Dr. Edwardlene Willis, management consultant for adult education and social service programs and author, has a breakthrough “cure” for “bad manners”.  Mind Your Manners An Etiquette Guide for Youth and Young Adults, the “cure”, is a book that offers helpful hints and guidelines to regulate a myriad of social and behavioral blunders.  It also defines manners, shows proper home behavior, provides a guide to appropriate school decorum, outlines various party strategies, teaches general entertainment procedures, lists travel tips, and includes other significant etiquette issues such as dating, getting along with a gang, public behavior and suitable business protocol.  This guide can help one improve his or her personal and social relationships. 

Mind Your Manners-- is the result of the author’s research conducted with youth and adults, as well as personal observations and experiences as a parent, teacher and administrator, and her work with community groups. Several colleges, universities, and school districts have adopted Mind Your Manners as supplementary instructional material.  Bookstores, libraries, churches, and other community organizations have also acquired this unique handbook. 

Dr. Willis is available for interviews to administer her pain-free social prescription to your audience.  She also welcomes book reviews for Mind Your Manners.  She has appeared on national television and syndicated radio talk/interview programs, including “Weeknight on PBS”.

Edwardlene Fleeks Willis is a consultant for social service organizations and educational institutions.  Her career in education has included teaching high school mathematics, English, and business in Texas, Maryland, and Ohio, as well as serving as a school administrator.  Recognition of the need for a handbook on etiquette and decorum for young people arises  from these experiences as well as her early training at home and at Girls High School (San Francisco, CA).

Dr. Willis resides in Crockett, Texas where she continues to write and manage Fleeks Farm, registered in the Texas Family Heritage Land Program.  This prestigious program honors farms and ranches, which have had continuous agricultural production for over 100 years in the same family.  She is the widow of Dr. George M. Willis, a research scientist, and has two sons and two granddaughters.

The author gratefully acknowledges the assistance and encouragement of Josephine Morris, Clifford Pollard, Ph.D., Christine Martin, and her son Mirron E. Willis.

   This book was written especially for youth and young adults who need some suggestions about what to do when they face uncomfortable situations at home, school, in public, and in the workplace.  It is also a response to questions asked of me as a mother, former public school teacher and administrator, and as a volunteer for several community organizations.

CHAPTER III

GOOD MANNERS AT SCHOOL

How to Get Along at School

   Many of your waking hours are spent at school.  Try to make life there as smooth as possible.  Getting along at school involves both your classroom work and relationships with the staff and other students.  To get along successfully at school, practice good manners.

CHAPTER VII

HOW TO BEHAVE IN PUBLIC

   Etiquette touches every part of life.  It is practiced at home, in school, on the job, and in social relation.  For some situations there are special sets of rules.  But there are many general tips that will be used in many places, many times, all your life.  It is important to learn how to behave in public as soon as you can!