What's the strategy?

"So what's the stategy for what?" I ask myself. as I find myself administering a reading test, that's the first question I hear. It makes me think about the way things are going in general. Is there a strategy? Are we going to find our way out of this recession? Is there a strategy to get out of this war? Is there a strategy to get kids to value themselves and want to come up with new and better strategies? Now that's a question for the big wigs to wrestle with. Can we strategize to overcome laziness? Is there a model for beating apathy? Are there general guidelines for instilling and activating self-respect, determination, or self-motivation? If there are any ways to combat these I'm waiting for the next cnn special to show me how. Can we call it "Lazy in America" or "It's not your fault in America"? You know something with some real substance. Well, maybe I'm asking for too much. My parents taught me to follow my dreams and to do my best. They instilled in me confidence and courage. They let me fall, all the while lessening the blow, so that I would know how to get back up. Is that type of parenting long gone? Is that a thing from the past? Am I going to finally be one of those adults who start sentences with "When I was growing up..."? I don't know. A conversation with some collleauges really made me think. We discussed that kids in school aren't going to fail. Not because they're stellar students or complete everything or pass every assignment. Instead, they get a free ride because the paperwork isn't complete, they have their own paperwork, policy wasn't followed, they had a rough upbringing, or maybe just maybe it was the teacher's fault. That seems to be the general concensus. No matter how many times you gave them lunch money, stopped the bully from picking on them, encouraged them to do better, or even tried to encourage their parents to help them do better. It's still the teacher's fault and all interested parties go home and sleep at night. All except one, that teacher who carries that burden of all of the kids they are in charge of, that's the one who has to use a sleep aid, drink, complain to friend, re-evaluate their life because the blame can be pushed no more. They are the ones who stand up and try to map out the plan, do the strategies, be the leader, teammate, and cheerleader but why? When the "real" strategies are being made and put in place no one looks at that teacher bearing those burdens. They say you're doing fine and help's on the way. The only thing that comes is one more burden to bear. In closing, I hope we, as a society, can find some new strategies to make things better. It seems as though it has been left up to the people to make the strategies and find ways to weave them into the fabric of society which is fine but if we don't start with a drastic change in thinking and in our actions we will end up right back where we started. It's not much but let's start here: 1.) Parents be parents - teach your kids to make society better. 2.) Dear education system, can you please be a part of the solution instead of the problem - you only have so many chances in life. Not everyone can make the team, not every kid's an honor student, and you're not going to be sued by every parent. Have some courage and stand for what's right. Isn't that why we pay you? 3.) Every person should hold themselves accountable for their actions. We can only change who we are and what we do so let's start there and if that's the general concensus then we should be doing ok. Let's all find our strategy and make it work. Have a great day.