So much talk goes on about improving education but what is an educated person in society today? I mean, what constitutes smart? Intelligent? Worthy of admiration?

Is “smart” a person with a graduate degree from an Ivy League School? What about the Ivy League graduate who cheats on his wife, drinks and drives, evades paying taxes and gets in trouble with the law for things like embezzlement?

Do we consider the high school dropout who works 3 jobs for near minimum wage intelligent? What about if he puts food in his the mouths of his kids, coaches pee wee soccer, attends PTA meetings even when it might cost him wages and always stays on the right side of the law when it comes to being a part of America’s citizenry?

Have we not muddled our interpretation of these ideas?

Does character education not play an important role in school education? Does it not need to play a more important role?

These days I really wonder, is a Wall Street scoundrel who bilks investors out of millions, stealing life’s savings from the unsuspecting, any more or less contemptible than a gun-toting car-jacker?

Would I rather have students well educated in terms of character with low academics or students well educated in terms of academics but of poor character?

The answer seems self-evident (if it’s an either/or choice). Yet character education is completely NOT A PART of the way in which my school is evaluated. I mean why isn’t there some sort of standardized test for this aspect of school? While there are numerous ways we, in the world of public education, seem to be failing our kids, it seems to me that the neglect of this arena of school might end up being the most calamitous.

I work hard NEVER to give up on a kid. NEVER. But my school sports about a 45% dropout rate and sometimes it makes me bananas when I have students who are so clearly on the wrong path… and refuse to help themselves before their lives derail and they end up leaving this institution without a degree.

It’ll make a teacher go loony.

Let’s call her Debbie. (Trust me, her name’s NOT Debbie.) Smart. Social. Outgoing. Vibrant. Missed an entire week of school last week, 4 of the previous 11 days prior to that and comes into class today without even bothering to offer up an excuse as to why she was out. Nor does she approach me to ask for make-up work. Just sits down, bombs on an assignment and knows she’s lost but also knows that school is like whatever to her. She’s lying to herself, telling herself she’s trying but everyone in her life knows she’s not.

I’ve tried being nice, being blunt, talking with calm and common sense, and flipping out — nothing gets through to this student. She is SO CLEARLY on her way out… and she’s only 14 years old. A freshman.

And while she says she cares, her actions show that she does not. I’ve called her house (no answer; no return call) spoken to the guidance counselor, conferred with other teachers — no one can get through. If Debbie is here at the start of her Junior year, I’ll be amazed.

And the thing is, I have so many other kids to teach, so many other students that want to learn, so many other folks who need what I do, want what I have to offer, willingly embrace the things I am trying to teach them that the question enters my head, “At what point is Debbie someone I can no longer deeply toil over?”

On one hand, there is the school of thought that says, “You can’t give up on this kid.” However, for people who do not actually teach for a living in an urban school, that sentiment is MUCH HARDER than you think. I mean how do you make a horse drink once you lead it to water?

Having said that, if I give up on Debbie, it’s a slippery slope. Cause then I’ll give up on Max and Tom and Cindy and Jennie at some point, too, right? Giving up is Pandora’s box and once it’s opened… well, we know how that story goes.

So Debbie fails, Debbie won’t buy in, Debbie seems to be having a heck of a fun life (though deep down, it’s obvious she’s sad, self-destructive and could probably use counseling — but funds for that dried up eons ago and America’s willingness to finance public education and all its various components to the extent America ought to is self-evident).

So what does a teacher like me do? If this were Hollywood, the miracle solution to all this kid’s ills would pop into my head, the music would swell and we’d cut to an inspirational montage of Debbie doing her homework, Debbie in the library, Debbie high-fiving me as she shows me an A on her math exam. (Because, of course, once I get through, she’ll improve in ALL of her classes and not just mine.)

But this ain’t Hollywood. This is what I face. I can’t give up on Debbie but I don’t seem to be getting through. And like I said, I have to move on because there are scores of other kids to teach.

Oh yeah, bubble tests that measure the effectiveness of our school are coming up soon. Hmm, I wonder how Debbie is gonna do?

It’s too easy to forget that these can be the best times of our lives… if we let them be. To that end, I found a few secrets (stashed away where no one could ever think to look for them… on the internet!)

Maybe there’s something here for you to brighten your day? I hope so…

1. Happiness is making others happy
Like Oscar Wilde said: “Some cause happiness wherever they go; some whenever they go.”

2. Happiness is doing what you love (even if you’re not doing it)
“Success is getting what you want,” says Warren Buffett. “Happiness is wanting what you get.”

3. Happiness is a few Cheerios
From Anna Quindlen’s “A Short Guide to A Happy Life:” “Get a life in which you pay attention to the baby as she scowls with concentration when she tries to pick up a Cheerio with her thumb and first finger. Turn off the cell phone. Turn off your regular phone, for that matter. Keep still. Be present. Get a life in which you are not alone. Find people you love, and who love you.”

4. Happiness is getting lost in whatever you’re doing
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi says: “Isn’t it funny? I’ve been studying happiness for at least 40 years, but I still don’t have a definition of it. The closest one would be that happiness is the state of mind in which one does not desire to be in any other state. Being deeply involved in the moment, we do not have the opportunity to think about anything but the task at hand — hence, by default, we are happy.”

5. Happiness is faking it so good you really are happy
In “The Way of the Peaceful Warrior,” Socrates tells his young disciple: “A fool is ‘happy’ when his cravings are satisfied. A warrior is happy without reason. That’s what makes happiness the ultimate discipline … This is the final task I will ever give you, and it goes on forever. Act happy, feel happy, be happy, without a reason in the world. Then you can love, and do what you will.”

6. Happiness is knowing when ‘enough is enough’
Thich Nhat Hanh says: “The Buddha says happiness can only be possible in the here and now, so go back and examine deeply your notions and ideas of happiness. You may recognize that the conditions of happiness that are already there in your life are enough. Then happiness will be instantly yours.”

9. Happiness is not being attached to money and stuff
Remember Henry Miller’s famous opening line in “Tropic of Cancer:” “I have no money, no resources, no hopes, I am the happiest man alive.”

10. Happiness is spending less than you earn
Charles Dickens’ famous formula: “Annual income, 20 pounds; annual expenditure, 19 pounds; result happiness. Annual income, 20 pounds; annual expenditure, 21 pounds; result misery.”

11. Happiness is doing what you really love
“Why is it that only a minority of our population love their work? …. If you make one major decision correctly,” says Thomas Stanley in “The Millionaire Mind,” “if you are creative enough to select the ideal vocation, you can win, win big-time. The really brilliant multimillionaires are those who selected a vocation they love.”

12. Happiness is being of service
In “The 7 Spiritual Laws of Success,” Deepak Chopra says: “Everyone has a purpose in life, a unique gift of special talent to give others … ask yourself, ‘How am I best suited to serve humanity?’ Answer that question and put it into practice. Discover your divinity, find your unique talent, serve humanity with it, and you can generate all the wealth you want.”

Hope something here sparks a feeling of warmth for you.