For the week of May 12, 1999 thru May 18, 1999 |
The same old system does no one any favorsIn Blaine County, 72 percent of children have both parents working outside the home, compared to a national average of 64 percent. School gets out hours before most parents with day jobs get home. Is it any wonder that some kids are hanging out on street corners or going to unsupervised parties at which all manner of illegal drugs and alcohol may be present? The system ensures that kids are unsupervised. The mystery is that the very people who struggle with the system are the same ones who could change itbut dont. Schools have stuck with the same old for much of the 20th Century. Kids dont go to school in the summer because when their great grandfathers and great grandmothers were school age, families needed them home on the farm to do chores that helped support the whole family. During the school year they were released before dark for the same reasonso they could do chores before the sun went down. Even though mechanization removed the need for child labor on farms and ranches and even though most families left the nations farms and ranches a couple of generations ago, school schedules still havent changed. Extracurricular activities and part-time jobs havent filled the gap for a lot of older kids. Time hangs heavy on them. In the meantime, schools blame parents for not producing better kids. Parents shoulder the guilt and wonder why kids are so difficult to raise. The same old system isnt doing anyone any favors. In the meantime, the Blaine County School District is searching for ways to give kids a better education. Teachers, parents and students huddled last week to brainstorm and come up with ideas. The ideascreative mentoring, more counseling, course work delivered over the Internet and improved technology trainingwere great. But its possible the things that will create a better education and better kids at the same time are simplerand cheaper. Why not coordinate the school year with the work year, and a school day with a work day? Why not create a system that gives families more time together? As we expand training in technology for teachers and students, why not offer parenting classes for parents? Parenting shouldnt be something learned only through some kind of secret osmosis. Better yet, require parenting courses for seniors in high school. It makes no sense to offer drivers education, but fail to teach parenting skills to kids who will soon become the next generation of parents. Why do kids seem more troubled today than in the past? How can the nation prevent what seems to be escalating teen violence in schools? The answers may be simpler than we think.
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