Hello, and welcome to my website.
As a science instructor at White Bear Lake Area High School, I want to express my thoughts about educating today's learners and the commitment I make to teaching. There is no greater gift than a quality education. Never before in the history of our country has success in school been so important. Today's students must work to acquire the variety of skills and vast array of talents needed to contribute to an ever increasingly complex and technology-driven world. As I state in my course expectations, I sincerely believe we are partners in learning. With dedication, diligence, and a commitment to excellence we can assure White Bear Lake students receive the quality education they will need to succeed.
In 1983, the National Commission on Excellence in Education presented a report on the quality of education in America to the American people. Although this report was written over twenty years ago, the words of the Commission still hold true:
A Word to Parents and Students
To Parents:
You know that you cannot confidently launch your children into today's world unless they are of strong character and well-educated in the use of language, science, and mathematics. They must possess a deep respect for intelligence, achievement, and learning, and the skills needed to use them; for setting goals; and for disciplined work. That respect must be accompanied by an intolerance for the shoddy and second-rate masquerading as "good enough."
You have the right to demand for your children the best our schools and colleges can provide. Your vigilance and your refusal to be satisfied with less than the best are the imperative first step. But your right to a proper education for your children carries a double responsibility. As surely as you are your child's first and most influential teacher, your child's ideas about education and its significance begin with you. You must be a living example of what you expect your children to honor and to emulate. Moreover, you bear a responsibility to participate actively in your child's education. You should encourage more diligent study and discourage satisfaction with mediocrity and the attitude that says "let it slide"; monitor your child's study; encourage good study habits; encourage your child to take more demanding rather than less demanding courses; nurture your child's curiosity, creativity, and confidence; and be an active participant in the work of the schools. Above all, exhibit a commitment to continued learning in your own life. Finally, help your children understand that excellence in education cannot be achieved without intellectual and moral integrity coupled with hard work and commitment. Children will look to their parents and teachers as models of such virtues.
To Students:
You forfeit your chance for life at its fullest when you withhold your best effort in learning. When you give only the minimum to learning, you receive only the minimum in return. Even with your parents' best example and your teachers' best efforts, in the end it is your work that determines how much and how well you learn. When you work to your full capacity, you can hope to attain the knowledge and skills that will enable you to create your future and control your destiny. If you do not, you will have your future thrust upon you by others. Take hold of your life, apply your gifts and talents, work with dedication and self-discipline. Have high expectations for yourself and convert every challenge into an opportunity.
from A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform, April 1983