European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 13, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Be our guest teaching what it takes for schools to make the Grade Kay Jones i be been a teacher for a Long time 19 years and every school year i write my resignation i february. I think i am mostly s.a.d., suffer ing from seasonal affect disorder which indefinitely worse in Germany because of the Short Days filled with Gray Dull Daylight. About this time every year i become frustrated with the sys  the More i learn about kids the harder teach ing becomes. For most people their jobs get easier with experience however with teaching the More i learn about How kids learn the More i know that the Public school system is woefully inadequate in meet ing most students needs. What s wrong with Public schools just ask your self what s wrong with today s society. There Are Many answers to movies drugs single working parents staff cuts budget cuts stressed out workers. One of the most difficult students to teach now is the drug baby whose chemistry has been neurologically impaired from Conception. Even medication rarely helps these children who Are born with learn ing and emotional problems. Another recent problem is the attention deficit disorder child with or without hyperactivity. Why Are there so Many kids who cannot make themselves available for learning now i think about All of these things. But i d rather spend my Energy dealing with the problems rather than asking Why they exist. How can we help our children in school today Here s my 1994 advice for students parents and teachers students strive to be the Best that you can be. Take what learning you can from the Given situation in other words when life gives you Lemons make lemonade. With Luck you will have the Opportunity to learn from a few Fine teachers the unfortunate reality is that you will have More Lousy teachers than Good ones. You can always learn from people if not facts How to succeed in spite of the Odds against opening laugh 1 Harris Usa 1994, Ca Toons a 1 a nets syn Ca Al Javad Tehran Iran j you. It s easy to be successful with someone you like it s a Challenge to succeed in a class taught by some one you Don t like. Parents read to with your child everyday Reading the daily newspaper is a Good habit to develop. Even the most reluctant Reader will read the comics which provide visual clues and con text clues. Read the headlines and photo captions. Read and discuss current events to increase general knowledge. Expect your child t6 do his her Best and do not accept excuses for anything less. Teachers if you Don t like kids anymore find an other Job. Caring about kids is the Only reason to stay in the business of education. I have seen new teachers with no special education training work Well with needy students. The reason they were effective and the students succeeded was that the teacher cared enough about the child to find out what the student could do then built on the student strengths. Sometimes i get tired and know that i Don t have the Energy to continue this difficult task and then i get a thank you from a Parent or a student. Last year my eighth graders lost several teachers during the school year. The pupils would just adjust to a new one and another one would leave. They were feeling somewhat abandoned when they wrote me a note you Are really Nice and we Hope that you never  it was March and i Tore up my Resig nation. Kay Jones is a teacher at Frankfurt Middle school. Fielding dreams Kristen Tsetsi la Friend s House recently i saw Field of dreams for the first time. Hard to be Lieve i know considering How popular the movie was when it came out in 1989. It was really inspiring. I suppose that May have been the intention to put an underlying moral in the Story. It certainly made me think. It s sad How Many people have dreams and goals but will Settle for less. Maybe they wanted to be a doctor but settled for a nursing position. Or maybe they wanted to be a rocket scientist but settled for an opening in the nearest convenience store. Now i can t really talk because i want to be a writer and i m not there yet. I mean i graduated from High school in june 1992 and i m still bagging groceries with no College credits to my name. There Are minor consequences that come with staying in the same town where you graduated from High school working at a Crumb Job. And yes i be been Lucky enough to experience them. One of those consequences might be that almost every teacher you had As a senior comes in to your place of business at one time or another especially if it s a place like a grocery store. And they always ask the same questions. Why Aren t you in school did t you graduate in 92? then comes the ultimate shame students who graduated with you coming Back during College Breaks. You work Here they always ask. No you think to yourself i m wearing this stupid ugly embarrassing completely ridiculous looking uniform because Well i Don t know. Finally a teacher i had when i was in sixth Grade whom i will never forget As Long As i live told Mev that it did t matter what people thought about what i was doing with my life As Long As it was something i wanted to be doing. Bless you mrs George. Anyway to get Back to the Point dreams Are easy to have but a pain in the butt to put into action. Imagine what it must have taken for Kevin Costner to make that baseball Field. A lot of work time and determination. I guess it s about time i Start i guess it s about time a lot of us did. Kristen tsetse lives in Heidelberg Germany. Contents from the cover. 4.5 Romance Between the covers sidelights 7.9 marriage bumps. Ken Lamblin riles Denver. Clarence Page on the Muhammad firestorm. Odds & ends 10 miss manners covers a wild party in tune a David let Turman on Germany to. This week s films. 12-13 Vuch car 54, Miere Are you crashes military circuit listings. Television listings 14.17 local Cable and satellite schedules. Home entertainment. 18 in the line of fire " a hot video. Voices 19 Linda Ella Rocc chips away at. Violence. Words & wit 21 Liat s in and out with Milliam Safire. Winter olympics on to. 22-23 Greg Gumbel and lbs. Books 24-25 beyond  Art Buchwald s leaving iome a  on Parade 27 John Malkovich sets his own Pace. Last laugh 28 Dave Barry on dam problem of beavers. Sunday is a weekly supplement of the stars and stripes editor. Bucky Fox Art direction Susan Harris production Bernard Jensen editorial assistance Louis Pierce Page 2 sunday february 13. 1994