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As a speaker in public schools, I talk with teens every
week. They are usually full of life and hope. But many are
desperate because of the chaos and disorder around them.
It's no wonder, when you consider the way their world is
changing.
New York City has announced a new "zero tolerance" policy
that will send SWAT teams into the city's most violent high
schools to combat juvenile crime. The governor asserts that
"we must help keep our schools, campuses, and daycare
facilities safe by imposing tough new penalties for violence
committed on school grounds."
Everyone wants safe schools. But isn't it hypocritical for a
society like ours, which idolizes violence, profits from it
and even teaches it through films, video games and music, to
punish it in schools? Yes, violent students cannot be left
to terrorize classrooms and halls. But until we address the
roots of their behavior, we will achieve nothing. These
roots are obvious: racism, poverty, divorce, neglect, abuse,
hunger and--perhaps worst of all--loneliness, self-hatred
and despair.
At the same time, New York City's mayor is pushing for tough
new standards to make sure that third graders in the city's
public schools perform at an "acceptable" level before they
move on to the fourth grade. The new standardized tests
could result in some 15,000 eight-year-olds being held back
at the end of the year.
I'm all for better education. But the way we're going after
it spells disaster. At a public school I visited last year,
the student body spoke 22 different languages. Most were
nonwhite and came from poor families. At a time when
cash-strapped school districts are dismissing teacher's
aides and librarians and janitors--and hiring more armed
security guards--how on earth are these kids supposed to
learn English well?
In one inner-city district after another, we are holding a
whole generation of children hostage. The decaying buildings
we lock them in each day may be called schools, but in
reality they are prisons for the poor. And their jail
keepers are not only the wealthy politicians who govern
them, but each of us who has hardened our heart against
their pain in order to preserve a comfortable life.
I know that millions of parents and teachers are deeply
concerned about this state of affairs. At a conference of
educators a few years ago, I said standardized testing is
ruining public schools and borders on child abuse. That
statement set off a standing ovation. So did my feeling that
it won't be long before we see suicides brought on by
academic pressure, as Japan and Korea have seen for years.
Plenty of people do care about these things. They know that
children deserve better than the continual pressure to
excel--especially impoverished ones who don't have a chance
to begin with. But we are all products of a society based on
degrees and certificates and credentials, and most of us
give far more weight than we'd like to admit to SAT scores
and class rankings and scholarships and the like.
How many of us worry more about these things, than about
other, far more important dimensions of life? In a culture
of irresponsibility, promiscuity, and violence, shouldn't
our main concern be the inner lives of our children? In a
society where obesity is epidemic among children, shouldn't
we be more concerned about exercise, healthy eating,
self-control, and self-respect?
And what about our children's spiritual education? We live
in frightening times. As parents and educators, our main
task is to equip children for such times. This means not
only educating them physically and mentally; it means
preparing them to listen to their consciences in the midst
of mass hysteria. It means helping them to find courage when
others cower. It means inspiring them to hold on to faith
when everyone around them has lost it. It means readying
them to make sacrifices, rather than save their own skin.
On 9/11, when planes and buildings were falling, the most
prestigious education meant nothing. Courageous men and
women stopped to help at the cost of their own lives. Isn't
that the noblest thing a human being can do: lay down his
life in order to save another? In today's world it is
inevitable that there will be more such days of reckoning.
Unless we guide our children toward selflessness and
compassion, we may be denying them what is ultimately the
only important education.
[Johann Christoph Arnold (
http://www.ChristophArnold.com ) is an author and
speaker who teaches nonviolent conflict resolution in high
schools ( see
http://www.breakingthecycle.us ).]
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May you be blessed today
Bob Johnston
Editor / Publisher
To read archived stories, click on this link:
http://archives.zinester.com/9516/2004
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