“Children are the world's most
valuable resource and its best hope for the future” ~ John F. Kennedy
I often joke
with kids that they have the best job in the world… to be a kid! While I still
believe this to be true (especially for little ones), I don’t want to ignore
the fact that growing up today is hard. The challenges and pressures that
today’s children deal with are concerning. Aside from the emotional and
physical changes that come with growing up, they are presented with social and
educational challenges, the excessive need to compete with others and, often,
there is also a layer of family and economic issues that they may be exposed
to. Navigating these times can be confusing and difficult.
Although
there is no wrong place to spend more time with our children, one of the most
important places to get involved in a child’s life is at school. There are
conflicting reports out there – some that argue that academics is the strongest
indicator of future success and others that argue that school engagement and
connectivity is the strongest indicator of success. Regardless as to which is
true, studies from the University of Michigan have shown that children spend
more time at school today than other generation before them (Swanbrow). During that time, it is essential that they
are getting the proper support that they are in need of. I am under no
impression that educating a child is an easy task. In fact, I believe that it
takes extremely special people to decide to dedicate their lives to educating
children - especially given the demands that come with it. In the recent years,
schools have experienced significant budget cuts, increased classroom sizes, a
larger population of children who have various special needs, and more. There
simply isn’t always enough staff to provide the quality of care that each
individual child is deserving of – despite the staff’s best efforts to do so.
This is where we come in.
I’ve
recently had the pleasure of partnering with Mountain View Middle School in
Beaverton as part of the community based learning project for my capstone
course. My focus was/is to provide support to children who have social and
academic challenges, as well as to be a support person for the staff as needed.
In the short time I spent working with the children throughout this term, I
found them to be intelligent, energetic, inquisitive, and enthusiastic about
having a little bit of extra help. Even
though there are some children who may struggle a bit in particular areas, when
given the appropriate individual time and attention, something that a single
teacher can’t always provide when directing an entire classroom of students,
the potential the students have revealed is undeniable.
It’s no
secret that parental involvement in a child’s education has proven to result in
the child having more success in academics, better social involvement, higher
rates of graduating high school, and even higher aspirations to attend college.
But, the fact of the matter is that many parents aren’t able to be involved in
volunteering at their children’s school for various reasons. There are parents
with demanding work schedules, families that have additional children at home
that require caring for, and some who have language barriers that may prevent
them from school volunteerism. And, while we hope that parents continue to
provide extra support at home, their absence at the school shouldn’t mean that
a child in need simply goes without. Extra support and mentorship can, and
should, be provided by any willing participant who can spare the time to work
with these children. Our children need us to go the extra mile for them. Some
need personal mentorship and others need extra academic support or tutoring.
Whether volunteers are students’ grandparents or other family members, local
college students, or any other members of the community, by committing this
time to our children, we are assuring them that they are worthy and valued. We
are showing them that we care, that they matter, and that we want them to
succeed.
Just as we are all responsible for creating
positive environments in our communities, we are also responsible for the
positive upbringing of the children in our communities - not because they are
my children or because they are your children, but because they are all of our
children. We owe it to them, and to each other, to help them to learn and grow
to be the best people they can possibly be. By working with them, you’ll see
(just as I have) that a little bit of time goes a long way. It’s imperative
that we empower our youth to create a strong, bright future for themselves by
giving our time in order to help them succeed. This is not something that we
are responsible for doing as parents of our own children; this is something
that we should feel a responsibility to do for all children. We are all a part
of this village. Invest in hope. Invest in our future. Invest in our children.
"To
ignore your personal duty to a child you invited or thrust into this world is
entirely unacceptable; but to feed or care for only your child while a mob of
wayward kids knocks hungrily on the door is also indefensible. The moral
challenge lies in both ones personal duty and community responsibility." ~William Ayers
References:
Ayers, William. A
Kind and Just Parent: The Children of Juvenile Court. Boston: Beacon, 1997.
Print.
Swanbrow,
Diane. "U.S. Children and Teens Spend More Time on Academics." U.S.
Children and Teens Spend More Time
on Academics. The Regents of the University of Michigan, 2004. Web. 19 Mar.
2014.
~Teri Smith,
March 2014
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