Do your Homework, Be Prepared, and Study!

“Do your Homework, Be Prepared, and Study!”
Michael L. Sanz

Many of us have those few movies that we can just watch over and over. One of mine is “A Few Good Men” starring Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson. I am always mesmerized during the courtroom scene, when Cruise and Nicholson go at it. The classic exchange is when Nicholson’s character barks out, “You want answers?”, and the young attorney Cruise passionately responds with, “I want the truth!”

Here is a Truth: The Educational System in the United States benefits a few, burdens many and does an inadequate job preparing our children for the future. It is time that we face truth and come up with solutions. The greatest deterrent to this is fear of change.

I have come to the realization that “Fear” is really scary! Removal from our daily habits is extremely frightening. If I was told that I could no longer have my morning cup of coffee my fear of falling out of my routine would lead to me being too frightened to function…??? “Change” is the fabric woven into every significant event in the history of this world. Present any name in our past and there is a connection to change and fear. George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Gandhi, Robert Oppenheimer (I wonder how many of our high school seniors know who he was.), Dr. Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy are just a few. These guys were very scary dudes. They had the courage to spark change despite the consequences of the resultant fear.

The following is a solution to enhance academic success, improved test scores, and higher graduation rates. These points lead to an environment of inviting culture, compassion, consistency and elevated community self-esteem.

The new catch phrase throughout the district should be, “Do you Homework, Be Prepared, and Study!”
The lobbies, offices and classrooms in every school in the district should clearly display the phrase, “Do your Homework, Be Prepared and Study!”

Wow! Think of how this radical change will evoke fear in the hearts and minds of so many students. Well, tough, it is direct, and it will work. So when a student approaches a teacher and says, “I don’t understand why I’m failing this class”, look them straight in the eye. Raise your hand and slowly open three fingers on your hand while saying, “Do your homework, be prepared and study”. When a parent comes in for a meeting with teachers they will ask questions. The most common is, “What can you do differently to help my child get better grades”. Every teacher in the meeting should address this the same way. “I will continue to facilitate the learning process for your child utilizing my skills and experience. Please instruct your child to do the following: “Do your homework, be prepared, and study”. Finally, when an administrator or guidance counselor meets with a teacher and says, “You need to make changes so that the students do better”. The teacher should say, “Absolutely, I’ll talk to them today and introduce my major expectation: Do your homework, be prepared, and Study!”
…Problem solved!