EducationNation, My Way

EducationNation, My Way


By Elizabeth Szlek


For The Rome Observer, September 28, 2010



I am sure that everyone has heard about the “national conversation” sponsored by NBC News now going on in New York City, EducationNation, Loads of people are “dialoging” and “sharing” their thoughts on the miserable state of our public educational systems. Of course, no one asked for my opinion, but I am delighted to add my thoughts to this general brouhaha!

There are many awful things about public education, and we in this area can see the results of a system that fails to educate its pupils. While we in this area are blessed with some of the finest schools in America (New Hartford and Clinton spring to mind), I think it is safe to say that most citizens could conclude that many schools are not producing well educated citizens, ready to take on the world.

What Are Some of the Problems?

I listened briefly to some of the news segments last night, and this is what seems to be a running theme: Bad teachers, unbustable teachers’ unions, and bad teachers with tenure. That was pretty much what I heard. Having studied the National Education Association (NEA) for many years, I can safely say that their liberal agenda has definitely lowered the quality of education available in public schools. The NEA is a powerful force in politics in Washington, and any attempts to wrest control of education away from their grip is going to be quite a battle. Getting rid of tenure and bad teachers is only the beginning.

If we think about tenure for a moment, the absurdity of the institution just springs out at you. I remember the fights for tenure when I was teaching at a large university. College professors, however, once had reason to seek tenure, which involved the ability to conduct research independently of university control. With tenure, the administration couldn’t dictate what avenues of research you could pursue if you had tenure. If you wanted to spend years researching some obscure worm or bug, they just had to let you do it!

I don’t know why tenure moved down to the public schools. I don’t think this freedom of research idea holds in the lower areas of education. Why tenure? Certainly, no one can say that teachers are paid poorly, and their retirement packages are excellent. So, what does tenure have to do with anything? If they are bad teachers, just like if they were bad salespeople, or bad pipefitters, or any other salaried position, they should be able to be fired. Yes, schools are rife with politics, but if someone is doing a great job as a teacher, even if he or she is fired, the teacher can find another job where talents will be appreciated. If teachers are incompetent or mediocre, why force your precious children to be educated by them through the tenure system? Don’t kids deserve the best?

Perhaps This is the Real Problem

I have been reading about the effects of poor nutrition on the human body, and it occurred to me that perhaps nutrition plays a much greater role in the dumbing down of our society than ever thought. The actual fact is that millions of Americans are truly suffering from malnutrition. Think about that for a moment. Millions of parents conceive their children while they themselves are in a state of malnourishment. The child gestates in the womb of a woman who continues to be malnourished throughout her pregnancy. Then, after birth, the infant is malnourished on such poisons as soy formula, or bottles of fruit juice.  The child continues to eat poorly until he or she arrives at the red schoolhouse, ready, supposedly, to learn. The malnourishment continues through the free breakfasts and lousy school lunches, and at home, Mom and Dad are bringing in pizza and wings for supper on a regular basis, or worse, Mac and Cheese or other highly processed foods.

Now Princess or Junior reaches the age where they can pick their own diets, and soda and chips and especially loads of sugar, processed snacks and processed breakfast cereals form a large part of their caloric intake.

They continue this diet and soon, produce their own malnourished offspring, who have mentally and physically degenerated far more than even their parents.

We all expect these poor malnourished children to become effective learning machines for eight hours a day, when their tanks are running on empty most of the time? We must be crazy! Furthermore, I have not even mentioned the fact that many, many children do not even eat breakfast of any kind before jumping on the school bus – not because their parents have no food in the house, but because they don’t want to get fat!

Or, because the thought of a nourishing breakfast makes them want to puke!

I have had many young clients, with some emotional problems, who regularly do not eat breakfast OR LUNCH. They wait until they come home from school at 3PM to give their starving brains some fuel. Now, just imagine what harm this is doing to their entire physical and mental being. No nourishment for a brain that is expected to master the calculus!

Or, I have had clients who become grossly obese due to the horrible diet their parents allow them to eat. One boy, who weighed over 300 lbs. at age fifteen, told me he had eaten “some doughnuts” for breakfast. And the mother of this boy actually stocked them for him! This is madness!

If we consider the lunches now being considered for schools, we can see that they are loaded with such “goodies” as soy burgers, pizza and chicken McNuggets. Our nation’s dieticians have bought into the idea that soy is good for you. In that form, burgers, it isn’t, but those who make up these menus have merely capitulated to the whims of the malnourished children they serve. Why should kids eat pizza at school?

Because there is so little understanding of what truly nourishes the human body, we cannot get out of the giant hole we have dug for ourselves. Few understand the ravages of a diet based on sugar, hydrogenated oils, refined flours, aspartame and MSG. Obesity is just the tip of the bad news iceberg. Heart disease, diabetes and other degenerative diseases are just waiting to take over young lives.
People seem to be searching for the proper foods to eat, but they have been so brainwashed by the ridiculous food pyramid that they are almost helpless to come up with a way of eating that meets their body’s needs. We need to eat to live! Children need to eat to develop their intellect, to protect their health and spirit. It is no wonder we see a huge growth in mental disorders, since our very mental health often depends upon our diet.

My word for the EducationNation debate would be: Look at what your students are eating. Perhaps nutrition education should be instilled in them all along the way!



Elizabeth Szlek is the Director of The Door Counseling Center of Utica, NY. Questions and comments can be directed to her at (315) 768-8900 or at info@thedoorcounseling.com.