collaborate across agencies:
reduce truancy, drug abuse, crime and violence
It is a sad reality that school-aged children use alcohol and illicit drugs. This truth impacts their ability and willingness to learn and leads to higher levels of crime and violence among juveniles. There is, however, a relationship between a student's school experience and his or her involvement in drugs, alcohol, and crime. Students who are not successful in school are more likely to cut class, become truant, or drop out all together. Students who are not successfully engaged in school are at greater risk for illicit drug use, crime, and violence. Similarly, young women who are not academically challenged and engaged in schools are more likely to become teenage mothers and/or enter the juvenile justice system.
Eighty to 90 percent of our incarcerated juveniles did not have a positive school experience, and most dropped out of school. Students are in our schools for most of the day, and we will have to address their needs during the time that they are with us. It serves no useful purpose to blame parents, blame society, or blame anyone else, while continuing to maintain the obsolete practices now offered in our public schools.
Public education must join forces and collaborate with local and national agencies as well as community-based organizations to address the problem of illicit drug use by children. Dollars must be put into re-engineering schools so that they become places where young people want to be, where they can develop and become productive citizens.
Re-engineering our schools is essential. But we must go further. We must fit school services into a community. School is the largest piece of life for a growing child, but it cannot be all of life. We must integrate our work with the work of parents, churches, businesses, and community organizations. We must also collaborate proactively with all agencies charged with responsibilities toward children.
Schools must link with the police, parole officers, youth, health, housing, employment, and welfare agencies to see this effort through. These connections will substantially reduce oversight, reduce long-term costs, and rescue countless young people.
In spite of all the problems found in the American public education system, hope does spring eternal for one primary reason, the resiliency of our children. I have run into a myriad of children who come from dysfunctional home settings and who have received limited, if any, nurturing along the way. Still, they have an inner drive to excel and succeed. These children demonstrate an indomitable spirit that guides them through hardships. Oftentimes the determining factor about their eventual ability to succeed or fail is reduced to one or more positive influences in their life.
Eighty to 90 percent of our incarcerated juveniles did not have a positive school experience, and most dropped out of school. Students are in our schools for most of the day, and we will have to address their needs during the time that they are with us. It serves no useful purpose to blame parents, blame society, or blame anyone else, while continuing to maintain the obsolete practices now offered in our public schools.
Public education must join forces and collaborate with local and national agencies as well as community-based organizations to address the problem of illicit drug use by children. Dollars must be put into re-engineering schools so that they become places where young people want to be, where they can develop and become productive citizens.
Re-engineering our schools is essential. But we must go further. We must fit school services into a community. School is the largest piece of life for a growing child, but it cannot be all of life. We must integrate our work with the work of parents, churches, businesses, and community organizations. We must also collaborate proactively with all agencies charged with responsibilities toward children.
Schools must link with the police, parole officers, youth, health, housing, employment, and welfare agencies to see this effort through. These connections will substantially reduce oversight, reduce long-term costs, and rescue countless young people.
In spite of all the problems found in the American public education system, hope does spring eternal for one primary reason, the resiliency of our children. I have run into a myriad of children who come from dysfunctional home settings and who have received limited, if any, nurturing along the way. Still, they have an inner drive to excel and succeed. These children demonstrate an indomitable spirit that guides them through hardships. Oftentimes the determining factor about their eventual ability to succeed or fail is reduced to one or more positive influences in their life.