Someone recently asked me what I thought was the most
critical change that has negatively impacted our nation’s schools. There certainly is a long litany of options
from which to choose. Loss of revenue at
both the federal and state levels; rising costs of maintenance, bussing,
utilities; exponentially growing costs of health care; unfunded mandates,
especially with the special needs populations; unmotivated students; uninvolved
parents; overzealous unions; incorporating 21st century skills; and
the list goes on and on. Truthfully
though, in my opinion, the most significant change is the loss of the family
structure. This is truly the root of
many of the difficulties educators face.
Parents aren’t uninvolved because they don’t care about their
children. Of course they care! Priorities are often different for those who
live from one crisis to the next. With
the loss of family support systems, our children feel unsettled. When we aren’t sure if there will be dinner
tonight at Mom’s or at Dad’s (or even if there is dinner instead of cereal
again), it is pretty difficult to concentrate on something that needs strong
focus – like math or history. With lack of stability comes loss of health (and
hence rising health care costs).
It is the stable family that provides strength to our
society and our economy. It is the
stable family that helps to instill core values of strong and moral
character. It is the stable family that
provides a foundation from which to build and mould tomorrow’s citizenry.
What are the schools doing to help build strong families?
We have mandatory athletic practices over holidays so
families feel like they can’t spend quality time together or travel to be with
extended family and build traditions and family memories. We have practices every night there are not
games, including Wednesday nights -- which used to be held sacred as a
non-scheduled night of the week for church activities. We have practices on Sundays – which has
always been a day for families to go to church together and spend quality
family time together. We discourage
students from becoming well-rounded because athletic schedules crowd out most
opportunity to participate in other activities (such as musicals, ensembles, debate
teams, chess clubs, etc.).
I am wondering why athletics have overpowered our
choices. Some students choose to not
participate at all, which is also not a good thing. We have lost our balance, and at great
expense. Parents do not feel they can
speak up – their children beg them to say nothing because the coaches will
belittle or punish them for missing their sacred practices. When those in charge hear these things, they
react in disbelief. But ask any parent
what will happen if their child misses a practice due to a family vacation over
the holidays – it is the same story – my child will sit out the next few games,
will have to run laps, will be berated, etc….
So which is it? Do we want to fix what ails our schools? What are we doing to be the solution? How are we helping to rebuild our family
time? Who will speak up?
