Today, all Aiken County Public School teachers and administration were required to attend a mandatory inservice to hear Dr. Ben Caron, author of Gifted Hands and Think Big. I was looking forward to hearing Dr. Carson’s address and was not disappointed. A few of the tidbits I remember (hopefully correctly – any errors are my own) and/or wrote down include:

In response to parents bringing their kids in to be diagnosed with ADD – Yes, they do have ADD because of your plopping them down in front of TVs as soon as they can sit up. For allowing them to spend all their free time on computers and video games. Parents, wean your kids off of technology (TV, computers, video games, etc.) and start spending quality time with your kids. Get them reading, involved in sports, and make connections with your kids to slow their minds down. Parents are the ones who are ADD – they aren’t paying attention to their kids.

“There is no such thing as useless knowledge.” Learn anything and everything you can. READ! Reading leads to learning.

“Teachers are the ones who tell you why you CAN do something, not why you CAN’T.” Don’t focus on students limitations, have higher expectations for them. Also liked that he said stop making excuses – no matter what the student’s situations/limitations, they have a brain and they can use it. Excuses only hold them back.

Peers = People encouraging errors resulting in stupidity. Dr. Carson told of how after discovering his capacity to learn in elementary school and middle school, he entered high school. He faltered his freshman year by listening to his peers instead of following his own path.

I must say I thoroughly enjoyed Dr. Carson’s address and thank our district and community leaders for arranging to have him come and share his experiences, thoughts, and beliefs with us.