who never grew up-coaches are so vital to the growing up process it is almost impossible to place a value on it-but so are theatre directors, music teachers, dance teachers and art teachers-anyone who supervises teaches or coaches an activity the students love-they have the greatest responsibility of anyone in the school-and so many of them do such a wonderful job- we hardly notice it because the coaches with the best won loss record get all the credit- or the teacher with the prize winning artist or musician-when actually it is the teacher or coach who brought out the best in the student who deserves the most credit-and this does not mean that the student was the best-just that they were able to see their potential and begin to work to achieve it- this is the real work of education- to show a student that he has the potential to be great and he has within him all that he nedds to be good-and that is ultimately what the parents expect and want from their child's teachers and coaches.