KIDS THESE DAYS:Establish rules and set an example

After many years of bringing up the subject, I have not received any answer to the question of why parents can’t go online to complete the required back-to-school forms and to download the guidelines and other information schools want us to have.

This is not rocket science and the ability to do this online would save trees and save kids and parents the trouble of having to make two trips to school: One to pick-up packets, the other to drop them off.

There is good study advice in this year’s back-to-school packet. For instance, Newport-Mesa mentions “the kitchen table” as a top choice for where you want to do your homework.

This is no small point. Most of the other lists suggest someplace quiet and without distractions.

But the kitchen is often the busiest room in the house. So why is that a good place to work?

When they enter the workforce, our kids, you see, are more likely to have jobs in an environment that is more likely to resemble the busy kitchen at home than the quiet of an isolation chamber that could be their bedroom.

The ability to work in chaos, to keep one’s cool while others are demanding silence is a plus.

So, the first bit of unsolicited advice comes with an endorsement from the school district: Make the homework spot a realistic one.

The second suggestion is to use homework as the carrot hanging out in front of the stick.

Kids always want something, whether it is money, a ride somewhere or something else they don’t have.

Any parent who fails to use homework as leverage for kids to get something they want is missing out on one of the great joys of being a parent.

In short, students get nothing until homework is done.

Third — and I know this will make me sound like a cranky old man — parents must set the right example. If parents want their kids to read more, parents must hit the books, too.

If parents want their kids to watch less television, the best way to get them to stop is for parents to turn it off first. Unfortunately, it’s often harder for kids to turn it off than it is for parents.

Last, but not least, parents, you really need to support your kids. Stay in touch with teachers as kids are less likely to fudge if they know they are being double-teamed.

Praise their successes and guide them to help when they need it. Let them know how much you care about their education. This is not something to do between commercials.

Good luck to all parents and students this year.

In 1971, an earthquake in the San Fernando Valley delivered the final blow to Fairfax High School in Los Angeles. Before the earthquake, Fairfax was the crown jewel in the city’s high school system.

After the earthquake, the school had the construction equivalent of open heart surgery and all of the old, Spanish-style classroom buildings were torn down.

One of the buildings they kept and retrofitted was the rotunda, which included the school’s auditorium. They are still there today, reminders of a once-great school.

So imagine my disappointment when I recently saw the picture in the Daily Pilot of the clock tower at Newport Harbor High School falling to the ground. There, in plain sight, were two of the clocks, still attached to the old tower but headed for destruction.

Didn’t anyone think to remove one of them and place it on the new building?