Tom,
You wrote:
>Schools, for some reason, have become the universal solution to
>problems with a community's youth.
I agree with you. I would venture to say that communities have abdicated
their responsibility for their welfare to the schools. And the schools
have acted in a contradictory fashion to invite it. Many teachers with
whom I've talked, feel that they spend most of their time dealing with the
social problems children bring to school, and not really on education.
Yet, listen to educators, you here that one of the chief arguments for
public education is socialization. I think that it is contradictory. I
don't think schools should be in the socialization business. That is for
communities to do. Schools should be about education, preparing young
people for the world of work in the 21st. century. And until the schools
and communities sort this issue out, schools will be burdened with the
problems of society, and unable to resolve them because they are not
designed to do it, not given the resources for it and not trained to
accomplish it.
There are no "heavies" in this situation. No bad guys. Teachers and
administrators are responding to the demands of the community.
Communities are responding to the failure of state and federal programs to
accomplish all they claimed they would. State and federal programs were
responding to what they perceived to be a way to serve their
constituencies. The problem is that solutions must be locally derived and
conducted. The only solution is for communities as a whole to decide that
together, as individuals and as a collaborations of organizations and
groups that they will be responsible for the social problems in their
midst. No one group or institution can do it. The whole community must
learn to talk and listen, put aside past differences and work together to
provide an environment for resolution of social problems which free the
schools to educate.
Thanks Tom for your comment.
Ed Brenegar
Leadership Resources
"Building Communities of Leadership"
828/693-0720
edb3@msn.com
--"Ed Brenegar" <edb3@msn.com>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>