Under Pressure

Last week, the kids headed back to school.  As with every new school year, there was a mixture of excitement and angst.  Even the kids were excited (I think).

It’s a tough job being a student.  There’s peer pressure, pressure to achieve academically, pressure to excel in sports, and the pressure to fit too many activities in too little time.  A Columbia University study found that 60% of high school students surveyed responded that they attended a “drug-infected” school.  The study also pointed out that “digital peer pressure” in the form of social media, makes a significantly negative impact on students, heavily influencing their decisions on the use of alcohol, drugs, and tobacco.

Students are under pressure to excel academically to get into college or to pass the numerous standardized tests imposed by state and federal education departments. A study by the Educational Testing Service, the organization that administers the Graduate Record Examinations and other standardized tests, estimates that 75% of high school students participate in academic cheating and the cheating is due, primarily, to the emphasis on high grades.

Athletes are also pressured to excel.  According to a survey by the Josephson Institute Center for Sports Ethics, in addition to pressure from overbearing parents, many athletes are pressured to cheat to maintain academic eligibility or comply with the “win at all costs” attitudes of coaches and fellow players.

A 2006 report by the American Academy of Pediatrics says students' lives are overscheduled long before they enter their teenage years. The report faults "changes in family structure, competitive college admissions process[es], federal education policies [and] fear a child may fall behind academically" for compelling parents to enroll their children in plenty of "developmental activities."

As I said, it’s tough being a student. I can’t imagine going through the high school years again.  Daily, students deal with negative peers, negative coaches, negative teachers, and a negative school environment.  They are overscheduled and their efforts are often underappreciated.  As parents and mentors, it’s up to us to fill them up with positive encouragement and praise.

How? Take time to listen to them and to understand their concerns.  Sure, whatever is on their mind today may be forgotten in a few days, but at the moment it’s huge to them.  Find some time to spend with them away from the normal routine and distractions, and simply listen to what they say.  Sometimes, all they want is for someone to listen.  Make your praise specific.  Instead of simply saying “good job”, tell them what the good job was so they know you were paying attention.  And don’t be stingy with the praise; it costs you nothing to give.

As the kids go off to school this year, I pray that they have successful and happy school years.  Whether you are a parent, a teacher, a coach, or a youth leader, give your students what they want; someone to set healthy boundaries and a relationship with an adult that truly cares about them.  As Herbert Hoover said, “Children are our most valuable resource.”

Issues and Opinions

Recently, while waiting for a flight, I ran across an article on CNN.com titled, “Ryan’s Dangerous Vision”.  The headline caught my eye, so I read the article.  The article talks about Ryan’s “extreme plan” and how the Romney-Ryan plan would “throw seniors under the bus.” It ends with, “Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have solidified their roles as rubber stamps for the reckless and failed economic theories of the past.”

The piece was written by Donna Brazile, vice chairwoman for voter registration and participation at the Democratic National Committee (DNC).  CNN mentioned this information in an editor’s note at the beginning of the article, but it did not specifically state that it was an op-ed piece not a straight news story.  I wonder how many people had to reread the article, like I did, to discover it was an opinion piece. 

I’ve read Paul Ryan’s “A Roadmap for America’s Future” (http://roadmap.republicans.budget.house.gov/) and it explicitly states that it preserves the existing Medicare and Social Security programs for those 55 and older.  In the roadmap, you won’t find anything “extreme” or “reckless.”  Since Ms. Brazile is in a leadership position with the DNC, such language in an opinion piece about the opposing party’s candidates is expected.  But, having an opinion and getting it published doesn’t make it true.

It’s not my intent to defend Mr. Ryan’s plan.  I want to point out that as we get closer and closer to the elections in November, there will be lots of rhetoric from both parties.  Some of it will be inflammatory statements or eye-catching headlines intended to obfuscate the real issues. And, the real issues are much more important than the release of candidates’ income taxes or how they treated a family pet 30 years ago.  The real issues concern the future direction and leadership of this great country.

At the close of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, Ben Franklin was asked, “Well, Doctor, what have we got – a Republic or a Monarchy?”  Franklin’s reply was, “A Republic, if you can keep it.”  We need informed voters to keep this republic.  In order to be an informed voter, you’ll have to dig past the rhetoric and research the issues and the candidates’ positions on the economy, defense spending, taxation, the deficit, and social programs.  This November, the country needs a well-informed electorate, now more than ever.

One Hundred Years of Eagles

One hundred years ago this month, Arthur Eldred received formal notification that he was the first Boy Scout to earn the coveted Eagle Badge.  Since then, over 2,000,000 Scouts have earned the Eagle Badge, the highest rank in Boy Scouts.  Of the boys that join the Scouting program, only about 4% will earn the Eagle Badge.  Director Steven Spielberg, President Gerald Ford, actors Jon Heder and Mike Rowe, and astronauts Neil Armstrong, and Jim Lovell were all Eagle Scouts.

The Boy Scouts of America’s policies prohibiting atheists and agnostics from joining Scouting and prohibiting “open or avowed” homosexuals from leadership positions are considered controversial by some people.  A quick Google search indicates the many believe the Boy Scouts are a hate organization because of these policies.  Some of the Internet articles even compare the Boy Scouts to the KKK or Nazi Germany.  The Boy Scouts says that their policies are in line with the tenets of the Scout Oath and Scout Law and have been in place since the organizations founding in 1910. If the Scouting program is truly a hate organization, wouldn’t that hate be reflected in the Scouts who earn the highest honor?

Congressmen, astronauts, educators, athletes, actors, writers, doctors, engineers, scientists, and Medal of Honor winners are among those who earned the Eagle Badge.   That’s a pretty impressive list of achievers that were part of the Scout organization, but it doesn’t really answer my question.  I did some searching and found a study, that I believe, answers the question.

I found an article at ScienceDaily.com titled, “Eagle Scouts Have Positive, Lasting Influence On American Society, Study Suggests.”  The article (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120410145910.htm) reports on the findings of a scientific study performed by Baylor University’s Institute for Studies of Religion and Program on Prosocial Behavior. The article quotes Byron R. Johnson, Ph. D., Distinguished Professor of the Social Sciences, “"There is no shortage of examples or anecdotal accounts that suggest Scouting produces better citizens, but now there is scientific evidence to confirm the prosocial benefits of Scouting or earning the rank of Eagle Scout." Dr. Johnson also states, “The central question of this study was to determine if achieving the rank of Eagle Scout is associated with prosocial behavior and development of character that carries over into young adulthood and beyond."

The study’s findings (http://www.baylorisr.org/wp-content/uploads/Boy-Scouts-Report.pdf) show that:

• “Eagle Scouts exhibit an increased tendency to participate in a variety of health and recreational activities.

• Eagle Scouts show a greater connectedness to siblings, neighbors, religious community, friends, co-workers, formal and informal groups, and a spiritual presence in nature.

• Duty to God, service to others, service to the community, and leadership are traits that are especially strong in Eagle Scouts.

• Eagle Scouts are more likely to engage in behaviors that are designed to enhance and protect the environment.

• Eagle Scouts are more likely to be committed to setting and achieving personal, professional, spiritual, and financial goals.

• Eagle Scouts show higher levels of planning and preparedness than do other Scouts and non-Scouts.

• Eagle Scouts are more likely than other Scouts and non-Scouts to indicate they have built character traits related to work ethics, morality, tolerance, and respect for diversity.”

In this list, I noticed service to others, service to community, enhance and protect the environment, and build character traits related to work ethics, morality, tolerance, and respect for diversity.  Hate isn’t even implied. 

The mission of the Boy Scouts of America is “to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Scout Law.” If an organization, committed to instilling values such as duty to God and country, kindness, helpfulness, trustworthiness, courtesy, and morality, produces accomplished adults with character traits that include tolerance and respect for diversity, where is the hate?

At a time when courtesy is no longer common, dependence on the government is rising, and a sense of entitlement is rampant, organizations that try to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices and produce tolerant and respectful adults and leaders should be encouraged, not bashed.

The moral compass of the Boy Scouts, the Scout Oath and Scout Law, sets a standard of conduct that is conspicuously absent in many in our society.  Scouting builds self-reliance, sets a moral code and finds purpose in our young people.  It’s not perfect, but in 100 years, it has endured to mold successful adults and commended leaders.  Hate has been around a long time.  I pray that the Scouts continue to shine no matter what they are labeled.  Before casting a stone, do your homework and find out what Scouting is really about.

Don't Hyphenate America

Like most of the world, I’ve been watching the Olympic games on television.  I had the chance to watch part of the games with my brother.  Regardless of the sport, if there was a US athlete in the competition, he watched it as if he’d been a fan all his life.  While watching the US men’s doubles team play the Korean team in badminton, someone commented that it was difficult to tell which team was which, given the US team members had Asian features.  My brother pointed out that it didn’t matter what they looked like, they were American and that’s all that matters.

I went to TeamUSA.org and found out that the US sent 530 athletes to the Games to compete in 25 of 26 sports (handball is the only sport in which the US doesn’t participate).  I also found out that Tony Gunawan, one of the badminton players, represented Indonesia in the 2000 Olympics before immigrating to the US, and Howard Bach, his team mate, was born in Vietnam.  As I browsed the list of names of the US athletes, I saw last names that clearly had origins in other countries, such as Iguodala, Ramirez, van Garderen, Wang, and Wozniak.  Like the US itself, the US Olympic team is a mixture of ethnicities and cultures, but American nonetheless.  That’s cool.

What really bothered me was the way the announcers and broadcasters often identified some US athletes as hyphenated Americans, e.g., African-American, Asian-Americans, etc., instead of simply referring to them as an American athlete.  None of the athletes from other countries were identified in a similar manner, as best I could tell. Why was it necessary to identify any American athlete as a hyphenated American?  It isn’t just the announcers at the Olympics that hyphenate America.  The media makes a point of specifying race when referring to those involved in an incident in the news or a political candidate running for office.  It is pervasive in our daily speech, but does it really matter where someone’s great-great grandfather was born?

I did an Internet search to see if this “hyphenization” occurred in other countries.  I didn’t find much beyond “French-Canadian” except for a couple of articles that referred to Dutch citizens of Chinese descent as “Dutch-Chinese” instead of “Chinese-Dutch”.  What I found even more interesting is that term “hyphenated American” has been around since the end of the 19^th century.

Evidently, calling someone a “hyphenated American” at the beginning of the 20^th century was akin to questioning their allegiance to the United States.  In fact, Theodore Roosevelt, in a 1915 speech given to the Knights of Columbus said:

“There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism. When I refer to hyphenated Americans, I do not refer to naturalized Americans. Some of the very best Americans I have ever known were naturalized Americans, Americans born abroad. But a hyphenated American is not an American at all... The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities, an intricate knot of German-Americans, Irish-Americans, English-Americans, French-Americans, Scandinavian-Americans or Italian-Americans, each preserving its separate nationality, each at heart feeling more sympathy with Europeans of that nationality, than with the other citizens of the American Republic... There is no such thing as a hyphenated American who is a good American. The only man who is a good American is the man who is an American and nothing else.”

President Woodrow Wilson, in a 1919 speech, said, “…any man who carries a hyphen about with him carries a dagger that he is ready to plunge into the vitals of this Republic whenever he gets ready.”

I know that, in the interest of being politically correct, people use ”hyphenization” to denote ancestry.  But is it necessary to identify someone’s ancestry?  Why not simply say “American of Chinese descent” or “American of African descent” if the identification is that important?

I don’t want to imply that ancestry, culture, or heritage is unimportant.  Each ethnicity adds to the strength of this nation.  This country has always been the melting pot. Immigrants assimilate into American society while aspects of their culture become a part of the American culture.  It could be because my own heritage is an indistinguishable blend of nationalities that I only see myself as American.  Maybe because of that, I don’t see hyphenated Americans when I look at the people around me at work, at church or on TV.  I doubt the Olympians are competing for a hyphenated America.  The tally of medals lists those earned by US athletes. Period

Using hyphenated American labels implies that people are identified as Americans second.  It shouldn’t be that way.  As I wrote before, it doesn’t feel like the country is united anymore (http://active-thinker.blogspot.com/2012/06/united-independence-day.html).  There is already too much divisiveness in this country as it is. We are already a squabbling nation; do we really want to be a “tangle of squabbling nationalities” also?

As we cheer on our American athletes at the Games, let’s avoid the “hyphenated American” label and recognize that we are, first and foremost, Americans.