Sunday, October 18, 2009

Educating with Soul: The Missing Ingredient

Public Address

(Delivered at Pat-Kam School Annual Awards Ceremony)
Preamble:
  • We thank Pat-Kam & its leadership for bringing together this commonwealth of gratitude and appreciation.  This evening’s proceedings give a loud voice to the essential, thank you; we all long for but seldom receive. I dare say honorees, your plaques, bouquets and citations explain only a small percentage of the joy you are experiencing; the greater part comes from just the thought that someone recognizes your contributions and sacrifices.

Transition:
  • Ladies and gentlemen, it’s the notion of education that this evening is all about. The fact that honorees come from different fields account for the ways in which education concerns intersect with, and are supported by all aspects of life. 
  • Passionate concerns and robust debate often attend school practice. The irony is that more concerns, debate and expense seem to produce lesser outcomes. Equally interesting is that ever pundit has a take on why solutions don’t work. I can do no more harm by adding my voice to the discourse. I’ve chosen to caption my presentation, education reform: a missing ingredient.
INTRODUCTION:
What’s Missing

One missing element may best defined as student conceptualization of school.  Envisage today’s average student en-route to school. What image/s of the destination called school informs his/her thinking?  Maybe at best, a place to hang-out with friends or make out with lovers. Perhaps even a pastime venue for honing survival skills for the ‘hood’ or ‘street’.  At worst, school connotes a place of insecurity, unwanted exposure, failure; even hopelessness. Too often this zero sum spectrum holds true.  As educators, these may not be notions we care to acknowledge, let alone affirm.  Nevertheless, on the basis of (at least) anecdotal evidence it is a prospect we cannot escape or deny.  The sad reality is that the daily journey to school of far too many minority students is undertaken without a worthy image of the purpose for which they are making the trip.

Prominence given to disc man, cell phone, brands, durag, etc; in conjunction with conversation content, suggest the chilling absence of a compelling image of what school represents.  Simply put, students within NYC inner cities are leaving home for school each day without a worthy, overriding and compelling purpose for making the journey.  Reframing and reshaping students’ conceptualization of school remains the greatest challenge; but holds the greatest promise for truly reforming NYC education. 

Here’s another picture:

A student turns up for after school (SES) program; the teacher tries to engage the child; but the child I reluctant. The teacher pushes for commitment to work from the child. Eventually the child blurts out; mammy said if I don’t want to do I work I don’t have to. What is the teacher’s most likely response? This is neither a commentary on the recklessness of parent or indolence of a child as much as it a reality commentary on the hopelessness that often constitutes schooling for minorities.

A given fundamental of social science is that expectation predisposes experienced reality.  Translated to the issue at hand- it means, the conscious or unconscious image or notion of school a student holds, to a large extent, determines his/her preparedness for learning. Many teachers turn up to teach each day only to find students with no appreciation or notion of school on their minds. The result is that Pygmalion effect feeds each other’s expectation and performance. 

Where does resolution lie? What is the way out for unengaged students, unbelieving parents, de-motivated teachers and underachieving schools?

The Answer:  Education with Soul
Performance driven cute sounding initiatives only go so far; but are inadequate. At any rate they often come with suspicious agendas. The history of mainstream educational objectives has not always been with clean hands.  Industrial age required basic learning for the masses. Spell you name, count your money and know your place on the assembly line or smelting plant.  Technology age requires more capabilities. Suddenly there is greater need for the poor to act smart. So what do we have? Standards of achievement and Core Competencies! 

By themselves achievement and competency are worthy but insufficient learning objectives. Of necessity education must include more and in fact must be entered into from a completely different paradigm. Education must be negotiated from a quality of life perspective and be driven with soul.   It’s not what’s done on or for students; but what’s done within them that will ultimately make a difference.  From this perspective, rethinking educational reform at this macro level ought to precede any structural initiative geared toward improving grades. The question is – How and under what conditions will students develop a true conceptualization of school and a deep appreciation for benefiting from their learning environments? 

As I reflect on my daily journeys to school many years ago, I seem to recall that, both at the conscious, but more often the unconscious level, there was awareness (though not in so sophisticated a fashion) that school was the place I was supposed to –
  1. Obtain and expand information and knowledge
  2. Secure a foot hold for a successful career/future
  3. Lay a platform for the next family generation
Yes, I often wished significant players had made school more of a fun place. But that was a distinct aside to the central driving purpose for which I set off to school each day.

To me, the main ingredient for students to develop a deep inner thinking and keen awareness that will harness the benefits of school must be focused around assisting them to grasp a sense of future destination. Each child must be possessed with a destination driven consciousness- a picture and purpose of destiny that drives the daily journey to school.  To each child school must become the avenue to his/her future being. There can hardly be a sadder picture than a child heading off to school with no sense of destination and no driving awareness of a future outcome. The elements that will allow each child to develop and sustain a purpose of destiny are as follows:
  • Parent and teacher reinforcement
    • we expect something great of you; and will not let you become a failure or criminal justice statistic
    • story of middle school student whom another had hit and run off (I don’t care; I’m fighting this evening) No one stepped in the gap and said you don’t care but I do; lets find other options for resolution. 
  •     Responsibility to the next Generation
  •     Circles of Achievement
  •     School Culture Reflecting Success and Expectation
Together these elements represent an education with soul.

These things are not new; they must be pulled together and interlocked around one theme. That is- the student’s destiny of purpose. No doubt it’s happening already in some places; but it needs to become a systemic purposeful action.

Dr. Raymond S. Edwards
President/CEO, MOHDC
http://www.mohdc.com
Raymond Edwards, Ph.D. Organizational Psychologist & Minister of Religion: is an international development consultant and executive Leadership behavior specialist.

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