Student volunteers gather in Patterson Park {Baltimore Sun photo}

Step 4: Build social responsibility into the curriculum.

My suggestions for repairing a broken school system have been relatively hard line.  Some readers have called them overly conservative.  Others have seen them as cruel and mechanical.  I imagine all apply to some degree.  There’s rarely a lasting fix that skews one way or another.  It’s more an amalgamation of perspectives.  And that’s why Steps 4 and 5 of my plan are going to confuse some folks.   They’re going to seem like contradictions of thought. In some ways, I suppose they are.  But contradictions can exist in our world.  There are evil people who do beneficent things.  There are good people who perpetrate heinous deeds.

Now, humor me for a few hundred words. I’m about to paint the Volkswagen bus, gun the bio-diesel engine, and roll down the Hippie Highway at 85 liberal miles per hour on this next step.  This is about as far left as I lean on education.  Before I tip over, anyway.

Our schools are broken because too many of our kids are broken.  And the parents, the neighborhoods, and society at large have been unable or unwilling to put them back together.  As a result, it’s become the de facto task of the school system to do what it can, providing everything from free breakfast to health care.

Unfortunately, it has very little jurisdiction after the dismissal bell rings.  When the kids come streaming out through those reinforced metal doors, they often return to environments that conduct business using a much different social currency than the mainstream.  Essential human values - namely empathy and social responsibility - are absent from their lives.  It’s manifested in their unacceptable behavior in formal or professional environments, destructive attitudes regarding family, prejudices towards other cultures and flawed perceptions of what is generally considered “right and wrong.”

I propose instituting a curriculum espousing the idea of social responsibility. In effect, it would become a K-12 manual on how to be a contributing member in society.  The breadth of this curriculum would allow for a wide range of topics, varying in scope and social impact.  Forms of this have been proposed recently by the Maryland Department of Education, filed under the label of “character education.”  Unfortunately, character education in its current form is simply not enough.  Outside of a few elective-style classes and service learning hours, it’s extremely limited in scope and therefore unlikely to have the impact needed to counteract the deep dysfunction that’s been instilled in many at-risk students from birth.

We need a total shift in moral development.  It must be atomic in proportions and have a half-life to match.  It starts in kindergarten.  And it can’t stop until kids walk across the stage to pick up their diplomas. While this column can’t offer a large enough forum to delve into the specifics of this social responsibility curriculum, I can paint in broad strokes the significant tenets.

First, for children in lower grades, begin by addressing the core concept of empathy.  One could argue that the ability to fathom the feelings of others is one of the highest orders of understanding that human beings can hope to attain.  But for a disturbingly large number of students, this concept is malformed or totally absent.  They’re desensitized to the suffering of other living things.  They’re nonplussed by brutality and prejudice, often because they were raised on it, surrounded by it.  If a kid can’t see how their actions affect others or why they should care, they’re left with nothing but punishment and incentive to guide their behavior.  And while that may bring about the desired results, it’s artificial.  Over time, it’s not enough.  There must be a moral compass they can refer to for direction.

We need to approach this from a mental health angle.  Bring in social scientists and child psychologists to work intensively with students - one on one if necessary.  The character development process must become more meaningful than what we’re doing currently which mainly consists of having teachers reciting from canned texts and prodding kids to color in workbooks.

Second, for older students, address the role of the individual in society.  While much broader in scope, this element would cover very specific life skills and values that are necessary for one to succeed in the mainstream - from social etiquette and civic responsibility to child rearing and balancing a checkbook.

Life skills aren’t regularly addressed in schools.  When they are, it’s rarely taken seriously by the students. Classes must be created that provide the students with full immersion, much like learning a language.  For example: Want a kid to understand the importance of interview skills?  Enlist the help of business leaders from the community and beyond.  Have them conduct mock interviews.  Then, have them speak candidly to the kids about why they would or wouldn’t hire them.  Use that as a jumping off point to show students just how far they have to go in their development and maturity.  For many, it’s a shock.  At the end of the semester, bring the business professionals back.  And have them interview the kids in earnest.  For real jobs this time.

Character education isn’t a bad thing.  But, in its current form, it’s ineffective.  I advocate making the curriculum a priority in students’ academic regimen, teaching the life skills that traditionally haven’t been taught and intensely focusing on filling in the social and emotional development holes left by inadequate parenting and chaotic home lives.

After all, what good is an education brimming with learning opportunities if the foundation it’s built upon sits rotting in the soft mud of social apathy?

Postscript: While researching this piece, I came across the obituary for Elaine Stotko, chair of Johns Hopkins University’s Department of Teacher Preparation.  She succumbed to brain cancer on October 16^th.  I had the fortune to study under her during my master’s coursework.  Her leadership during that time was essential in helping Hopkins’ School of Education secure its national accreditation.   She will be sorely missed, and I wish her family well in their time of great sadness.  May they find solace in the knowledge that her legacy lives on in the deeds of the dedicated teachers who graduate from the program to serve students in Baltimore and throughout the region.

Previously:

Introduction to the series

Step 1: Leave magnet schools alone.

Step 2: Rediscover what worked before.

Step 3: Treat teachers like professionals.

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