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it is worth the effort it takes. When the teachers developed their own tests, according to what they were instructed to teach, their was automatically accountability because the students' grades would indicate if the teacher was not doing very well.

Finding solutions is also fairly easy. Implementing them is what takes time and work. However, time and work is the only way to build a positive future for our students. Why are student scores decreasing (if they are)? Are the students being held accountable for their own grades? Is it possible that we have, for so long, blamed the teachers that we lost our vision of what the students are doing? Are we paying attention to their lack of interest, motivation, and energy? Have we tried to search for solutions within the learners themselves? Holding students accountable for their grades, and letting them know that they are the only ones who can improve them, will take a while, but it will also make them better students, and adults. As it is right now, they are accepting the lie that if they don't pass it is the system's fault. They are resting in that lie. It is necessary to make them uncomfortable, to cause them to have to change. Too many students are passed on to the next level because the system requires it. It is time to make the students earn that promotion, as it used to be done.

If you do the research, you will discover many stories where a Teacher or Administrator took it upon themselves to do something drastic, or even radical, in order to bring about positive change in their students. The movie, "Stand And Deliver," and many others will inspire teachers to do the right thing, and endure until it brings about the desired change. Teachers and coaches, and even volunteers in the school system have been known to change their whole school because they were willing to take risks. Rather than just searching for solutions, they created solutions. They put those solutions into action.

Somewhere along the way it seems the definitions of "discipline," and "punishment" have merged into one. Is it possible that they are actually two different things, and if implemented properly both could serve to improve the life of our students at school, and even into their futures. Discipline is made to bring about change. Punishment is made to give proper consequences for improper behavior. Discipline is requiring homework, and expecting it to be completed on a timely basis. With discipline comes consequences. If the work is not done,

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