I first want to thank the teachers at Decatur High School in their goal in raising money for the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

That country is called Haiti.

However, a special thanks goes to those students who on a Saturday spent their time in front of Safeway and Albertson’s stores asking for donations.

I do not know any of these students, but I hope their parents are as proud of you as I am.

I continue to offer solutions that I believe will make Federal Way schools better:

1. Remove all calculators from all elementary schools until all students learn how to multiply and divide.

2. Lobby the Legislature to increase the school year from 180 days to 190 days. Research around the world has proven the longer a child is at school, the more they learn. I understand that will make some parents angry, but my question to them would be: What is more important, the child’s education or Mickey Mouse?

3. We spend months worrying about the WASL test and preparing for it. That time could be better spent teaching, which children really need — instead of teaching so that they can pass the test. In the old days, that was similar to taking an open book test. The only thing the WASL does is show people how clueless the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction and some politicians have become.

4. Develop a real outreach program that is more than just another spaghetti feed. Federal Way schools’ motto is parents as partners. Any real relationship requires sacrifice and effort on behalf of both parties. We ask very little of parents except to join the PTA and raise money for a new swing set. I suggest monthly meetings in the apartment complexes where most of the students who are at-risk live. Until we have a comprehensive program, nothing can or will change.

5. Teach civics starting in middle school. This generation doesn’t have a clue how America became the country that continues to be the light of the world.

6. Parents need to know you do not need to have a college degree to help your children. You just need a heart filled with love.

I have written these solutions not just to criticize, but to demand we do more because the stakes are too high to do otherwise.

We give these children so much and demand so little in return. I am not surprised when some of them act ungrateful because they expect something for nothing.

We should teach them part of being in a community is to serve the poorest of the poor.

We should also understand that part of being a complete person requires sacrifice. Mother Teresa said true success is not what we acquire in life. It is what we overcome in life.

It is up to all of us to do more so that we can be role models that make our children proud of their parents.

That is a lesson that can help change the world forever. No excuses.

Walter Backstrom is a Federal Way resident. Contact: wkbackstrom@aol.com.