Less Time at School

When I read the news on how many schools across the nation are curtailing the school week from five to four days a week, giving Friday off, I could not help but smile. The one person who will be happy with such a change would be my son. For that matter, all kids would be happy to get a four-day week in school rather than five days. But many parents and many people around the nation feel that children are left behind and are getting less education and are considered to be of lesser priority when it comes to budget cuts and job losses. The idea behind this four-day week is to cut down on budget gaps, cut down on job losses in the Schooling industry. By having a day off during the week, schools will save on power, heating/cooling, bus services, providing meals for the children, maintenance/cleaning for that one day.


Presently, schools in Fairfax County have half-day on Mondays. Instead of the current timings, if school days from Monday to Thursday are made longer, Fridays can be off. Technically, students will be missing half day of school which can be compensated by having an hour extra on the working days. With the latest technologies we have like Internet and Blackboard, which is used in schools, students can be given homework and materials that they can read and work on, on Fridays. I have seen this at work during the snow storm we had a month ago and when schools were closed for more than a week. My son did not miss any school work during those days when schools were closed. Taking this step and making it bigger to implement on Fridays would not be a bad idea.


Before you start pointing your fingers at me to say that schools and children’s education are considered a lesser priority in these difficult economic times, think about the situation and solution for a minute. Students are not losing anything in terms of the education that they receive and it is accounted for. What they will be missing is a meal and play time on Fridays. When we have a bigger situation of closing budget gaps and staving off layoffs in schooling system, I think we can all pull this individual load of dealing with Fridays off. Many might think that they would have to deal with day cares on the day off. Nowadays many employers allow the option of working from home or working extra hours on other weekdays and taking Fridays off. If the government is making it a rule to have Fridays off for schools, then they can certainly do something about working parents working their situation out with their employers. Most European countries have four day work week and have Fridays off (making it a 3-day weekend), so it is about time that we in the USA start looking at that option.

Are Values bemused with Rights?

Last month, a 13-year old, Middle School student in Germantown, Maryland, was sent to counselor’s office for refusing to stand during the pledge of Allegiance. Her parents asked the teacher to apologize for doing so. Later on, because of lawyer’s involvement on the students’ side, ACLU stepped into the matter and asked the teacher to apologize to the student. Out of political pressure, the teacher might apologize but is it not something wrong in this whole picture? While I do agree that the teacher should not have taken such extreme actions on the student and that no one can be forced to participate in a pledge of Allegiance against one’s will and in something that one does not believe in, is there not something called ‘Respect’?


Inculcating good manners should be a part of our schooling systems in addition to teaching the curriculum. Part of it is showing respect to others. While the whole class was standing and saying the pledge out of respect, the girl could have simply stood up rather than sitting. Coming from the land of values – India, I stand quietly whenever any National Anthem is played in a function or gathering. It is out of respect that one shows to their country or belief. The girl could have shown her respect for the country if she is an American and that she would have her say in the near future in a few years down the road. If not, she could have shown respect because America is giving her the opportunity to be in this country and for parting education to her to be a better person. In either case, she has the reason to show her respect for her country.


Honestly I did not comprehend the reasons behind why that student would not stand up or show respect during the pledge. Not wanting to do is one thing but when the entire class is standing up out of respect or out of fear, the one who is not is forced to stand up anyways. Out of political pressure, the teacher might be made to apologize in public but is it not life lessons for the student to show respect – no matter what? Was she trying to stand out, to say that she is cool with not doing what everybody does? Whatever the reason, it still does not warrant an excuse. It might be old fashion to show respect in public but coming from a family where respect is the prime objective, this whole scenario seems to be odd.

Workout for your fingers

I am a firm believer that workout is the solution to be fit and healthy. While I push myself at the gym to get a full body workout, I did not realize that I would need to do a workout for my fingers. Now you all know that I am being sarcastic, right? Who ever gives a workout for their fingers, except the musicians? But kids and teens (or even adults) are so good with their fingers when it comes to texting on their cell phones. One could be driving on the highway at 70-80 mph and still be texting, and some can be texting to become the queen of texting. What I mean will be explained in the paragraphs to come.


I was watching Rachael Ray’s show one afternoon, when Rachael was interviewing a thirteen year old girl who had texted 14,000 texts in a month. That girl had come to the show with her father and a mound of bills from the phone company. Luckily, her father had said, that the family was on an unlimited texting plan which had saved them thousands of dollars in bills while his daughter was spending days and nights texting to her friends. She had said in that show that she would be texting all the time… unless she was asleep. How could someone be texting all the time during a day? Even if they do so, what or who would they be texting? Is it even a proud achievement that she was on the show to gloat about it?


In every profession, one has their own set of vocabulary or slang when they have to communicate and only people in that world can understand what is being said. This is true in the world of texting as well. In the 120 characters limit that one has in the texting world, one cannot embrace the fact that effective communication is the key to get the point across. Texters come up with their own codes to fit in their texts and to convey the message across. Do you even know some of the codes these texters use? SLAP – Sounds like a plan; TTFN – Tata for now and many more. But these are day-to-day usage in their world.


Apart from texting being a problem while driving or hiking the tab on your phone bill, texting has become a problem among teenagers since school kids use this as a means pull a fast one over their parents and to look cool among their friends. It is not that the kids are trying to hide things from their parents or plotting against their parents but just to have a little privacy and to be cool among their piers. But there is always a fine line between hiding and privacy. How many times, one hides the truth and says to their loved ones that they have not lied about anything. It is just that they did not tell the truth; not lied. People who want to lie or hide the truth will always find a way to do so. Kids these days take texting to the next level – sexting, which is scary. Try to find the meaning of some of the codes that these kids use while sexting like 8, IWSN or NIFOC. I can give the explanations here but I don’t want to cross the fine line of being civil here. All I would say is just keep an eye out on those kids of yours who are texting.

Solo in the woods

Watching television does help! Not getting what I am saying, look at the news of a 9-year old boy, Grayson Wynne's quick thinking to turn to what he had seen and learnt from a television show, Man vs Wild, when he found that he was lost on a hiking trip in a northern Utah forest with his family on Father’s day weekend. The group had started hiking on Saturday from Spirit Lake trailhead in Daggett County, when the boy went on hiking without the others and drifted off onto another trail. When he realized that he was lost and away from the others, he thought about the survival in the wilderness show that he used to watch with his brothers and dad – Man Vs Wild by Bear Gryll.


Even though this show is more tailored for entertainment, where the host would just find himself in situations where he can just get wet by jumping into streams and rivers, the show highlights basic tips for survival while being lost. The key is to leave some trail, so people who are searching for the lost person would track the path that they went on. The boy, having seen this and mainly remembering it, made sure to leave marks by ripping pieces of his ‘ellow rain slicker and tied it to the trees on his path. He also left behind granola bar wrappers and his backpack on the trail to be found. How many 9-year olds would remember what they learnt and use it in situations when they are left alone? The boys’ common sense sure paid for the positive outcome when he was found after being lost for 18 hours.


I should start teaching these basic steps of survival to my 10-year old. I am pretty sure he would know these more than I would. I am known to be lost in areas where I have been before. I have to follow the same route every single time and if I make a slight detour, I am bound to be lost. But I find my way though, if that is a consolation. I have not even booked a trip (even locally) in my life or driven anywhere alone to find my way on my own, when people can do much more and beyond. If I was lost in the trail, I would backtrack my way or first things first – Stop, think and stay calm. I would think of ways to get attention (not of the bears) to be rescued. The boy sure did the right things in the right situation. So kids, tell your parents that it is okay to watch television, especially Discovery Channel and Animal planet, to get habituated and to learn things to be street smart or rather jungle smart.

Continental Airlines indiscretion

I was reading the news and could not help but smile when I read about the 10-year old girl who was inadvertently put on a wrong plane to Newark when she was bound to go to Cleveland instead from Boston. The girl, Miriam, was traveling as an unaccompanied minor (meaning traveling alone) on the Continental Airlines from Boston to go to her relatives in Cleveland. Her father, Jonathan Kamens, dropped her off at the gate to the Continental agents but there were two regional jets that were loaded from the same gate at the same time at the Boston’s Logan airport this past Sunday. The agents put the girl on the wrong plane accidentally, (obviously! If it was intentionally, won’t they be sued?) even though the paperwork was in detail, as a result of miscommunication. (Time for some effective communication seminars in the aviation industry). Once the grandparents in Cleveland raised a flag, saying that the girl was missing, the airlines realized their mistake and took proper actions to get the girl safely to Cleveland. All is well, that ends well.


To get unaccompanied minors traveling in airplanes, the industry charges a fee of about $75 to $100 one-way. When you are booking the ticket, you give details as to who will drop the kid at the gate and who will be the person who will pick them up at the gate at the destination. Both parties should provide proper identification while boarding and receiving. In the interim, during flight hours and stop-overs, the flight attendant would take care of the kid, provide meals and they would play or watch television or rest in the Young Traveler Club under their supervision. How do I know about this? I have been there, done that. I have sent my son, Yashwant, just not to California (from Virginia) but also to India as an unaccompanied minor.


I sent my son to California to visit his cousins during summer break when he was five years old and he travelled all by himself. He was excited about the trip, traveling in the plane all by himself and spending his summer with his cousins alone with out parental supervision. The following year, I sent him to India to visit my parents for nearly three months. After two months, I went to India for three weeks and brought him back. During that trip was when his passport expired and had to go to the US embassy to get a new one done. In the years to follow, he has been travelling by himself to India or California by himself. If I tell him about vacations, the first question he asks is if he is going to be travelling alone and if not, at least to have his seat far away from others. In that regard, he is an independent boy and bless my stars, that I didn’t have to look for him in Indonesia when he is supposed to land in India.


The father of the girl that made the headlines was refunded the service fee for unaccompanied minors and gave an apology. But the father is not satisfied with it. Would anyone be unhappy and angry about it? Sure. But the airlines gave an apology and a refund. Just accept it and move on, instead of brewing a frivolous lawsuit. People tend to feel as if someone has to pay for it when someone commits a mistake. Sure, miscommunication and mistakes happen. Unless it was a planned mistake, just take the apology and the refund and move on. Many might say that we should not send our kids unaccompanied or that flight attendants are not baby-sitters but we pay for the service and send our kids on occasions where we cannot go with them for months together leaving our work. (Do you even know how much the ticket costs to go to India?) How many times have the luggage been misplaced or sent to the wrong destination? How many times has the plane be overbooked? How many times you are about to board the plane and the plane is cancelled because the pilot is sleepy and they could not find a replacement pilot? Yet we continue to travel in planes, don’t we? So people will continue and must continue to send their kids unaccompanied if situation calls for it.

Time dwindler

Back home in India, my family is accustomed to sitting together on the floor and eating dinner. Every single day, my job would be to sweep the floor where we gather together, bring the plates, cups, water and all the vessels containing the food to be eaten. May it be roti and dhal; rice, dhal and sides with home made yogurt; or a simple tiffin dinner, I am to make sure that everything is set in the center of the floor. Then my family members along with guests (if any are visiting or just stopping by) would sit around the food forming a circle, plates would be passed along and everyone would help themselves to their food. The next hour would go by eating the food along with talking about how the day went by for each of us, what plans would unfold the following day or anything else that needs to be discussed with mom and dad.

I am sure many who read this would say that they do the same thing here in the US except they sit on a dining table. But do they forget that the television is running in the background or many have their cell phones or Blackberry texting? With the advent of new technology tools, people want to stay connected or rather update their status to others every minute of their lives. It is not just dinner time that I am talking about but in general family members tend to spend less time personally with each other and spend a great deal of time on internet surfing or watching TV or playing on xbox (or on similar machines) or texting and twittering. Recently, studies at the University of Southern California reported that 28 percent of Americans said they were spending less time with their household family members, reason being that they spend time on social networking sites or on internet. But even before this study, people spent time watching TV or on internet; then why the jump in the rate of families not spending time together? It is because of texting and twittering (or facebook-ing - made that word up!)

Nowadays even kids have cell phones and they have texting capabilities enabled and they could be texting to their friends who are next doors asking whether they want to meet up to play, when they could just holler. If they are not playing outside, they want to be playing video games or watching television. If nothing else, they would be on the internet, playing games. But this is true even for adults. They spend a lot of time on their cell phones and blackberries, trying to keep up with their work at any given time. Years back, work was done at the office and when you left the office, the work remained at the office. Now with laptops that are hauled everywhere one goes, blackberries and cell phones that can receive mail, one gets to work at all waking times that they forget to interact with the family members at home. Another advantage of having access at all times is that one can fib about their whereabouts to their counterparts or parents.

Oprah Winfrey’s show had featured “What Can You Live Without?” challenge on television earlier, to see if families can live without computers, cell phones, television, iPods, or video games for a week. The idea was to get families closer to each other and to make them understand others' interest and to have something in common that everyone can be involved in doing, thus spending time with each other. Was Oprah forgetting that this was aired on television and one would have to be watching television to begin with to get this idea? Technology was made by man to ease our job in every aspect. But when one becomes an addict to the technology, then who is the boss? Take a break from hanging on to your cell phones even while working out at the gym or taking a stroll in the park. See if you can be without watching television for one day in a week (did someone get a heart attack?) and instead go out and do something as a family. Maybe by the end of this summer, we will end up with more closely knitted family than couch-potatoes.