In 1990, three academics, Harold Stevenson, Chuansheng Chen, and David Uttal did a study of attitudes and academic achievement of black, white, and hispanic children in Chicago. They found a disturbing gap between what parents thought their children were learning and children’s actual performance. Teachers in high-poverty schools had given A’s to students for work that would have earned them C’s or D’s in affluent suburban schools. In study, black mothers of Chicago elementary school students rated their child’s skills and abilities quite high and thought their kids were doing well in reading and math. The children thought same thing.

Unfortunately, researchers found that parents’ and children’s self-evaluations of their math and reading skills were way above their actual achievement levels. There was a big gap between their optimistic self-evaluations and their dismal academic performance on independent tests. Public schools were giving these children a false idea of their academic skill levels. In other words, these children were heading towards failure and no one bothered to tell them.

Parents, it would not be wise to trust any claims by teachers or school authorities about your children’s alleged academic abilities, even in so-called “good” schools in suburban neighborhoods. To find out how your child is really doing, have an outside independent company test your child’s reading and math skills.

If you find that your child’s academic skills are far below what your local public-school led you to believe, you might want to take your child out of public school and look for better education alternatives. There is a complete Resource section in “Public Schools, Public Menace” that explores many of these quality, low-cost education alternatives.

Determine exactly how much money you have in your account even if you have to go to bank for help.

Enter that information on a new page in your check register.

Enter date, your check number, payee and amount in your check register when you write he check. Don't worry about people in line behind you. This will only take a few seconds. If you like, you can deduct amount of check when you get home.

Take your check book with you when you use ATM and enter your withdrawal while you are still at machine.

Develop a system to deduct automatic withdrawals. It is probably best to deduct these on first of each month.

Add any deposits as you make them. You need to find out how much and when direct deposits should be entered in your check register.

When you receive your bank statement, reconcile it as soon as possible. If you find any descrepancies check them out immediately. Don't give up until you are sure you have resolved problem. The balance you show in your check register should match bank, less any bank charges.

When you reconcile your bank statement be sure to clearly mark checks that have been returned to you. One of biggest problems people have with overdrafts is missing a check that is taking a long time clearing bank. Go back at least a month to make sure all previous check have cleared.

I really don't mean to insult anyone's intelligence with this article. Having problems with your checking account, as with all other money problems, isn't a matter of intelligence anyway, it's a matter of discipline. It can cost you a lot of money by not applying that discipline to managing your checking account.