Schools teach the "three Rs," and provide nutrition and physical education, but not the vital mental life skills needed to live in this world and enjoy it.

A child, not being raised in a loving environment, automatically reacts with fear and flight or anger and fight, and gets labeled and drugged by psychiatry - losing any chance for success in school, business, or life.

The 12 Steps of self-development - from self-acceptance to self-dependency - are a crash course in growing up, and have been curing people of mental illness - including alcoholics and drug addicts - for over 50 years.

Let our new Secretary of Education know that learning how to grow up - changing from automatic reactions to conscience-directed actions - should be a mandatory part of "No Child Left Behind" and a component of every public education curriculum in the United States of America.