About the Book

This book is about student success and how to achieve it. Its primary focus is learning – all aspects of learning, across the full spectrum of school subjects. A particular emphasis is given to the two most problematic areas of student difficulty, science and math, but the principles espoused are applicable to all school studies. The book stresses the importance of the home environment to student attitude and achievement. The significance of “student attitude” in determining student success cannot be overstated. Accordingly, this book is as much a guide to the effective parenting/mentoring of students and their attitude toward school and learning as it is a “how-to” approach for educating students, K thru 12. A good “student attitude,” one which embraces learning and knowledge, is formed and nurtured at home; it is the key to success in school. This book’s mission: To show parents, mentors (and teachers) how to foster that necessary “attitude” and achieve the desired end-result: Student success for their youngsters.

If you are the parent or guardian of a young student who is struggling in school, you surely have many questions on how to proceed. The sad fact is that effective outside-solutions to today’s declining student achievement are non-existent. Even sadder is the fact that we are most often looking in all the wrong places for the ultimate answers to poor student performance!

When talking-head analysts in the media are not pointing fingers at the “quality” of our children’s schools, they are specifically taking aim at the teaching profession.

I believe that the problems we are experiencing with our children’s educations will not ultimately be solved by “improving the quality of our schools,” mandating “more time in class,” and demanding “better performance” from our teachers. This conclusion applies in general, but it is particularly true in science and math.

The central theme of this book suggests that we adjust the spotlight of scrutiny to shine on that most critical and overlooked issue: The readiness and willingness of our students to learn – at home and in class. Readiness to learn is best summarized as proper “student attitude,” and that positive mindset requires nurturing outside the classroom by parents or involved mentors in addition to the child’s classroom experience.

Would we send a newly-fabricated airliner to the flight-line for the first time before the wings are securely attached to the fuselage …and expect good results? Just as that airliner must first be air-worthy, so, too, should our students be school-worthy before they are expected to take flight. This book presents a common-sense guide for nurturing student curiosity and success in learning.