http://www.myajc.com/news/news/local-education/social-studies-school-standards-provoke-debate-amo/nqw9n/

Social studies school standards provoke debate among educators

The Georgia board of education on Thursday postponed implementing new social studies standards after teachers and others questioned changes made by the state superintendent.

A committee comprising teachers and other experts spent more than a year designing the proposed overhaul of the standards, which outline what students should know by the end of each grade. Superintendent Richard Woods, however, changed some of their recommendations without consulting them.

Some educators are upset over a letter written by a state senator to Woods and the school board requesting changes. Concerns raised by Sen. William T. Ligon, R-Brunswick, appear to be reflected in the changes by Woods. For instance, Ligon complained that the teacher committee wanted to call America a “representative democracy” rather than a “republican form of government.”

“If a few people are able to overturn the comments of thousands and the work of hundreds who were a part of the committees, then the whole process is called into question,” Eddie Bennett, executive director of the Georgia Council for the Social Studies, wrote in a statement published by the AJC Monday.

Woods and his team at the Georgia Department of Education wound up recommending that the state board go with “constitutional republic,” reasoning that is how the CIA Factbook describes the country. The department produced a document with reasons for his other amendments, which amounted to less than 4 percent of what the teachers had proposed.

Woods also added Christmas and Columbus Day to the national holidays studied in kindergarten, explaining that kindergartners are already studying other national holidays.

The history content selected for students to learn is often a politically-charged subject. Last year, the College Board changed its Advanced Placement U.S. History course after hearing criticism from Georgians, including lawmakers and Woods.

This time, Woods was on the receiving end.

“We all have heard the concerns,” state education board member Helen Rice said at Thursday’s board meeting. She recommended postponing final approval of the changes, perhaps until the board’s meeting in May, and the board agreed.

“I think we’re correct in calling a time out,” said board chairman Mike Royal. “We want to be crystal clear on what’s happened.”

Woods’ staff will now go back to the committee that had worked so long on the recommendations, inviting members to reconvene and review his changes.

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http://getschooled.blog.myajc.com/2016/03/28/social-studies-teachers-politicians-influencing-new-standards-more-than-educators/

Social studies teachers: Politicians influencing new standards more than educators

Who should write the state’s social studies standards? Teachers or politicians? (This is not a trick question, just a depressing one.)

Georgia teachers asked to review and rewrite the k-12 social studies standards are expressing dismay over the draft released by the state Board of Education. Despite their hundreds of hours of work, teachers say they don’t recognize much of what has been put forth by the board.

They say the draft now speaks to a political agenda rather than an educational one.

Among the politicians seeking to shape the standards is state State Sen. William Ligon, R-Brunswick, who sent State School Superintendent Richard Woods and the state school board a detailed critique.

You can read Ligon’s letter here, but this is how it starts off:

Within the K-12 standards, the reorganization of the sequencing is now in better chronological order in Grades 3-‐5 than the previous standards. However, the historical roots of Western Civilization are nowhere to be seen. The previous standards gave some, although not enough, attention to this topic and even did so in the lower grades.

In addition, the shift away from these historical roots in Western Civilization is replaced with a focus on early American Indian cultures. Though important, we should recognize that the dominate features of our culture are no longer anchored in native American cultures, but in the Anglo-American traditions of Western Civilization, and therefore, the historical focus should major on the majors, not major in the minor themes of displaced cultures. This shift in focus reminds me far too much of the recent problems we addressed in the AP U.S. History Framework. We should not repeat the mistakes of the College Board in our own Social Studies standards.

Furthermore, there is a shift in language choices in how our nation is described. The previous standards clearly recognized that students needed to study our “foundations of a republican form of government.” The new description is that our nation is a “representative democracy.” This language shift starts in Grade 3. Though still a correct term, it does not reflect how our Founders most referred to this nation, which was as a “confederate Republic.” In fact, I never see the term “confederate Republic” anywhere, and only once do I see the term “Republic” mentioned in the high school standards.

Starting with Grade 1, I find no logical reason why President George Washington continues to be omitted from the standards. This should be corrected. He is not mentioned until Grade 4, and this is far too late to introduce our most preeminent Founding Father.

Grade 1 also needs to build on the American symbols learned in Kindergarten. For example, why not add the Liberty Bell and what it represents? Why not have the teaching of the Pledge of Allegiance or the introduction of the poem, The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere? Why not introduce the first 13 colonies and have the students identify the original 13 colonies on a map?

Also, in Grade 2, students should be introduced to another Economic Standard, SS2E5  — “Explain why private property rights are necessary for a free society.”

A disappointed teacher shared a letter with me that she wrote to state school board members:

I have been a Social Studies educator, teacher leader, and content specialist for over a decade. I, like thousands of my colleagues and fellow citizens, spent hours reviewing and providing feedback on the proposed Social Studies standards that were posted for public comment.

The set of standards provided to the Board do not reflect the feedback or approval of the stakeholders in the State of Georgia. There were additions and changes made to the standards after the committee approved the final draft on March 17, 2016.

If the Board moves forward and approves the standards as they have been submitted, you will be disregarding the time and commitment of over 9,000 educators and 2,000 other Georgia stakeholders. You will lose the trust and faith Georgia educators have placed in you.  We were told our voice is being heard. Is it?

Among the questions raised by the teacher:

•Why were the standards changed at the last-minute without public input?
•Why do the last-minute changes reflect the input of one legislator, as evidenced by his letter written to the Superintendent? Changes that were summarily voted against in committee?
•Where are the U.S. History and American Government standards, both of which went through the entire review process?
•Where is the data supporting the idea for a two-year hybrid of these two courses?

The executive director of the Georgia Council for the Social Studies alerted teachers to the discrepancies in the draft and urged them to contact the state board before its meeting Thursday.

Before you read the warning letter, I would like to explain why this bothers me and why it ought to bother you.

The Legislature spent a lot of time this session talking about how important it was to treat teachers as professionals and listen to what they have to say. This sort of political shenanigans negates all that rhetoric. It shows teachers their expertise is not valued and will be quickly discarded for political expediency.

Dear GCSS Member:

As you know, the social studies standards have been under review for over a year.  The Georgia Board of Education adopted a process that included four review committees. Each review committee was charged with the “process” which included the comments of over 9,000 Georgia educators and stakeholders.  The last committee review was held on Wednesday, March 16, 2016.

Those of us who have been carefully watching the review process unfold were very surprised to find  there are major discrepancies between the work of the 3/16/16 review committee and the now posted “draft” standards.

To see the draft standards, go here.

It seems that certain items were dropped into the curriculum after the 3/16/16 committee had completed their work and voted on the changes made to each grade level/course.

Here are a few examples of random additions:

Christmas and Columbus Day in Kindergarten

George Washington and several additional memorials in first grade as well as the reclassification of George Washington Carver from science to agriculture

King George III and government elements in third grade

An entire element concerning the arguments of the Federalists and Anti-Federalists in 4th grade

Mao Tse Tung and Nikita Khrushchev and details concerning the War on Terror in the 5th grade

Iran in 7th grade (despite specific debate agreeing to keeping the countries to be studied to a smaller number and of those studied to include history, geography, government and economics)

As well as the absence of the U.S. History and American Government standards with no posted explanation of why they were not present even though both had gone through the revision process.  (This is another issue entirely which is concerning.)

Teachers from all over Georgia took time away from their classrooms to spend very long days revising the GPS and using the comments of the 9,000 as a guide.  At each step along the way, teachers and others documented the changes and cited support and commentary from the surveys.  Another important component of the committee work was that the majority of teachers wanted a more conceptual framework.  Yet, the additions cited above would make the entire K-12 curriculum more fact-based than conceptual.

These last-minute changes appear to be out of line with the public and formal revision process that was adopted and followed. At the 3/16 review committee meeting, there were emails and letters from public figures that were not a part of the teacher surveys.  Furthermore, these emails and letters contain many of the random items listed above and were rarely supported in the teacher surveys.  Some of the information was used if appropriate in the revised document.

If a few people are able to overturn the comments of thousands and the work of hundreds who were a part of the committees, then the whole process is called into question.

In addition, Georgia Council for the Social Studies and other groups sent letters of support to the Georgia Department of Education.  Our support is certainly now in question.

If you are concerned about this issue, please contact your state board of education member before the State Board Meeting on Thursday. I believe it is vitally important that we let it be known that many of our members were intimately involved in the revision process and that ALL of our members will be involved in using the curriculum with our students.

Eddie Bennett, Ed.D.

Executive Director, Georgia Council for the Social Studies

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http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/us-department-education-names-committee-members-draft-proposed-regulations-every-student-succeeds-act

U.S. Department of Education Names Committee Members to Draft Proposed Regulations for Every Student Succeeds Act

The U.S. Department of Education today named committee members who will draft proposed regulations in two areas of Title I, Part A of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). This is the latest step in the process of implementing ESSA. 

“We look forward to working with the committee to promote equity and excellence for all students by providing states and school districts with timely regulations so that they can plan ahead and support students and educators,” said Ann Whalen, senior advisor to the secretary, delegated the duties of the assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education. 

ESSA replaces the outdated No Child Left Behind law and expands on the work this Administration, states, districts and schools across the country have already started. The new law will help build on key progress that we’ve made in education over recent years—including a record high school graduation rate of 82 percent, significant expansion of high-quality preschool, and a million more African American and Hispanic students enrolled in college than in 2008, when President Obama took office. 

ESSA promotes equitable access to educational opportunities in critical ways, such as asking states to hold all students to high academic standards to prepare them for college and careers and ensuring action in the lowest-performing schools, high schools with low graduation rates, and in schools that are consistently failing subgroups of students. Maintaining effective, high-quality assessments and ensuring that all states and districts know how to meet the updated “supplement not supplant” requirement are crucial to achieving these objectives. 

The Department hosted public forums, held meetings with stakeholders and received hundreds of written comments on how to best support states, districts and schools in the transition to the new law, which informed the negotiated rulemaking process that is now underway. The negotiators and alternative negotiators announced today represent the constituencies that are significantly affected by the topics proposed for negotiation, including state and local education administrators and board members, tribal leadership, parents and students, teachers, principals, other school leaders, and the civil rights and business communities. Negotiators were selected to represent all of the geographic regions of the country. In addition, the Department selected negotiators who would contribute to the diversity and expertise of the negotiating committee.

The committee will draft proposed regulations in the following two areas of Title I, Part A of ESSA: (1) the requirement that federal funds supplement, not supplant, non-federal funds in high-need schools and (2) assessments. The selected negotiators and their alternates have received background materials to help prepare for their discussions, including issue papers on key areas identified by the Department in the notice announcing formation of the committee. Those areas are:

1. Supplement not supplant

2. Assessments

• Computer adaptive testing
• The exception for advanced mathematics assessments in 8th grade
• Locally selected, nationally recognized high school assessments
• The inclusion of students with disabilities in academic assessments
• State administration of alternate assessments based on alternate academic achievement standards for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities, subject to a cap of 1 percent of students assessed in a subject
• The inclusion of English learners in academic assessments
• The inclusion of English learners in English language proficiency assessments 
• Updating existing regulations to reflect statutory changes 

In some issue papers, the Department included draft regulatory language intended to facilitate discussion among the negotiators. The committee has ultimate authority over the content of its final recommendations to the Department and may use the materials as guides. To access the materials provided to the committee, please see our website: http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/essa/index.html. 

The committee will convene March 21-23 and April 6-8 with an optional session April 18-19 at its discretion. These meetings are open to the public, and more information on the time, location and other logistics for the meetings will be distributed at a later date.

Members of the ESSA Negotiated Rulemaking Committee:

Constituency	Negotiators
State administrators and state boards of education	Tony Evers, Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction Marcus Cheeks, Mississippi Department of Education
Local administrators and local boards of education	Alvin Wilbanks, Gwinnett County Public Schools, Georgia Derrick Chau, Los Angeles Unified School District, California Thomas Ahart, Des Moines Public Schools, Iowa *
Tribal leadership	Aaron Payment, Sault Ste. Marie Tribe, Michigan Leslie Harper, Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, Minnesota*
Parents and students, including historically underserved students	Lisa Mack, Ohio Rita Pin Ahrens, District of Columbia
Teachers	Audrey Jackson, Boston Public Schools Ryan Ruelas, Anaheim City School District, California Mary Cathryn Ricker, St. Paul Public Schools/American Federation of Teachers, Minnesota*
Principals	Lara Evangelista, New York City Department of Education, New York Aqueelha James, District of Columbia Public Schools*
Other school leaders, including charter school leaders	Eric Parker, Montgomery Public Schools, Alabama Richard Pohlman, Thurgood Marshall Academy, District of Columbia*
Paraprofessionals	Lynn Goss, School District of the Menomonie, Wisconsin Regina Goings, Clark County School District, Nevada*
Civil rights community, including representatives of students with disabilities, English learners, and other historically underserved students	Delia Pompa, Migration Policy Institute, Texas Ron Hager, National Disability Rights Network, District of Columbia Liz King, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, District of Columbia*  Janel George, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, District of Columbia*
Business community	Kerri Briggs, Exxon Mobil, Texas Kenneth Bowen, Office Depot, North Carolina *

*Non-voting member

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https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/data-driven-instruction-vs-passion-learning-johnathan-chase?trk=mp-reader-card

Data Driven Instruction vs. Passion Driven Learning

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. recognized the critical importance of mindfulness and emotional intelligence. He understood that discovery and mastery of self was just as important as mastery of informational text and that the appropriate and effective use of so-called "hard skills" is dependent on the acquisition and application of "soft skills".  

"We must remember that intelligence is not enough. Intelligence plus character--that is the goal of true education. The complete education gives one not only power of concentration, but worthy objectives upon which to concentrate. The broad education will, therefore, transmit to one not only the accumulated knowledge of the race but also the accumulated experience of social living."

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. "The Purpose of Education" , Morehouse College Student Paper, The Maroon Tiger, in 1947

David Coleman, a lead writer and chief architect of the Common Core State Standards has made it perfectly clear that teachers have more important things to do than designing learning activities that deal with such trivial matters as students’ thoughts, feelings, and personal reflections.

Reformers may claim that establishing emotion-free zones in Common Core classrooms will improve the college and career readiness of students, but there is ample evidence that what employees think and feel has a direct impact on worker engagement and job satisfaction.

“Best places to work” companies don’t just have ping pong tables and free lunch, they have a “ soul” which makes work exciting and energizing.

They invest in great management and leadership. They train and develop people so they can grow. And they define their business in a way that brings meaning and purpose to the organization…

Now is the time to think holistically about your company’s work environment and consider what you can do to create passion, engagement, and commitment. It may be “the issue” we face in business over the next few years.”

Josh Bersin, “Why Companies Fail To Engage Today’s Workforce: The Overwhelmed Employee” Forbes, 3/15/14

Perhaps now is not the best time to roll out rigorous lessons and data driven instruction developed from a passionless set of standards when a record number of employees are reporting feeling disengaged and dispassionate about their jobs…

“Gallup’s data shows 30% of employees Engaged, 52% Disengaged, 18% Actively Disengaged.  “These latest findings indicate that 70% of American workers are ‘not engaged’ or ‘actively disengaged’ and are emotionally disconnected from their workplaces and less likely to be productive,” states the report.

“Gallup estimates that these actively disengaged employees cost the U.S. between $450 billion to $550 billion each year in lost productivity.  They are more likely to steal from their companies, negatively influence their coworkers, miss workdays, and drive customers away…

Though higher education generally leads to higher earnings, it by no means guarantees higher engagement.  Consider the data: College graduates in the survey were 28% Engaged, 55% Not Engaged, 17% Actively Disengaged.  High school graduates were 32% Engaged, 49% Not Engaged, 19% Actively Disengaged.”

Victor Lipman, “Surprising, Disturbing Facts From The Mother Of All Employee Engagement Surveys” Forbes 9/23/13

The Common Core ELA standards require students to provide evidence when making a claim, so one would expect reformers to value the research and evidence cited by Daniel Goleman (not to be confused with David Coleman) that thoughts and feelings do matter in life and have a significant impact on the performance of students and employees.

"An inner focus lets us understand and handle our inner world, even when rocked by disturbing feelings. This is a life skill that keeps us on track throughout the years, and helps children become better learners. For instance, when children tune in to what engages them, they connect with the intrinsic motivation that drives them…

In our life and career this can blossom into “good work” – a potent combination of what engages us, what matters to us, and what we can accomplish successfully. In the school years, the equivalent is “good learning” – being engaged with what enthuses us and what feels important…”

Daniel Goleman, “The Case for Teaching Emotional Literacy in Schools” 8/10/14

“A 30-year longitudinal study of more than a thousand kids – the gold standard for uncovering relationships between behavioral variables – found that those children with the best cognitive control had the greatest financial success in their 30s. Cognitive control predicted success better than a child’s IQ, and better than the wealth of the family they grew up in…

These human skills include, for instance, confidence, striving for goals despite setbacks, staying cool under pressure, harmony and collaboration, persuasion and influence.

Those are the competencies companies use to identify their star performers about twice as often as do purely cognitive skills (IQ or technical abilities) for jobs of all kinds.

The higher you go up the ladder, the more emotional intelligence matters: for top leadership positions they are about 80 to 90 percent of distinguishing competences…”

Daniel Goleman, “What Predicts Success? It’s Not Your IQ” 7/17/14

K-12 education programs that claim to prepare students for college and careers should be more concerned with cultivating a wide array of social and emotional competencies along with  transferable workforce skills, rather than continually measuring a narrow set of standardized and testable math and literacy skills.

Many students’ academic and content area skills will actually flourish if they are given the opportunity to enroll in hands-on trade or vocational programs.

“Math used to be a struggle for 14-year-old Kathryn, until she fell in love with cars and started a hands-on project to build her own. Now the math matters and makes sense, and a whole new world of learning has opened up for her.”

Edutopia: How Building a Car Can Drive Deeper Learning 6/11/13

Learning should be a self-directed journey of discovery. Students should be “free to learn” as they explore their interests and pursue their passions rather than simply following a curriculum map and data driven route to each Common Core learning standard.

Learning occurs when students engage in meaningful and purposeful activities that respect the interests and needs of students rather than simply serve the "needs" of the standards and the tests.

Classroom learning activities should be individualized rather than standardized and provide numerous opportunities for students to express and connect with their dreams, feelings and other people, rather than demand that students read closely and stay connected to the text.

Standardized data driven education programs focus primarily on measuring student knowledge and skills, while customized passion driven programs are focused on cultivating student curiosity and creativity.

The following excerpt from a 2010 valedictory speech reveals the negative consequences of data driven education programs if a student becomes more focused on preparing for tests, than preparing for life...

“…While others sat in class and doodled to later become great artists, I sat in class to take notes and become a great test-taker. While others would come to class without their homework done because they were reading about an interest of theirs, I never missed an assignment. 

While others were creating music and writing lyrics, I decided to do extra credit, even though I never needed it. So, I wonder, why did I even want this position? Sure, I earned it, but what will come of it? When I leave educational institutionalism, will I be successful or forever lost?

I have no clue about what I want to do with my life; I have no interests because I saw every subject of study as work, and I excelled at every subject just for the purpose of excelling, not learning.

And quite frankly, now I’m scared…”

Erica Goldson, “Here I Stand” 6/25/10 Valedictory Speech

 

"School should be a place to find yourself, 

not lose your identity"

~ Scarsdale student  (video below)

 ( "Losing Ourselves" by Rachel Wolfe )

In 2014 Jim Carrey gave the commencement speech at Maharishi University of Management that challenged students to overcome their fears and follow their hearts…

"So many of us choose our path out of fear disguised as practicality. What we really want seems impossibly out of reach and ridiculous to expect, so we never dare to ask the universe for it. I’m saying, I’m the proof that you can ask the universe for it — please!…

I learned many great lessons from my father, not the least of which was that you can fail at what you don’t want, so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love…

You are ready and able to do beautiful things in this world and after you walk through those doors today, you will only ever have two choices: love or fear. Choose love, and don’t ever let fear turn you against your playful heart.”

 

"What we want is to see the child in pursuit of knowledge,

and not knowledge in pursuit of the child."

~ George Bernard Shaw

Originally posted; WagTheDog Blog 7/24/14

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Michelle Malkin, CPAC 2016 On Common Core

Michelle Malkin, CPAC 2016

On Common Core

http://youtu.be/uJrfLJEB4ns

School board approves 'charter district' contract with state

http://m.onlineathens.com/mobile/2016-03-04/school-board-approves-charter-district-contract-state?utm_source=WhatCountsEmail&utm_medium=OnlineAthens%20Daily%20Headlines%20&utm_campaign=022616%20new%20Headlines#article=822519D9A3573CCAA47D47A0EA460DCD2538

School board approves 'charter district' contract with state -- Online Athens

Fri, 04 Mar 2016, 02:36 PM

A Clarke County School District plan to become a so-called “charter district” is set to go to the state Board of Education for approval at the end of this month, according to school officials.

A proposed contract between the state and the local school district was scheduled for a February vote by both the local and state boards of education. Clarke County School Superintendent Phil Lanoue asked it be removed from the state board’s agenda because the details of the proposed contract didn’t match what Clarke asked for in its proposal, however.

Now officials have ironed out those differences, Lanoue told the Clarke County Board of Education Thursday.

The local board approved the revised contract, but not unanimously. Board members Ovita Thornton and Linda Davis abstained.

Davis said she wasn’t “fully comfortable” that she clearly understood everything in the lengthy contract, she said.

Clarke won’t get everything it asked for in its charter proposal, Lanoue said.

The plan originally called for the use of school-wide scores on measures of literacy to evaluate teacher effectiveness, rather than the state-mandated “Student Learning Objectives,” or SLOs, now in use.

That’s out now; charter districts are allowed to waive state rules, but not that one, according to state Department of Education officials. Literacy measures are OK to use only with literacy-specific instruction such as reading.

“The state pretty much said clearly, ‘No, we’re not going to allow you to do that,’” said Tim Jarboe, the school district’s director of assessment and accountability.

The state legislature may change the role of SLOs in evaluating teachers, however, Lanoue said. State law now calls for student grades on standardized tests to count for 50 percent of a teacher’s grade in the state’s “Teacher Keys Effectiveness System.”

Pending legislation could reduce the importance of SLOs in teacher evaluations, however.

Local and state administrators were able to work out some other conflicts, such as the timetable for setting up and training so-called “local school governance teams,” or LSGTs, Lanoue and Jarboe told board members. Thursday.

“We’ve determined that what we’ve asked for in our petition is mostly there,” Lanoue said.

But the school district’s Athens Community Career Academy remains under the control of the Clarke County Board of Education - but as a program, rather than a separate school. State officials told Clarke officials the career academy would have to be privatized, operated by a non-profit corporation.

A planned apprenticeship program can also go forward, if those “workplace experiences” are linked with specific high school courses, Lanoue said.

“We can get to where we need to be,” he said.

If the state Board approves the contract March 31, Clarke officials would soon set up and train LSGTs for each of Clarke County’s 20 public schools. The school district wouldn’t become a charter district until fall, 2017, however.

Under a new state-mandated program, school systems now have to choose to be “traditional,” a “strategic waivers” system or a charter system.

Charter and strategic waivers systems don’t have to follow all the normal school rules and regulations that traditional schools must follow (though some still apply). They have more say in how they spend money, and may ask for more freedom to hire teachers who are not certified to teach in a particular subject area, for example.

In exchange for that freedom - “flexibility,” in the state’s language - school districts promise in a formal contract to use innovative educational methods to improve student learning.

Charter systems must also install LSGTs at each school, unelected groups that under state law must have real decision-making authority in personnel, curriculum and other areas - but at the same time may not usurp the powers of a school district’s elected school board.

Lanoue believes the school teams can help boost community support of and participation in the county’s public schools, he has told board members.

Follow education reporter Lee Shearer at www.facebook.com/LeeShearerABH or twitter.com/LeeShearer

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http://www.breitbart.com/video/2016/02/26/south-carolina-teacher-creates-gentlemans-club-to-teach-young-students-to-become-gentlemen/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social

South Carolina Teacher Creates ‘Gentleman’s Club’ to Teach Young Students How to Be Gentlemen

A South Carolina elementary teacher is working to help his young students learn how to act like gentlemen, according to a report by WSMV.

Raymond Nelson of Memminger Elementary in Downtown Charleston hosts 60 kids every Wednesday at the Gentleman’s Club, where the children are taught how to dress and act like gentlemen.

He works with children who are at-risk children and came up with this idea to help the children.

“I was thinking maybe if I have the boys dress for success,” said Nelson. “When was the last time you saw someone fighting in a tuxedo?”

The club’s motto is “Look good, feel good, do good.”

The children meet with Nelson each Wednesday decked out in their best clothes. Nelson even provides some jackets, ties and vests for the children who do not have some of their own.

“I know a lot of them struggle because a lot of them don’t have men at home, so I just want them to grow up and think of the things that I teach them,” he said. “It helped me to be a better man and I could spread the knowledge to the young boys.”

Every week, the club talks about how to properly shake hands, open doors, make eye contact and address someone older with respect.

Nelson explained he went through a similar program when he was young, which he said helped him become a better man.

Gentleman’s Club has been such a hit at Memminger Elementary that school district officials want other local schools to implement a Gentleman’s club of their own.

Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent

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