School success: Read the news
After 30 years of teaching English, journalism and history in Fresno and Stockton, my teen tips are plentiful, because America cannot afford another Millennial Generation, which is stupid and ignorant:
▪ Read the newspaper daily; it is a living history book. Democracy in the modern age, requires an informed public! Ask the history/English teacher to issue a weekly/monthly 10-question, current-events quiz. Ignorance is not bliss!
▪ Insist your school board supports a return to English grammar instruction as part of the required curricula, absent for two decades
▪ Pre-test all English students in week one of the new term with a diagnostic essay to allow the teacher to pinpoint and address weaknesses in writing, grammar, spelling, content and organization, to focus instruction and hone student skills during the year.
▪ Issue the latest free version of Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery to all sophomore English classes to give them early job focus and direction in their lives; share the results with parents, who can encourage and motivate their children to achieve individual and family goals. Remember, if you work at something you love, it’s not work at all!
Gary Daloyan, Fresno
This story was originally published August 18, 2015 at 9:42 AM with the headline "School success: Read the news."