Michael J. Bowler

The Writings of Michael J. Bowler

Archives for July 2013

Why Education in America is Failing Our Kids

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In Children of the Knight, King Arthur comes to America from Avalon to launch a children’s crusade against an adult society that has neglected and marginalized its youth. No greater example of failure is evident than our public school system as a whole. Are there some good public schools out there? Of course there are! Is the system failing to do justice to the youth of this country? Absolutely.

When I was in school, I was not only taught how to think and critically evaluate material, I was given choices, too, choices that fit me and my own individuality. Today, public education is cookie cutter, one-size-fits-all and seemingly designed to turn everyone into mindless clones of each other, apparently to serve some authoritarian power since schools are controlled and directed by politicians and bureaucrats.

Children and teens today are taught how to memorize facts, names and dates in order to pass tests. For the most part they aren’t asked or required to apply any of this information to the creation of something new, even an essay of evaluation. Rote busy work is the mainstay of public education, including the busy work called homework. Even in kindergarten today teachers are assigning really long homework packets weekly, and if the kid doesn’t finish the oh-so-important packet of busy work, he’s assigned another and must turn in both, or else! Kindergarten? You’ve gotta be kidding!

Even so-called AP classes in high school which are supposed to replicate and ultimately take the place of college courses, are rife with busy work and in no way replicate the college experience. As with all school courses, they exist for memorization, not innovation, passing tests, not creating something new. The idea that passing rote standardized tests will turn out the best possible adults in society is absurd! The only thing those tests prove is which ones have the best memory for routine information.

Since every single child is uniquely different, kids should be given opportunities to be who they already are rather than what the “system” or even their parents think they should be. Every child is gifted in some way and it should be the goal of the school system to draw out that gift, nurture it, and help the child perfect it. Not every kid should go to college and many wouldn’t even benefit from a bachelor’s degree. All they would acquire is massive debt that might trail them the rest of their lives. There are so many careers and niches kids can become a part of and make a good living so doing, if they were given proper guidance and choices, of course. But no, the “powers that be” insist on everyone going to college because it’s all part of the drone-like indoctrination government schools have been known for since their inception. Oh, and don’t forget the money these colleges rake in! The more useless classes college students are “required” to take, the more money is fed into the system as a whole. Oh, and of course, the college textbook industry is a complete monopoly, designed to rip off each and every student. And people say corporate America is greedy?

And don’t get me started on what’s the least important element in the minds of the adults running the school system, because that element is the kids. The teachers union is out for itself, the administrators for themselves, and the policy makers for themselves. All want to pat themselves on the back for their “service” to kids, and yet the group-think these bodies engage in is destructive and anathema to good education. For example, whose brilliant idea was it to teach first graders about sexual harassment, as is done in many schools today? The only way first graders can at even the most elemental level sexually harass someone is after they have been taught the behavior by adults. In the first grade! We’re talking about six year olds here! Creativity in schools is banned. Choices are banned. But sexualizing young children is acceptable because some adult has an agenda? Sick!

And don’t get me going on about the teacher’s union. Yes, if you’re a lazy or lousy teacher, the union will support you. If you’re a good teacher who stands up for the kids, you’re on your own. Case in point: as a special education teacher and case carrier it was always my job to advocate for the needs of the kids on my caseload. A former principal took it into his head to kick one of my special ed kids out of the school because he was a gang member in a wheelchair and the principal wanted to make an example out of him.

As per my job, I contacted Sacramento for advice and they sent a letter to the superintendent that my principal was in violation of the law and to return said student to campus. That got the principal into trouble so he took it out on me. One day during class several maintenance guys showed up with carts and began hauling all my stuff away. Per the principal’s orders, I was to be moved to a broom-closet-sized storage room with no windows and would from that day on teach my classes from this hot, dirty, airless room with no ventilation. Sounds pretty healthy for me and the kids, doesn’t it?

Did the teacher’s union step in to help me because I did my job properly? I think you already know the answer. But teachers with no classroom control or who show movies all the time or pass out worksheets or teach science from books and worksheets with no hands-on experiments, these teachers are good to go. The union doesn’t hesitate to step in if a principal wants to move them to another school or in any way demand they do their job better. Sadly, the union is out for itself, its political power, and the dues it extorts from teachers. It makes no demands upon said teachers that they have to do certain things (like actually teach) in order for the union to defend them. Tragic, but typical of the “It’s all about me” philosophy permeating our society today. And then these same adults complain that children are selfish and demanding. Gee, wonder where they learned those behaviors?

Schools also fare poorly when it comes to common sense. Brain research has clearly shown that languages are best learned when children are young, like in the first grade (but, oh, wait, that might interfere with their sexual harassment training) and NOT in high school when the language portions of the brain are more dormant. Likewise, math skills (other than basic ones) are best learned from the age of ten on because that’s when that portion of the human brain kicks into gear.

And what about freedom to choose your own path? Do kids in high school have a choice to go into a college-bound academic track or a more vocational/creative track that might lead to a career they’re actually interested in? No. They are all to be college bound because, dammit, we adults know better! No wonder the drop out rate at LA Unified is around fifty percent. The classes kids really want – the “so-called electives” – are the ones most often cut because it’s expedient for the adults to do so. Never mind that these so-called electives might be exactly what a particular kid needs to hone his or her skills in some area that he or she could continue to pursue after high school and that might actually lead to a career of choice. Hell no, kids, you have to get that bachelor’s degree because it makes us, the teachers and counselors, look like we’re doing our job! Do we ever consult the kids about what courses they might like to take, or whether they even want a standard bachelor’s degree? Obviously, the answer is no. The self-centered arrogance of adults running our government, and by extension, our government schools, at both a state and national level, is staggering in its totality.

Were I ever elected president (which I won’t be, so don’t worry, all you bureaucrats), the first sweeping change I’d make would be the elimination of the Department of Education. If ever a body was useless (and unconstitutional), it’s that one. Imagine, taking state money, funneling it through a bunch of unneeded paper pushers who create idiotic, untenable laws that purport to know the needs of every school in the country, and then returning that money to the states at something like ten or twenty cents on the dollar. Unbelievable! The next person who runs as “the education president,” vote for someone else!

These are but a few of the failures permeating our education system, and our youth, in this country. Arthur provides these disaffected kids with an alternative to standardized public education. Does it work? Read the book to find out.

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Have We Lost the Ability to Communicate?

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One of the main themes of my new novel, Children of the Knight, is the dearth of real human expression between people in this overly technological 21st Century. As a man from the distant past, King Arthur only knows how to communicate face-to-face, or through the use of human messengers. Despite his initial reticence about even using modern technology, Arthur soon finds himself slipping into the same trap as virtually everyone else in this era––use of texting to try and communicate feelings because that method is so quick and painless. In so doing, he tragically forgets that people need face-to-face interactions, and children, in particular, need personal affirmations of love and support. A text message just doesn’t cut it.

Are kids today too removed from real human feelings because they do all their talking through texting or Facebook? It’s easier to communicate in these ways because the other person can’t gauge your sincerity or honesty by looking into your eyes or even hearing the tone of your voice. So if you want to shine somebody on, technology provides the perfect resource. But surely sending someone you love a smiley face can’t hold a candle to actually holding that person’s hand and seeing the smile that basic human contact elicits, can it?

And what about the emotion within the human face and voice? Seriously, do all caps really tell you someone is shouting and indicate the tone of that shouting? OF COURSE NOT! Most of how we communicate is through language, but the tone of voice can take the same words and fill them with love or contempt. And what of body language and facial expression? What about looking someone right in the eye? If you get a text that says, “I love you more than life itself,” does that mean anything? If someone tells you that face to face and you’re looking right into his or her eyes when the words are spoken, are you more likely to gauge their sincerity correctly? Of course you are.

So much goes wrong for Arthur and his kids in this story because of miscommunication, not only missed text messages, but also because of the reticence of the characters to share their feelings with those they care about. The things we don’t say to each other in life are often the most important, and sometimes in the course of events the opportunity to say something important may only arise once and never again. Or situational circumstances can spiral out of control and there ends up being no time to say those words you wanted to say until it’s far too late.

The characters in Children of the Knight learn this lesson in some very harsh, unforgiving ways, and it’s likely been at times a painful reality for many of us, too. I think instant messages and texting are great for communicating insignificant information like what time you plan to meet someone at the gym. But saying “I love you” to somebody for the first time via text or message loses everything valuable those words convey, including the tone, the eye contact, the shy tilt of the mouth into a smile of endearment, everything that makes us human.

Likewise, arguing or insulting somebody via text or messaging is idiotic and counterproductive. When we have an issue with someone we need to confront that person and talk it out and reach a resolution, one that both parties can read on the other’s face and in the other’s eyes. We’re not machines yet, so shouldn’t we stop acting like them?

As Arthur tells Lance in Children of the Knight, “In this era you have found so many ways to communicate you have forgotten the most important-–face to face.” This sentiment should be taken to heart by all of us, and the resulting society will become far more . . . human.

 

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Does Our Modern Media Onslaught Teach Kids Bad Behaviors?

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In Children of the Knight, King Arthur, a man from medieval Britain transplanted to 21st Century Los Angeles, is appalled and fascinated by the television programs and music of modern America, and even more astonished to learn that most of it is aimed at children and teens.

He sees kids on TV using drugs in such a way that makes the activity look like a must-do for every viewer. He observes teens “hooking up” for causal sex, and others engaging in violent, often abusive behaviors. When he asks Lance about these “entertainments” and is told they’re mostly created for kids his age to watch, Arthur posits a question: “And if you or others your age engage in these behaviors, are you punished by thine elders or those in power?”

Lance suddenly realizes, as do Esteban and the other street kids later on, that all the anti-social behaviors modeled for them in music, movies and TV shows are exactly the same behaviors they get punished for on a regular basis, even though most of them grew up watching these kinds of shows and witnessing their older siblings (or even a parent) engaging in the same! The hypocrisy of a society that in every way possible teaches its young to be anti-social and self-absorbed and then punishes those youngsters for learning the lessons too well is staggering.

Hollywood and the music industry push the envelope further and further every year regardless of the damage they are doing to the children of this country. We’re a capitalist nation and I have no problem with companies making honest money. However, it would be really cool if these companies would exercise some restraint in the material they release, but restraint is sort of like self-discipline these days––a dirty word. The purveyors of this kind of material will always say it’s the parents’ job to shelter their kids from adult-oriented material, but that has become increasingly more difficult with newer and more efficient technology that make shielding kids virtually impossible, especially when the “adult-oriented” material is marketed straight at them!

Take the “F” word, for example. For kids today, that former obscenity is a noun, verb, or adjective depending upon how it’s used, and has become part and partial of daily conversation, among adults, too. This wasn’t a conscious decision on the part of society to expand the use of that word into every aspect of our lives because the country determined it would benefit everyone to do so. No, its use was incrementally increased over the years by Hollywood and the music industry until adults became so inured to hearing the word they don’t even blink anymore when their kids say it as a matter of course. Is this a good development for society and civilized behavior? Arthur doesn’t think so and he teaches his young knights civility and chivalry, two areas sorely lacking in America today. He recognizes that changing the overall behavior of these damaged children must begin with the small things, like use of language and how they address one another. Even calling each other “fool” is disdained by the king.

Can he successfully civilize these children that society has purposely made uncivilized and turn their collective might into something positive? Read Children of the Knight to find out.

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Are Children in America Merely Property?

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In Children of the Knight, most, if not all, of the young characters have been tossed out by their parents or society-at-large like yesterday’s trash. Sadly, these characters are all based on reality, on real kids I’ve known over the years who were treated like property, rather than vulnerable human beings in need of love and nurturing.

Has America become such a throwaway nation that even our kids have become expendable? When I was growing up, if something broke we did our best to fix it. Nowadays if anything breaks, it’s thrown away and replaced with something new, even car fenders or doors that become dented. Hammer out the dent and repaint? No way! Too old school. Now we just junk the door or fender and put on a new one. Sadly, our children and teens have become just as disposable.

The characters of Mark and Jack were kicked out of their homes by their parents and had to live on the streets as prostitutes to survive. Did they do something virulently anti-social? Did they commit a serious crime? Did they assault and batter either parent? No. They were gay. That was their crime. They committed the most grievous offense kids can commit against parents – they weren’t carbon copy mini-me’s of the adults. So the adults discarded them as having no value. My parents taught me growing up that good character and honorability were more important than anything else. Sure, my dad wanted me to play sports and I sucked at sports, but he didn’t kick me to the curb because I didn’t play sports. Kids who are gay are just gay. They aren’t a failure or a mistake––they’re just kids. Those parents who mistreat them or mock them or discard them are less than human and should be severely punished. Sadly, they never are. Only the kids suffer.

And what of the gang kids like Esteban and Jaime and Darnell? Did they join gangs because they were filled with hope for the future and were rife with opportunities in their run-down ghetto neighborhoods? Of course not! And like so many gang members I’ve worked with over the years, they wished for a way out, something to latch on to other than the gang, but sadly there wasn’t much out there for kids like them. Other than Homeboy Industries, a program in LA to help gang members earn honest money and leave the lifestyle behind, there’s not much else. Do the adult society and the powers that be offer them any hope? No. All our society is willing to offer them is life in prison, despite the fact that it was the adult society who created the problem in the first place! I suppose to a disposable country like ours, that’s an equitable solution. We adults teach the kids how to be anti-social criminals and then throw them away when they act exactly how they’ve been taught. It’s almost like an age-based genocide. Shameful!

In Children of the Knight, Arthur’s new Round Table provides every kid a place to be on equal footing, from the jocks to the nerds to the gang members to the gay boys. With a common goal and a strong, caring man at the helm, these kids prove just how “not property” they really are. They prove to the city, nay the whole world that the might of kids is powerful and fierce and the spirit of kids is indomitable. Check out the book and decide for yourselves if kids have real value or are simply property to be disposed of when they break, kind of like that old iPad that can’t even be recycled. In the case of broken children, however, we can always make new ones, right?

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Lance: My So-Called Life

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Hi. My name is Lance Sepulveda. At least that’s what they called me in Children’s Services when I was a baby. On the streets today they call me “Pretty Boy” ’cuz I’m Mexican with long-ass hair and wicked green eyes. Basically, my life sucks and it’s always sucked. Never met my dad – that jerk split before I’s born. My mom, well let’s not even go there. I grew up in foster homes or the streets my whole life. How I made it to fourteen I’ll never know. Especially after . . . well, after what happened. Anyway, I don’t trust no one. I got no friends and I don’t want none, either. School sucks big time. Not that I’m not smart – I’m hella smart. All my teachers said so since first grade. It’s just that everybody gots to do the same thing and the stupid schools act like everybody wants to go to college. Hell, everybody don’t wanna go to college and everybody don’t need it, either. What if a kid wants to be a mechanic or something? There aren’t no classes like that. I figured out long ago that the system isn’t about us kids, it’s just about the grownups and what they want and what they can get for themselves. I got one cool teacher at Mark Twain High named Ms. McMullen. She’s real pretty and seems like somebody I could trust if I needed to. But then, I don’t usually need to ’cuz I run my own, and I miss a lot of school, anyway.

Why? Cuz I skate. That’s what I do. That’s who I am. Right now I’m on the run from Children’s Services ’cuz I’m sick and tired of people using me or . . . , well, worse stuff, too. Much worse. That’s another system s’posed to be for kids and it’s the grownups who get everything out of it. Us kids don’t get jack! In fact, the whole city, no the whole country, is all about what grownups want and not what kids need. That’s why everything’s so messed up. So me, I just skate. I’m the best street skater around, and I’m goin’ to the X-Games one day and I’m gonna win a gold medal. Hell, a bunch ’a gold medals! At least, those were my plans. Until I met Arthur.

Who’s Arthur? This crazy knight on a horse I met one night in Lennox. A horse? In ghetto Lennox? And an armored-up dude carrying the biggest-ass sword I ever saw? That caught my eye for sure. Like I said, I don’t trust no one, and didn’t trust him at first, neither. But something about the guy made me listen to his crazy-ass ideas. And yeah, they were the craziest I ever heard in my sorry life, but the most exciting, too. Something about a crusade, a children’s crusade, here in Los Angeles, a crusade to help all the throwaway kids like me. Hell, my so-called life wasn’t going nowhere at the moment anyway, so I figured, why not? Might be fun. So I joined up. And man, did everything change after that, and nothing would ever be the same. Check out my story in a book called Children of the Knight and you’ll see what I mean. It’s hella cool.

Children of the Knight Mid Res Cover

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