>I have always felt a victim of our schools. When I
>reached 7th grade, there began a decline in my grades and I felt
>increasingly aloof from academic studies and can think of no individual
>teacher that really cared.
>
>I will warrant that my son feels the same isolation.
>
>(My daughter has a language disability and is a wonderful kid with a
>retention disorder -- The public school system did a wonderful job of
>diagnosing the problem, but absolutely nothing with the solution.
>
>What's a parent to do?
I recommend reading _Reviving Ophelia, Saving the Selves of Adolescent
Girls_ by Mary Pipher, Ph.D. It is an excellent expose on what society at
large, through it's schools, does to young women.
IMHO Scott has pointed out that a similar phenomena is visited on young
men.
Regarding the blame game, I am reminded that _it takes a village to raise
a child_. We are all responsible in community.
In my efforts on the School Board I worked to bring the players to the
table in recognition of the fact we are in the same boat. I knew that
individual teachers, who live in our shared community, whose children
attend the same institution, *beyond the union*, did not wish to bring
harm to any child. I tried to gently emphasize this point when the
occasion arose. I also urged educators to look beyond the accused
failures of parents to some of the societal causes of parents' apparent
lack of involvement. I nailed them every time they spoke with disrespect
toward a parent who became involved out of concern, (regarding the
hypocrisy of _they are not involved_ vs._let's blame/shame them when they
get involved_). The result of these actions, (frankly to my surprise),
was that teachers felt more supported by the board while the board pushed
for lowered taxpayer impact AND greater accountability of educators.
Don't you think that most of us turn our power over to *others* because we
believe, (frequently through experience) that we do not have the power to
make a difference?
just some thoughts,
Sherry Gould
s_gould@conknet.com
--s_gould@conknet.com (Sherry L. Gould)
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>