A New Model of Schooling: Creating Knowledgeable, Responsible, Nonviolent, Drug-Free, Caring Kids
By Maurice Elias
4/10/08
Around the world, people want to improve education. Some want to strengthen basic academic skills; others want to focus on critical thinking. Some want to promote citizenship or character; others want to admonish against the dangers of drugs, violence, and alcohol. Some demand more from parents; others accent the role of community. Some emphasize core values; others the need to respect diversity. Through all the positions lies a consistent concern: Schools must become better at producing knowledgeable, responsible, nonviolent, drug-free, and caring adults.
Knowledgeable, responsible, nonviolent, drug free, and caring -- behind each word lies an educational challenge:
- For children to become knowledgeable, they must be motivated to learn and capable of integrating new information into their lives.
- For children to become responsible, they must be capable of understanding risks and opportunities, and they must be motivated to choose actions and behaviors that will be in their own best interests and in the interests of others.
- For children to be drug free, they need to be engaged in their schools and communities. They must have an incentive to be alert, focused, and available.
- For children to be nonviolent, they must not live in settings that model violence and must not look to violence as the best way to solve problems, and they need empathy and skills for everyday problem solving and decision making.
- For children to become caring, they must experience being cared about and cared for, of being part of a community that is welcoming, nurturing, and open to them and that gives them a valued and respected role and place in that community.
The challenge of raising knowledgeable, responsible, nonviolent, drug-free, and caring children is familiar to parents, policy makers, administrators, and teachers. But what may be less familiar and less well understood is the insight that each element of this challenge can be enhanced by thoughtful, sustained, and systematic attention to the social and emotional life of children. Indeed, experience and research are showing that promoting the social, emotional, and character development (SECD) of children is the hidden key to improving all of these outcomes, including the application of basic academic skills.
In every society, children will inherit social roles now occupied by adults. For that reason, and supported by brain research, learning can be defined as knowledge that is put into practice for the well-being of self and others. Our schools must give children intellectual and practical tools they can bring to their classrooms, families, communities, and workplaces.
A delegation from Singapore's Ministry of Education has just completed a visit to schools in New Jersey and Pennsylvania that have been leaders in promoting students' SECD. Why did these good people, whose schools are often held up as paragons of academic accomplishment, come to see these schools? The answer is simple: Their business leaders said that the products of their education had intellectual smarts but not sufficient workplace smarts. In a country like Singapore, where social capital is the most abundant and valuable resource, this is a cataclysmic recognition.
The world is waking up to the need to educate the whole child. For some reason, the United States seems to be in the deepest sleep, but it's showing signs of stirring. Let's keep the rousing going and get our schools up and in the forefront of whole-child education and a better balance of academics and SECD.
A new generation of SECD approaches is available to provide what schools need. When schools implement SECD effectively, the academic achievement of children increases, the incidence of problem behaviors decreases, the quality of the relationships that surrounds each child is enhanced, and schools become more inviting and dynamic places to be, true centers for learning. SECD has been called "the missing piece," the part of the school’s mission that is close to the hearts and minds of educators but always just out of grasp. Now, the elusive is within reach, and it’s time to grab SECD and use it to shape a new model of schooling.
Creating Knowledgeable, Responsible, Caring Kids
Submitted by Natalie (not verified) on June 3, 2008 - 13:55.
I agree with many of the challenges that involve children’s needs in this blog. It was very surprising to know of a program that was develop to help students that need caring and support from others to help them develop a positive self-esteem. But even though it’s a good program many of the issues that involve children with behavior problems is their home environment, where many parents are not taking their time talking to their kids about positive outlooks of going to school and they are not involved in their kids life. Then there is the fact that without the motivation from parents it makes difficult for teachers to help children. But over all the entire article was very interesting to know that there are programs that support children and are willing to show them that there is a person that wants them to succeed in life.
Role of Parents
Submitted by Maurice J. Elias (not verified) on July 4, 2008 - 04:30.
Kids today are coming into schools with a higher degree of emotional burden and distraction than has been the case for most prior generations. And I think the same is true for parents with regard to parenting. Whether this should be the case and why it should be the case is open to debate. But the reality is that kids some into schools needing skills for success in school and life that they used to have a better chance of getting from their families, communities, and social institutions. The only way schools can effectively convey these skills- and the necessary values that accompany them-- is to create a safe, healthy, supportive, caring, and challenging community in the school, where all students feel themselves to be valued, contributors, and sources of school pride. This is not easy, but it's possible and we see more and more schools adopting this SECD way of doing things every day. Now, we have to build this orientation into the way we prepare teachers, administrators, and student support personnel for their future careers. Once we do this, we will find that many fewer students will be at risk because they will feel authentically included in the school and the school will become a valued part of their identity that they will be a bit more reluctant to jeopardize than it usually the case now.
A New Model of Schooling: Creating Knowledgeable and Caring Kids
Submitted by Christina Port Arthur, TX (not verified) on May 28, 2008 - 19:17.
I know we as teachers walk into a classroom and expect our students to have self-discipline and self-control, respect for adults and each other, and the desire to learn. However, we all know that those are our desires. We must look at the classroom from the learner's point of view to ensure that what we expect is also what they expect. For instance, if we anticipate on teaching them about the use of quotation marks, we must make it useful and interesting to the learner and not just teach it because it's the next page in the grammar book. When we begin to look at teaching from the learner's point of view and ask how is this going to be useful info. for the low ses kid or the student whose father is in jail and mother is dead, then and only then can learning truly begin. We must meet the students where they are, get to know them, take time to care about who they are and where they come from and then we can know what information is relevant, useful, and of interest to them.
So many good points
Submitted by Jody (not verified) on May 28, 2008 - 11:55.
I especially agree with the last few paragraphs focusing on how schools do not always educate the whole child. I feel strongly that many schools simply teach content with a lack of making a student well-rounded, or to show the real world significance of what is taught in schools.
New model of schooling
Submitted by Renee (not verified) on May 27, 2008 - 17:39.
Often times what I see is missing in troubled students is the understanding of self worth. When we get down to it, either in the classroom or in the workplace, how we feel about ourselves impacts the way we live, learn, and treat others. Those students who come from loving and involved families do better in school. They hear over and over again the importance they have in the lives of those that love them. They see through the actions of loved ones how they are treated and in turn show empathy to others in the same way. We have to learn to embrace the humaness in our children. Building up self esteem in our children is the first place to start in making a positive difference in our schools.
A New Model of Schooling
Submitted by Tina Sieverding, Bellevue, IA (not verified) on May 27, 2008 - 16:19.
I have read a few articles about whole child education. I truly believe as a teacher in today's society, you have to be aware of your students emotional, physical and cognitive states. When I'm teaching my students I have to connect on all different levels in order to make them interested in what I am delivering. If one of my students comes to school upset because of something that went on at home, I have to pay attention to that child's emotional state, or I'm not going get anything academically accomplished. Teachers today are nurturers, caregivers, disciplinarians, friends, role models and then we are teachers. What we do everyday in our classrooms, will affect those who are a part of it for the rest of their lives. I am proud to be a teacher. I have been recently surprised because of the negative comments I have read about the respect for the teaching profession. This is news to me. It's easy for a critic to sit back and suggest how things should be, but it takes a strong person to actually choose a profession that challenges you everyday to make a difference in the lives of our childrens' futures.
I agree that it takes a
Submitted by Amy Gerity (not verified) on July 20, 2008 - 19:39.
I agree that it takes a strong person to choose the teaching profession. As teachers, we have a major impact on the lives of the students we teach. We have such an awesome responsibility to teach not only our content, but more importantly, lessons about life. We have to teach our students how to get along with others, how to tolerate those people they do not care for, how to be responsible, how to be respectful, how to work hard, how to deal with hardship, etc. Sometimes we are all they have and we are the only person who shows them that they are cared for. I can't think of another profession that has such an impact.
A New Model of Schooling
Submitted by Annette (not verified) on May 26, 2008 - 17:36.
As I read through the comments about a new model of schooling, I was unclear as to what was so new. Without meaning to sound judgemental, it seemed to me that someone was merely stating their ideals of what a school should be. I hear the message that schools are a place for socializing our students, for social change. Like a dog chasing its tail, the point was being made that it is society that shapes our children while it is children who become the society. It sounds to me like the nature/nurture arguement. I do believe it is an inexplicably intricate web of influence that runs both ways; so where do we start. My personal opinion is that it is the responsibility of the adults in society to influence the children and then for that legacy to be passed to the next generation to influence its decendants. I see two problems. One, adults are not willing to take responsibility for doing the "right" thing. Two, no one can agree on what the "right" thing is. It is no wonder we are not advancing our society in positive directions. Hmm... so what do we do? Go back to defining what we want. What is it we value? Then back track to how we achieve that goal.
For example at the risk of sounding simplistic, if we want students to value each other, we have to demonstrate that action. We have to remove those who do not model this value from influence. We have to decide one who gets to be role models. This means someone has to have some backbone.
Positive Role Model
Submitted by Erin (not verified) on June 26, 2008 - 16:06.
Annette-
While I agree that children should have better role models in their lives, too often those negative role models live right within the home. I am tired of seeing a student who has no self confidence because he has been torn down by his parent, and then I have to work twice as hard to reverse the effects of the parent's influence and show that student the his worth.
Role of Parents
Submitted by Maurice J. Elias (not verified) on September 2, 2008 - 02:25.
Erin and Annette, I believe there are role models all around children and parents need to understand that they are in competition for their children's minds and hearts. Their status as parents gives them opportunities but ultimately they will have to earn their status as respected role model. Meanwhile, a great deal can happen in school to influence children in positive ways if the adults get together and organize schools as places that enhance social, emotional, character, and academic development. Perhaps as parents see their students being engaged, excited, and influenced by school in good ways, they will take the time to become more directly involved to the extent possible. But schools cannot and should not wait for parental involvement on the road to building students' essential life habits.
Post new comment