Natural Reading: Helping Children Acquire Reading Skills…. Naturally

 

 

A lot of debate exists on the teaching of reading. Researchers spend decades studying how children and adults learn to read. Educators implement the latest trends in the classroom to ensure that students learn reading skills as early and as thoroughly as possible. And the nation’s lawmakers rush to back proficiency-based testing that supports whatever research and trends are in vogue at the moment.

 

But, the truth is that, for most children, reading happens, or should happen, naturally. Like many other skills that children master, reading is no exception. Natural reading is less the result of a specific and goal-oriented drive to ensure that kids read by a magical milestone date than the result of natural reading development.

 

In many ways, language acquisition and reading go hand in hand. As parents and educators, we rarely dedicate much time to teaching language unless a child needs to learn a non-native language. Most people just assume that language develops as a natural part of normal development. And they’re right. For most children, reading is as natural as speaking and happens in much the same way.

 

Children learn by watching and doing. They learn to walk, talk, smile, and play all as a result of modeling the behavior of the people around them. Most children, given the opportunity, will learn reading just as naturally. This means that adults and older siblings who model reading behavior are actually teaching reading.

 

Parents who enjoy reading and read the daily newspaper, magazines, books, and other reading material, model reading for their children. Preschool and early grade teachers who read to the children in their classrooms and create enjoyable story time scenarios model reading for their students. And, siblings and other children that early readers spend time with that enjoy reading and read to younger children, model reading behavior. Young children want to do the same!

 

Natural reading opportunities abound for young children. And savvy parents can watch as the miracle of words not only spurs a child’s verbal development, but that child’s joy of reading as well. It’s amazing to watch as a child naturally challenges him/herself to learn to read. Anyone not convinced of this need only watch a child engrossed in an educational television show or exploring an older sibling’s book or magazine.

 

Children are natural learners. They need little incentive to acquire new skills. All a parent or other adult needs to do is to make sure that each child has the tools they need to explore the world around them. We know that children naturally develop language skills. What most people fail to consider is that language develops as a result of being exposed to language. Just as a child would never be expected to develop normal language skills without ever hearing spoken words, it is nearly impossible for a child to naturally develop reading skills without books, educational television, or some other form of exposure to the written word.

 

So, in addition to sharing the written word with children through story time, shared reading, modeling behavior, and schooling, parents and other adults can encourage natural reading by intentionally planting opportunities for reading such as tuning in an educational television show that explores reading, leaving the cereal box on the table for children to explore, and stocking the home and learning environment with books, educational toys, and a genuine love for reading.

 

 

 

 

 

But, I don’t have all the answers either.

 

©2008 ForeWORD Communications    

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Disdain McCain: Body Language and Verbal References Give You Away

 

“You don’t say that out loud!”  – McCain to Obama during the first presidential debate at the University of Mississippi, Friday, September 26, 2008

 

Watching the debate last night, one thing struck me as incredibly annoying – McCain’s insistence that we’re all his “friends”.  I think if he had said “my friends” one more time, I was going to scream.  John McCain is not my friend, nor is overusing the phrase going to make me believe that he is.  I don’t recall him using, or over using, these words in past appearances, but perhaps, in his desperation to appear “common”, he has convinced himself that the only way to do so is to make us all feel as if we are his buds. 

 

Another McCain problem is his inability to address his opponent.  In the first presidential debate, McCain went out of his way to avoid looking at Obama; to the point where, at times, he actually turned slightly away from him.  Whereas, Obama addressed McCain (after all, a debate does, or should, involve some interaction between opponents), the audience, the American public, the moderator, etc.  As the candidates greeted each other, Obama warmly greeted McCain, and McCain looked past his opponent as he shook his hand. 

 

McCain’s treatment of Obama has been at best, rude, and, at worst, unbecoming of a man who seeks this nation’s highest office.  It’s almost as if McCain’s opinion of Obama is so low that he can’t be bothered to address him.  This is a problem for someone in politics, since politicians often have to deal with people they don’t like – heck, people they can’t stand.  It’s important that McCain realizes that his treatment of his foes reflects on him as a person as well as upon his ability to do the job he’s applying for. 

 

A final McCain problem, at least in the body language and verbal references arena, is his reference of Obama as “that one”.  Dude, “that one” is, like you, on the road to the White House, not someone you’re picking out of a line up. 

 

The thing is, I’m not sure McCain cares how he’s treating his opponent.  Sometimes we’re so convinced that others are so far below us that we just can’t help our opinions of that person or persons revealing themselves in our behavior.  In this arena, you’ve got to give Palin some credit.  She and her family interacted nicely with Biden and his family after the vice-presidential debate.  It looked like they were all sincerely enjoying each other’s company. 

 

There are a ton of issues that haunt this election, with national finances, security, and healthcare being only the tip of the iceberg.  It might seem silly to analyze how the candidates treat each other.  But, geeze, if a presidential candidate can’t be bothered to conceal his disdain for his opponent, that tells me a great deal about how he might feel about the people he’s asking to elect him and those with whom he’ll need to interact if he’s elected.  If a man, or woman, shows such distaste in dealing with his opponent, how successful will he be in dealing with issues that face each of us down here in the trenches day in and day out?  After all, healthcare issues and the mortgage crisis don’t affect McCain personally; they affect you and me – the little people.  I don’t want to feel as if a presidential candidate can’t be bothered to set aside his own disdain for what he finds distasteful for even a couple of hours on national television and deal with matters in a manner which isn’t insulting and belittling.

 

Nope, McCain, you don’t say that out loud, but you’re body language and off-the-cuff references to your opponent give you away.

 

 

But, I don’t have all the answers either.

 

©2008 ForeWORD Communications    

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Freelancing Doesn’t Mean Free

 

I’m a freelance writer. Now, that job title has never earned the respect that it deserves but, in this day and age of outsourcing and working virtually, being a freelance writer appears to signify to many buyers that one’s services are to be had at a very low cost.  One has to wonder why.

 

One of the biggest challenges facing freelance writers today, especially those of us who provide our services online, is outsourcing.  Although a global economy is certainly down the road, for now, there are Western workers and non-Western workers. What I mean is that an economy is not competitive if the wages required to live in one economy are vastly different from those required to live in another. 

 

Yes, I’m talking specifically about the outsourcing of jobs – writing jobs, customer service jobs, assembly jobs, whatever – to countries such as India, Pakistan, etc.  Look, the reality is that making five dollars an hour in India is like making $50 an hour here in the U.S.  We just can’t compete.  Not because we don’t want to, but because we simply can’t.  I’ve been involved in many a debate about how American writers charge too much for their services as compared with offshore providers. 

 

The reality is that American workers literally can’t work for $5 an hour.  That’s less than minimum wage and will earn us a nice cardboard box under a bridge somewhere.  It’s not a realistic wage for this country.  It is however, a realistic wage for someone living in a nation where the average annual wage is well under $2,000.00 a year!  Heck, $2,000.00 a year won’t even fill up the minivan let alone pay for food, clothing, housing, utilities, etc.  What buyers should ask themselves is, can they live on less than $2,000.00 a year?  Can they live on what they’re paying us?  If the answer is no, then we probably can’t either.

 

And, even if a buyer’s financial needs are met through outsourcing, their project needs rarely are.  Look, I applaud anyone trying to make a living, but ya just can’t write effectively to an American audience if your first language isn’t English.  As a matter of fact, quality (language or production) is one of the biggest barriers to outsourcing in any industry.  Personally, as someone who pays dearly for the products and services I receive, I hate it when I have to contact customer service and deal with someone who doesn’t understand what I’m saying.  It’s unpleasant and the entire experience leaves me feeling as if my business is not valued.  After all, if I pay good money for something, shouldn’t I receive a quality product with quality customer service – not just service and production that has been outsourced to the lowest bidder?

 

Buyers who don’t think that their target audience notices their lack of dedication to their own project are simply kidding themselves.  As I surf the web, I catch all of the spelling, grammar, and syntax errors made by writers who are either unprofessional or not English-speaking.  It’s noticeable, it’s annoying, and buyers who think that the American public – the paying American public – doesn’t just surf off to another site when we are insulted in this way need to think again.  In essence, if you want to appear professional – an expert in your field (whatever service or product you sell or promote) – you need a professional writer to help you.  If you don’t invest in yourself and your image – it shows.

 

Another huge challenge facing American freelance writers are books and ebooks being marketed to a cash-strapped public making promises of earning millions from home and finding services for cheap.  Several of these marketing manuals insist that virtual freelancers are to be had for pennies and that anyone can work as a writer.  The only people getting rich are the ones selling these books/ebooks.  The public is shelling out their hard-earned cash to be fed a pack of lies.  Virtual freelancers are not cheap – at least quality ones (for all of the reasons detailed above) and you’re not going to make a million dollars as a freelance writer. 

 

Unfortunately, many people who have snagged one of these books/ebooks as a do-all-tell-all into the freelancing industry approach freelancing, freelance writers, and their own projects as if they’ve found the fountain of youth or something.  The old adages, “nothing in life is free” and “you get what you pay for” hold true in freelancing as they do in any industry.  The average professional freelancer is a bit insulted when we are approached to write for $5 a page.  Since one page of good writing takes at least one hour to produce, such an offer makes our jaws drop and our hair stand on end.  Yet, the authors of the books and ebooks that indicate that ALL freelancers work for such wages continue to pull the wool over the eyes of buyers worldwide. 

 

Look, here’s the way it is – freelancing isn’t free.  If you want to purchase work for way under market freelancing rates, be prepared to deal with the fallout, i.e., poor writing, work that is copied and pasted directly from another (copyrighted) source, writing that sounds like it’s been written by a third grader, etc. 

 

Writing that has to be rewritten or that is completely unusable is no bargain.  Pay for quality work the first time around and you’ll save money in the long run.

 

 

 

But, I don’t have all the answers either.

 

©2008 ForeWORD Communications    

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I’ve Fallen and I Can’t Get Up!

 

Mother Hubbard’s cupboard was missing a few necessities so I ran to the local discount store this evening with my daughter, my son, and one of his friends (for clarification, my daughter came along to make sure that old mom didn’t forget anything; the boys only came to see what they could talk me into buying for them).  The store was one of those small discount chains that stocks everyday items, but is famous for selling closeouts, buying in bulk, and passing the savings on to the customer.  Once we hit frozen foods, I realized that I had forgotten to snag some butter. 

 

I told my daughter to stay put and turned back to procure the Parkay (the boys were off searching for one of those cheapie legal fireworks collections).

 

I only had to go two aisles over; two very narrow aisles.  I would technically not even be out of sight of my daughter.  But my successful navigation of those two narrow little aisles was just not to be.  Halfway there, I encountered a sea of liquid which had crept across the floor and down I went. 

 

As falls go, it was relatively graceful; a kind of scissors splits.  One leg behind, bent at the knee, the other in front, I was splayed across the floor like some sort of grotesque parody of a hurdle jumper.  At least it wasn’t one of those tailbone breakers where your legs come right out from under you and you land, unceremoniously, flat on your back.  I suppose it must have looked more like a feet-first slide into third base.

 

I never saw the offending liquid.  The “Caution – Wet Floor” sign was a good two feet away from where I fell.  I suppose perhaps the liquid may have originated where the sign was placed but, as liquids often do, it spread from the point of origin into the middle of the aisle where, lucky me, I met my fate.

 

So, what did I do?

 

After checking to be sure nothing was broken (I’m not as young as I used to be), I looked around to see if anyone had witnessed my fall.  In my younger days, as most still-young people can attest to, that process would have been reversed – i.e., I would have checked around to see if anyone saw me fall before it even occurred to me to wonder if I was hurt.  But alas, broken bones trump embarrassment when you’re over forty.

 

This is not to say I wasn’t embarrassed.  Once I confirmed that nothing was indeed broken, the embarrassment set in.  Turns out two people saw me fall.  One was a store employee who was stocking shelves a mere four feet away and, in the other direction, a shopper who was planted in the pasta aisle, probably lamenting the ever-increasing price of noodles.

 

The shopper and I exchanged somewhat nervous glances, smiles, and chuckles; not sure exactly how to behave.  I’m sure that some part of that woman really wanted to laugh out loud, like so many of us who witness someone else’s splat.  What is it about someone else taking a tumble that we find so terribly amusing anyway?  Maybe we’re just relieved that we ourselves thankfully avoided such an apparently close call.

 

The store employee, however, kinda ticked me off.  She offered nothing more than a mere glance in my direction and then went back to her job.  Well, I’m so glad I didn’t interrupt.  Now, I know a gentleman who is a manager at another of the store’s locations and I know for a fact that their employees, though dismally underpaid, do receive basic training in such issues as call-the-manager-immediately-if-there’s-a-clean-up-needed-in-aisle-five, even if the cleanup required is human.  And, doesn’t common courtesy warrant at least an “are you ok?”  Geeze, the pasta shopper gave me more attention than the store employee!

 

There I was, sprawled out in all my glory, thinking “what the heck?”  So, me, being notoriously unable to just keep my big mouth shut, spread my arms, looked squarely at the store employee, and said “excuse me!”  I wanted to say “yo, dingbat, a little help here!”, but I refrained.  The fact that I restrained myself from saying what I really wanted to say, I believe, warrants a pat on the back for me.  But, what did I get for my efforts?  She glanced over at me and said “oh, sorry” and went back to stacking the string beans.

 

Huh?  Is “oh, sorry” in the training manual?  Me thinks this one missed the help-the-customer-off-the-floor in-service.  And she’s definitely missing the empathy gene.  In her defense, however, she was pretty young.  This chain frequently hires high school kids because they’re cheap labor.  And most young people just haven’t reached the point yet where they feel comfortable reaching out to help us old folks; it’s just not cool.  So, she did what teenagers are programmed to do; she ignored me.

 

But that made it even worse.  I suppose maybe it was the embarrassment that made me want to wring her neck.  I probably needed someone to be annoyed with.  After all, when your own display of clumsiness puts you in a position of embarrassment, it’s only human to lash out at an innocent bystander, right?  Of course, I was probably more embarrassed than I once would have been.  There’s just something different about falling when you’re middle-aged than falling when you’re young.

 

Compounding my embarrassment was the fact that I ran to the store without putting on any makeup.  After all, I just needed to grab a couple of things.  I wasn’t going to the policeman’s ball.  It’s bad enough being caught without your makeup; being caught falling without your makeup is even worse.  I was wearing sweats too.  And a man’s t-shirt.  It’s not like I was dressed for the occasion.  Falling in public does require some decorum, and I just didn’t have it.  Nope, no fashionable falling for me.

 

And, when I was younger, I fell ever so much more gracefully.  The fact that I can no longer fall with finesse, probably has something to do with the old bones, lack of flexibility, or the fact that I’ve given birth to three children (when in doubt, always blame everything on childbirth).  Falling when you’re younger is far less humiliating.  Maybe it’s because, when you’re younger, you’re already convinced that you’re the center of attention so the extra stares that you are rewarded with when you unceremoniously land on your arse, are just icing on the cake.  When you’re young and beautiful, everyone wants to help you up.  When you’re approaching menopause, people would rather pretend they don’t see you.  Whatever the reason, I think that I was a much better-looking faller when I was younger.

 

So, it was probably my lack of falling prep that made me more hostile than I might otherwise have been.  Caught calling attention to myself with no makeup, wearing sweats and a t-shirt; that’s no way to behave!  Still, WASP that I am, I picked myself up off the floor (a two-handed job now that I’m not as limber as I once was) and continued my quest for the butter.  Finally, prize in hand, I was headed back to where I left my daughter when I decided that keeping my mouth shut just wasn’t in the cards.

 

Oh, that poor girl!  Off I marched to that unsuspecting store employee who, by now, had probably completely forgotten about me, and squared off with her right in front of the canned carrots.  I firmly announced to her that “you can tell your manager that, if that mess is not cleaned up by the time I come back around this way, he and I will be talking lawsuit”.  Yep, that’s what I said.  Guess I told her!

 

Now that all humanity was safe from further falling faux pas, I was off in search of pizza rolls.  When next I checked, the young lady had vanished (whether to find the manager or escape from me, I’m not entirely sure) and a couple of aisles away, a young man was strolling toward the scene of the crime with a rolling mop bucket.  I suppose he could have acted as if he really had someplace to be before the store closed, but I’d had enough excitement for one day and didn’t want to be caught on every store security camera hysterically haranguing a mop boy to boot.  One humiliation was enough, thank you.  Best to leave well enough alone.

 

Still, one doesn’t easily get past falling in public.  Through the store, in every aisle, and especially at the checkout, I was firmly convinced that everyone present was a witness to the events.  Although, logically, I know that only the store employee and the pasta lady actually saw what happened, my natural human sense of self-centeredness insisted that every store employee must have seen the video footage already being played in the break room and that all of the customers in earshot had heard them all talking about the crazy falling lady.

 

The boys never saw the fall, and didn’t find out about it until a discussion ensued as a result of the word “lawsuit” when my daughter and I were talking about what happened.  Luckily for the store, I’m a firm believer that the nation’s courts are clogged with frivolous lawsuits and that accidents happen through no fault of anyone in particular, so filing a lawsuit is not my style.  Of course, the store employee didn’t know that or my words wouldn’t have felt so satisfying.

 

My daughter, however, is a different story.  After the fact, when we’d returned home and told my other daughter all about it, it dawned on me that she must have seen the whole thing!  I’m sure that I blocked it out due to the trauma, but I vaguely remembered seeing her out of the corner of my eye.  She looked right at me, there on the floor, and walked away!  She left me!  That silly little teenager abandoned her old mother in her hour of need!

 

She said that she didn’t really see me fall.  She had only glanced my way, just at the moment I caught her in the corner of my eye apparently, and wondered if I was picking something up off the floor.  She was actually surprised when I told her I fell, so it must be true that she didn’t really see the whole thing.  Although she did admit that something in the back of her mind made her wonder if I had fallen, her teenage brain must have preferred to deal with the sight of her mother sprawled on the floor of a public place by fooling her into thinking that I was “picking something up off the floor”.  In her defense, however, if it’s a dilemma for a teenager to figure out what to do with a middle-aged stranger who’s in obvious need of assistance, that dilemma becomes more than the mind can bear when the faller is one’s own mother!  The teen brain is just not equipped to deal with such an embarrassment.  Parent’s are embarrassing enough as it is without being firmly convinced, as teens tend to be, that everyone must be looking at you thinking “poor kid; mom just can’t stay upright, can she?”.  My younger daughter (she’s 14) would have been mortified, but my older daughter (almost 17), being the rock that she is, allowed her mind to trick her into thinking she saw something completely different.  Gotta love her.

 

Luckily, I’m no worse for the wear.  A sore knee, easily managed with painkillers and a bottle of scotch (nah, just Tylenol), and a wounded pride were the only casualties.

 

 

 

I don’t have all the answers either.

 

©2008 ForeWORD Communications    

All Rights Reserved

 

For intelligent writing solutions for your business, visit my website at www.forewordcommunications.com

 

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Copyright © 2008 ForeWORD Communications.  All Rights Reserved.

Ohioans for Financial Freedom

 

 

Recently appearing on the airwaves are commercials funded by a group called Ohioans for Financial Freedom.  In the television ad, a friendly farmer, supposedly representative of the “average” Joe, tells viewers that, after doing his research, he has discovered that 6,000 Ohio jobs and the state’s financial freedom are at stake.  Farmer Joe explains that, if a belt breaks on his red Chevy truck, he can borrow $100 from his friendly neighborhood payday lender and pay back $115 when he gets his Friday paycheck.  Joe then goes on to extol the virtues of payday lenders by linking the average citizen’s option of borrowing money from a payday lender with financial freedom and tries to impress upon his audience that 6,000 “well-paying” jobs might be lost if Ohio legislators, who are taking steps to regulate the industry, have their way.  In other words, according to Joe, the State of Ohio wants to strip its citizen’s of their financial freedom by reigning in payday lenders.  Joe wants us to stop the madness by signing one of the petitions that have been circulating to get legislation sponsored by Ohioans for Financial Freedom on the November ballot.

 

What Joe doesn’t tell us is that Tony Soprano and his mobster buddies would be hauled off to federal prison for doing what payday lenders make a business out of.  What payday lenders do is called usury in my neck of the Ohio woods and, like mob lending, it should be illegal. 

 

The plain facts are this:

• Payday loans are assigned at an annualized interest rate of 391 percent!  Ohio lawmakers want that rate lowered to a more manageable 28 percent.
• Payday loan jobs are not “well-paying” positions.  They are low-paying jobs that won’t keep a person afloat financially.  So, those 6,000 jobs that Joe insists will be lost are people living barely above the poverty line to begin with, not people living in the lap of luxury as Joe would have us believe.
• Payday loans come in all sizes, with a $100 loan being on the low end of the spectrum.  Some payday loan lenders allow loans of up to $800.
• Payday lenders prey on those who don’t have the money to repay their debt.  The only proof of solvency that payday lenders require is proof of employment and of a bank account.  A customer’s credit rating, or true ability to repay, has nothing to do with the transaction.  People who have good credit, have other, less expensive, options for accessing money to pay for pickup truck belts.  It’s the folks who don’t have those options – the people least able to absorb such high interest rates – that payday lenders service.  Desperate people, struggling to find ways to pay bills and meet the rising costs of gasoline and groceries, make up the general clientele of payday lenders.  What Joe neglects to tell viewers is that since many payday lenders allow their customers to “borrow” again within a day or two of paying their loan, a number of customers are doing just that.  Far too many customers of payday lenders get caught in a cycle of borrowing the same amount, or a larger amount, every payday cycle just to break even. 

It is because far too many people found themselves unable to pay back their loans that the State of Ohio had to step in and regulate the payday loan industry which has been enjoying explosive growth at the detriment of those they profess to serve.  Had their rates been reasonable and their practices not targeted those least able to repay, Ohio legislators wouldn’t have had to become involved.  The only thing missing from payday lenders’ repertoire is a big guy named Vinnie threatening to break the fingers or kneecaps of non-paying customers.  Of course, for people who have no other options, even usury is a feasible, if not altogether welcome, alternative.  But, gee, Farmer Joe, why not tell the truth and give Ohioans all the information they need to decide if they’d rather borrow money at 391% or at 28%?  I for one believe that my financial freedom, and that of my fellow Ohioans, rests on the failure of the payday loan industry, not the perpetuation of it, and you’ll not see this Ohioan’s signature on Joe’s petitions.

 

 

 

But, I don’t have all the answers either.

 ©2008 ForeWORD Communications    

All Rights Reserved

 

 

ForeWORD Communications

Intelligent Writing Solutions for Individuals and Businesses

Articles – eBooks – eCourses – White Papers – Web Page Content – Etc.

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Deadbeat Dads and the Need for Child Support Laws

 

Today, I happened upon a blog that was socking it to every law that has been designed specifically to sock it to parents who don’t pay child support.  This blogger (let’s call him Mr. Blogger) stated that the laws were “railroading” paying parents as well as non-paying ones.  He also stated that these “stupid” (yep, he called ‘em stupid) laws were ruining the lives of paying parents.  And, without a thought to custodial parents who never see a dime of child support, this blogger actually called the laws that require reporting deadbeat parents to credit reporting bureaus and laws that deny small business loans to non-paying parents “nonsense”.  Yikes!

 

Since, just today, my ex-husband and the father of my three children remarried for the third time, I was understandably irritated in a way that this blogger apparently can’t understand.  Oh, I don’t have a problem with the fact that my ex has remarried.  More power to him.  I do, however, have a problem with the fact that he had a full-blown wedding, complete with two limousines and a ballroom reception, when he hasn’t paid child support since last year.  Guess we can say that my children financed that wedding, can’t we?

 

Anyway, as my ex enjoys such amenities as two cars, a camper, a boat, a classic car he’s restoring, out-of-town vacations, a wedding, and, yes, a honeymoon, I sit here wondering what more I, and my children, can do to make his life more enjoyable.  Perhaps, in addition to supporting our children single-handedly, he’d also like me to pay the mortgage on his rental property and throw him a few bucks for spending money on his honeymoon as well.  Now, I’m not a bitter woman.  My kids were in the wedding and I dished out a rather large sum of my own hard-earned money preparing them for their father’s nuptials.  Naturally, he and the new Mrs. sprang for the dresses and suits, but I had to pay for hair, nails, a dress and shoes for my oldest daughter who elected not to be in the wedding but did want to attend, and a lot of back and forth between his house, the church, and the reception hall – he lives twenty miles away.  Still, it seems as if most of this – ok all of it – should have been his responsibility, not mine.

 

So as Mr. Blogger Dude berates our nation’s lawmakers for getting too tough on deadbeat parents, I ask you – are they really tough enough?  States have had to find new and aggressive ways to stop deadbeats in their tracks.  Why?  Because deadbeats have found new and creative ways to avoid paying child support.  In the case of my ex-husband, there’s no end to his creativity. 

 

Consider this.  My ex-husband is self-employed and is paid under the table for the work that he does.  This means that he has no weekly wages to garnish.  My ex claims only what he has to on taxes and never receives a refund, so there is no tax refund to seize.  The laws that allow my state to place a lien on his real estate don’t work because the house he rents out has two mortgages, so he owes far more than the property could be sold for.  And the laws that allow my state to suspend a professional license don’t apply since he isn’t a professional of any kind.  So what are the options?  He was just notified that, unless he paid his support, the county in which the child support order was issued intends to suspend his driver’s license.  Actually, the suspension will be in effect when he returns from his honeymoon.  But, do you think he cares?  Not!  He will continue to drive and, should he get pulled over, he’ll just blame it all on me.  After all, everything else is my fault, why not that too?

 

My point is this.  States are having a hard time finding ways to punish those who don’t take their child support seriously.  And along comes Mr. Blogger with his blanket declaration that child support enforcement laws are stupid and they aren’t fair.  So, let’s look at his concerns from a different angle, shall we?

 

Mr. Blogger asked the question “Now someone please tell me how in the world that is fair do they think by allowing a non-custodial parent to obtain a loan to start their dream of owning their own business is somehow going to prevent that person from paying child support.”

 

Well, Mr. Blogger, it’s like this.  Preventing the non-paying parent from realizing their dream of owning their own business is not going to prevent them from paying child support.  However, there is no need to reward that individual for non-payment either.  After all, if he/she can’t take his/her child support seriously, who’s to say that he/she is honorable enough to make loan payments either.  Oh!  But, maybe Mr. Blogger feels that a business loan is more serious than child support and so therefore the Small Business Administration can trust the deadbeat when his/her own children can’t.  Either way, if a deadbeat parent wants to dream of owning a business he/she had better own up to his/her children’s dreams first.  Owning a business is not a guarantee of child support.  And why should the deadbeat get ahead while his/children fall behind?

 

Mr. Blogger states that, in the olden days, deadbeats “were not denied their civil liberties or the rights to obtain loans to start businesses or purchase homes”. 

 

Ok, listen closely.  Deadbeat parents should be denied all of the rights and liberties that law-abiding citizens enjoy because deadbeat parents are not law-abiding.  You break a law, there are penalties.  It’s that simple.  And, paying child support was rendered a law because far too many parents were failing to support their children.  Parents who fail to pay child support for a couple of months are rarely denied the right to obtain a loan.  The situation generally has to be far more serious than a slight arrearage.  After all, times are tough and anyone can fall behind on their financial obligations.  It is the consistent and flagrant violators that are usually awarded such penalties.  And, boy, do they deserve it.  Why on earth should a deadbeat parent be permitted to purchase a home?  What, we’re supposed to allow them to own property while their children live in poverty?  I don’t think so!  Can’t buy a home if you’re a deadbeat parent?  Wow, bummer, so sorry to hear that.

 

The fact is that deadbeat parents have spent a great deal of time and effort finding new and creative ways to avoid supporting their children and whining about how “unfair” the laws that force them to pay are.  If they put half that much effort into giving their children their due, there would have been little need for child support laws in the first place.

 

 

 

But, I don’t have all the answers either.

 

©2008 ForeWORD Communications    

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The Ugly American: Are We Really Any Uglier Than Everyone Else?

Ok, so bright and early this morning I had a discussion with a European-based buyer about how American freelance writers gripe about the low rates that the market is currently paying primarily because of the influx of writers from developing countries.  For internet writers, the globalization of freelancing has resulted in competing against writers who are able to charge a mere $2-ish an hour.  In this country, that wage would qualify you for food stamps – no, homelessness!

 

And, have you seen the work of these so-called writers?!  Horrors!  Just surf the web and you’ll find an internet crammed full of content that is plagiarized, grammatically incorrect, rife with spelling errors, and completely lacking in any real ability to speak to the audience.  Their grades in school may have reflected a relatively solid understanding of the English language, but, linguistically, they fall so far short of making the grade, it’s frustrating.

 

But, let’s stop here for a minute.  Before I’m accused of being exactly what I hate, I don’t begrudge anyone the right to make a living.  All I’m saying is that, if you can’t compete, don’t lower the bar for everyone else.  For instance, I’m not a huge fan of women firefighters or overweight policemen.  I believe that every job has a certain minimum standard that has to be met for the job to be done properly.  If you can’t meet that standard, don’t expect the industry to lower the minimum standard to accommodate you.  Does this mean that no woman can be a great firefighter or that an overweight policeman can’t do his job?  Not at all.  It just means that, if the male firefighters are expected to lift 250 pounds, the women had better be able to do it too.  And, if that overweight policeman can huff his way through a back-alley foot chase, more power to him.  But, no special dispensations; find another job, if you’re not willing to adhere to the minimum standards.  After all, I wouldn’t try to get a job as a nurse without the right skills, would I?

 

Now, back to that buyer who has a problem with paying a fair wage.  His rantings about how Americans only complain when something affects them and how Americans expect the rest of the world to kowtow to them reminded me of the age-old, and significantly overdone, rant about the Ugly American.

 

Sure, there is such a thing as the Ugly American, but there are Ugly British, Ugly Germans, and Ugly French too.  The ugliness of the tourist is common throughout the world.  Just ask anyone in the hospitality industry.  Still, that whole Ugly American thing has always bothered me.  It’s as if we’ve been held up as an example of everything that’s wrong with politics, economics, morals – everything!  Like we’re a bunch of whiny two-year-olds.

 

But, hey, we are a bunch of whiny two-year-olds!

 

The United States is only a little over 230 years old.  Old for a person, but a babe-in-the-woods compared to other countries.  The UK, Germany, France, Italy, etc. are old-timers compared to us.  And, like any toddler, we are testing the limits and pushing the boundaries.  We make bad decisions and end up paying for them.  And we stomp our feet when we don’t get our way.  We’re not ugly, we’re inexperienced!  Newbies in the global community.

 

And, this is different from everyone else how?

 

Actually, we Americans are no different from anyone else.  We’re just newer at it.  Remember when Rome controlled most of the world?  How about when England and Spain battled over the very grounds we live on.  And, speaking of England, didn’t they have colonies all over the world at one point?  Remember South Africa and apartheid?  Guess they were pretty ugly too, huh?  The only difference is that, now, it’s ok to speak out against a nation’s need to spread its wings, whereas, back in the days of the Tudor’s, it would have gotten you beheaded.

 

Still, we Americans are pretty stupid.  We just bounce gleefully along until we get ourselves into a whole heap of trouble.  Wanna come live here?  Ok, no problem.  All are welcome.  Now there are so many immigrants in the US that we’re arguing over official languages, arguing about what to do about illegal immigrants, and bending backward so far we can kiss our own you-know-whats.  Other, more established nations don’t have this problem; nor do developing third-world countries.  If you’re an illegal immigrant in the UK, you can kiss your butt goodbye.  If you go to France and don’t speak the language, do ya think they’re gonna make new walk/don’t walk signs just for you?  I don’t think so. And, China and Japan, well, they don’t let anyone in to just wander around like they’re free or something.

 

So, what does the Ugly American complain about?  The same stuff that developing – yes, in the larger scheme of things, we’re still developing – nations throughout time have complained about; the right to make a living, secure our boundaries, and be a recognized player in the global community.  Sometimes our complaints are focused inward (Rhett, whatever will I do without my servants!) and sometimes outward (How do we compete against third-world countries in the distribution of goods and services?), but they’re the same complaints that every other, much older, nation has already experienced.  Remember the hard time that England went through when they didn’t know where’d they get their tea?  How about when Rome couldn’t draw from a pool of captured slaves for servants – ok, Rome fell, so maybe that’s not a good example.  Either way, you get my point; the US is experiencing a host of growing pains; pains which most of Europe has already outgrown and most of the still-developing nations have yet to experience.

 

So, get off your Ugly American high-horse and recognize that Americans are just a few centuries behind the rest of the world.  Someday, we’ll put drastic limits on immigration, hunt down and deport illegals, require that the citizenship test be completed in English only, and stop rewarding our own corporations with tax breaks for outsourcing and leaving our own citizens jobless.  After all, isn’t that what everyone else does?

 

 

 

I don’t have all the answers either.

 

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Smooth Move Jesse Jackson

 

So, media savvy Jesse Jackson got caught with his proverbial pants down.  The microphone was still on as Jackson uttered the now infamous words “See, Barack’s been talking down to black people. … I want to cut his nuts of.”  Interesting how someone who must obviously be very familiar with the functioning of media equipment managed to commit such a faux pas.  I don’t think there’s a political pundit alive that believes that Jackson intended for his words to go unheard.

 

The problem is that Jackson and Obama approach black politics from very different angles.  Jackson has always attempted to rally the troops to action with inflammatory words and combative beliefs.  His blame-it-on-the-white-guy politics have never been effective as his failed presidential bids have proved. 

 

Obama, on the other hand, realizes that, regardless of the reasons which may have kept some black people disenfranchised in the past, the future depends on their ability to move on.  Obama’s call to action has nothing to do with protests or hostile words, and has everything to do with responsibility.  As long as the black community continues to remain planted firmly in the past, the prospects for the future will continue to be barred by hate. 

 

Obama has adopted a stance that identifies less with a past defined by slavery than a future based on success.  Black American history has been so intent on placing blame that purveyors of hate like Jackson have been allowed to flourish.  But, Obama has elected to follow a different path.  And, good for him!

 

Barack Obama is not “talking down to black people”, he’s talking them up, and not out like Jackson has been allowed to do for several decades –  to the detriment of the black community.  Obama represents the blacks of this great nation in a light that encourages a cooperative government, not one that forces the beliefs of others into the spotlight.  Obama seems to realize, as Jackson does not, that the success of the nation, and the people that live here, depends on the ability of everyone to work together, not against each other.  As long as blame takes precedence over progress, someone’s gonna pay.  And, in a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy, it’s usually the group consumed by their own need to place blame that suffers.

 

So, get over it, Jesse.  Your impotent attempt to emasculate Obama was as futile as your political career.  Your time is over.  And the time for a kinder, gentler form of action is at hand.  Stop trying to fan the flames of anger and support Obama in his efforts to get past the obstacles that have kept blacks in this country from reaching their goals. 

 

I don’t have all the answers either.

 

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Transnational Gangs: How have gangs gone global? How does immigration facilitate the international spread of gangs?

The United States is not the only nation that has seen the proliferation of street gangs in recent decades. However, the explosion of street gang activity in other nations can, at least partially, be traced back to the U.S., where many of these foreign gang members receive their training and internship. Individuals who make their living through criminal activity cycle in and out of the United States and take back to their own country, or another country altogether, more criminal skills and network contacts than they left with.

Although there are many reasons why gangs have gone global, one of the main sources of their education comes from time spent in the U.S. Individuals enter the country either with some criminal skills already present or with the predilection toward criminal activity, and through their initiation into the U.S. crime world, they increase their skills and criminal contacts. If the individual is arrested for such activity, he or she may be deported back to his country of origin, taking everything he has learned with him, including the many contacts he has made, which, in many cases, are drug related. The United States deports thousands of individuals each year for participating in criminal activity making this a major source of the global gang member pool.

Another reason for the global spread of street gangs can be traced to the media representation and glamorization of the gang member stereotype. As far back as the many Hollywood pictures of James Dean as the romantic and misunderstood hoodlum, American culture has inadvertently idolized the gang member. What was once present only in the movies and American novels has spread to the internet and into popular music further widening the reach of the gang mystique. Interestingly, the gang members that are created by such methods probably wouldn’t even be familiar with the terms globalization or transnational, nor would they likely care. Even more interesting is the fact that these romanticized images in no way reflect the realities of gang life, which is another fact that up and coming gang members don’t know about, but probably wouldn’t care to know either since the goal is not to become one of the criminal element that lives in squalor and deals with the day to day avoidance of arrest. The idealized image of the successful criminal as having a garage full of flashy cars and a stable full of women is the image that these individuals strive for.

It is also likely that the majority of the globalization of gangs is due simply to the move toward an increasingly globalized world. As world travel became easier, and the spread of national cultures became more prevalent, it was inevitable that the movement of individuals would signal the spread of the good and the bad, including gang mentality, culture, and activity. Some of these gangs operate as a part of criminal networks and others operate independently using what they have learned in the states as a basis for their activities.

Gangs were once formed by a group of individuals who were generally short-term, temporary members. The average gang member was usually a young man who joined the gang as a sort of rite of passage. Most of these members would eventually outgrow the gang. However, in recent decades, gang activity has taken on a whole new meaning with individuals becoming more permanent members of a gang and more entrenched in gang life and gang activities. Women are becoming more involved in gangs. And the gang has become more of an organization unto itself with members as employees and the spread into the whole of the U.S. and numerous foreign countries.

Still, for the most part, it is not the gangs themselves that have gone international but the gang persona or mentality. The phenomena of the globalization of gangs has occurred because the gang culture has spread via the media, and, most importantly, the migration of individual gang members. As previously mentioned, the individual gang members takes what he has learned and incorporates it into gang activities in another country. Gang activity in the United States has increased more than four hundred percent since the 1970’s, and gang activity has been reported in such countries as France, Germany, Canada, Japan, England, Mexico and South Africa, to name only a few. It used to be said that gangs migrated in order to find new members and to acquire additional territory. However, although this does still happen occasionally, it is now thought that the international spread of gangs did not result from any intentional plan, but rather as an unintended result of the migration of individual gang members.

The international trend of gang migration has followed a similar pattern as that which has heralded the spread of gangs in the United States itself. Gangs were once a localized phenomenon. However, as the members of the gang migrated, ironically sometimes in order to get away from the gang itself, the gang member formed a new gang in the new location. At first, these new gangs were not offshoots of the former gang, but were new outfits altogether. Once gangs realized the benefits of forming actual networks of gangs and gang members, gangs went national, and then, inevitably, international. There is little difference between the international spread of gangs and the phenomenon of the spread of gangs within the United States. The majority of this type of international spread has occurred mainly among the Hispanic and Asian migrants. These former U.S. gang members then act as a connection between the new gang and the old gang back in the U.S.

Many countries report that it is these deported gang members who are linking up with other deported gang members that are responsible for the dramatic increase of gang related crime. Many of these countries are not equipped to deal with gang activity and have found that there has been a significant increase of violent crime in their nations. Some of these gang members continue to move illegally back and forth between countries transporting people and goods. This is especially prevalent between the United States and South America. It is interesting how, in an effort to decrease gang related crime in its own country, the United States has been largely responsible for the spread of gang activity into other nations. Unlike the media, such as movies and music, the U.S. policy of deporting those immigrants that have been found to be involved in gang-related crimes has spread the gangs themselves from a once relatively segregated phenomenon into a global problem. Gangs now have initiated internationally available websites that are complete with gang mottos, symbols, bylaws, and pictures. This new form of gang communication has become as complex as the internet technology that supports it. However, such communication is reserved for the privileged few gangs that can afford it. For the most part, gangs are a non-technical network of criminal activity; some far more profitable than others, but almost all of them violent. For most gangs, the best technology they can access is the cellular phone, but this method of communication has been sufficient enough to spread crime, including murder and drugs, across the nation.

Globalization has resulted in a number of modern phenomena, both positive and negative. As gang-related activity is known to occur as a result of the disenfranchisement of a particular group of individuals, the global disenfranchisement of particular groups of individuals is likely to result in the proliferation of international gang activity. Such activity can be evidenced in the spread of terrorist organizations such as Al Qaeda. Some of the international members of Al Qaeda have been solicited and others have joined the organization without any group invitation. The spread of gangs on a global scale can be seen in the same way and may, eventually, operate on the same scale.

 

I don’t have all the answers either.

 

 

 

©2008 ForeWORD Communications    

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Copyright © 2008 ForeWORD Communications.  All Rights Reserved.

why cant kids write rite?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My daughter has elected to complete a couple of extra academic credits toward her graduation requirements via a reputable online school this summer.  One of those credits is an English III credit.  The course focuses on grammar, punctuation, and capitalization.  A week before the course began, the teacher, we’ll call her Madame English Teacher, placed the following message on her site: 

 

“Welcome to English III.  I’ll be posting a discription of the course soon.  This class is defenitely harder than the regular version because it is much shorter, so be prepared to work a lot harder.” 

 

Now, my degree isn’t in English, it’s in Psychology, but even I can see that Madame English Teacher has two very glaring misspellings in those three short sentences.  And this individual is teaching high school seniors! 

 

So, anyway, I called the school principal listed on the website and although she seemed unconcerned about the errors, she promised to point them out to the instructor.  My daughter informed me later that day that the blurb had been removed and the English III home page was now blank.  I also received a call from Madame English Teacher herself explaining that the Science teacher had written the contents of the page because Madame English Teacher herself was busy trying to wrap up her end-of-semester duties from the regular school year.  I’m wondering how the Science teacher managed to pass English herself. 

 

My daughter has since completed the first unit and taken the unit quiz.  The quizzes are teacher-generated and then loaded into the online system.  During the regular school year, my daughter earned a perfect grade in English.  She does well in all of her subjects, but she’s an exceptional English student.  But this summer school course has her ready to pull her hair out, and here’s why: 

Quiz One, Question 3…

Select the option that best completes the sentence. 

The librarian _______ _______ work long hours.

a.      do not

b.      does not

c.       doesn’t not

d.      can’t not

 

My daughter, being a veritable genius, selected option “b”.  Her answer was marked wrong.  Thinking “what the…?”, my daughter emailed Madame English Teacher and, trying not to sound like she thinks the teacher is a complete moron, worded her email as such. 

Hi, Madame English Teacher.

I just took the unit one quiz and, maybe I’m tired, but it seems as if some of the questions might be scoring incorrectly.  I’m not sure but I think I got question three right even though the system said I got it wrong.  Can you take a look at it?

Thanks

Genius Daughter

 

This is the reply she received from the teacher… 

i think youre just tired ill reset the quiz so you can take it again 

 

Ok, is it me or is something very wrong here?

 

I believe that the above written communication from Madame English Teacher contains two separate sentences, yet there is no placement of periods or capitalization that would indicate such.  Also, last I checked, the “word” youre is supposed to contain an apostrophe indicating that it is the product of two separate words; you and are.  Ditto for ill.  Although, “ill” is a word, I believe that the teacher meant to write I’ll, to represent “I” and “will”.  I don’t believe she was trying to tell my daughter that she wasn’t feeling well.  And shouldn’t there be a line of greeting such as “Hi, Genius Daughter” and a closing such as “Thanks, Madame English Teacher”?  I seem to recall, way back in the dark ages when we were expected to communicate correctly, actually studying how to write a letter.  Emails are electronic letters, not an invitation for sloppy written communication; especially on the part of a teacher!  Hello!

 

The ongoing inability of this teacher to communicate effectively using good written English indicates that she may have told a little fib about the Science teacher.  Either neither teacher can spell worth a darn or Madame English Teacher just needed to divert blame from herself.  Additionally, the fact that the English teacher cannot seem to recognize that there is a significant problem with the quiz indicates that, like my daughter suspected, the woman is far from qualified to teach the course.  And, finally, it scares the bejesus out of me that Madame English Teacher sent my daughter a reply email that was completely devoid of capitalization, punctuation, and proper grammar.

 

Shouldn’t English teachers, heck, teachers in general, be held to a higher standard? 

 

No wonder we’re raising a nation of people who can’t spell, write, or communicate effectively; or even adequately.  When even a teacher can’t manage to make the effort to set a shining example of proper use of the rules of the English language, something is very wrong.  One of the first things we learn – in psychology, in education, heck, as parents – is that children learn by example.  What kind of example is Madame English Teacher setting for her students?  How can she possibly correctly judge the standard of a student’s work when she obviously doesn’t know what such work should entail (as evidenced by her inability to display the standards in her own communications)? 

 

And, please don’t make the argument that teachers are overworked and underpaid.  First, that’s the state of most employees these days.  Second, that’s no excuse for an inability to do one’s job properly.  And, third, it’s not true.   

 

I spent several years working in the human resources department at a local urban school district and most of them were paid nearly twice what I was making, and I was making pretty good money.  Our human resources director used to say that teaching was the only profession where you could make more from year to year merely by virtue of staying alive.   

 

And, summer school teachers…!  Forgetaboutit!  They got paid their regular daily rate plus a premium for teaching summer school.  Teachers would actually fight to be placed in a summer school position!  It was like earning double-time plus.  Now, to be fair, beginning teachers weren’t paid a whole lot, but because of union rules, teachers got what was called a step increase every year, plus, because of contract negotiations, they received regular cost of living increases (those of us who worked in administration, at the time, had not seen a cost of living increase or a raise in more than five years).  Additionally, teachers had a top-of-the-line health care plan which included dental and vision coverage (they paid less than $50 a month for this superb coverage!), they received a certain number of free sick days, got winter and spring breaks and summers off, worked less than seven hours a day, got one free period for “planning”, and received numerous “bonuses” for any perceived extra duties they performed.  For instance, a teacher would receive extra pay if he or she had to cover another teacher’s class, even if it was for mere minutes.  Teachers were also paid their daily rate for taking professional development classes and received what was called a “schedule” increase once they earned a higher degree (i.e., anything above a B.A.). 

 

I’m not saying that teachers don’t work hard.  I could never do the job.  I would never want the job.  Still, being overworked is no excuse for the poor performance of teachers such as Madame English Teacher.  And, I don’t believe that this teacher is performing poorly because she’s overworked.  I believe that she performs this way because; first, she obviously doesn’t care; second, she’s not held to a higher standard; and, third, she’s not good at her job. 

 

The quality of my daughter’s education depends on the quality of the individuals who provide that education.  If a teacher can’t be bothered to facilitate a quality educational experience for every child, they should find another profession.

 

I don’t have all the answers either.

 

©2008 ForeWORD Communications

 

All Rights Reserved 

 

For intelligent writing solutions for your business, visit my website at www.forewordcommunications.com

 

ForeWORD Communications – Freelance Writing Services
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Webpage: www.forewordcommunications.com