#5 The Truth About Kids: thoughts on education

I work with kids. Black kids, white kids, asian kids, latino kids and any combination thereof, and I am finding out a lot about who I am and what the future may hold through my work. I taught middle school social studies for two years and I can say unequivically that children are great and terrible at the same time. The underlying truth is that children, in so many ways, are exactly what the adults around them make them. What's fucked up is that so many adults in general and parents in particular don't do what is necessary to help kids achieve or even strive for their potential. I may be beating a dead-horse but damn so many children have no where to turn for guidance and encouragement that it's no wonder that they turn to other things like gangs, drugs, sex, tv, food, video games, and friends that are just as confused as they are, for help that none of those things can give. The nuclear family model has exploded and what remains is confusion about and somtimes avoidance of parental responsibility. On the flipside at school, teachers don't have, and many times don't even want, the tools necessary to relate to children from the post-nuclear family era.
I don't claim to have any of the answers but I can tell you what I think. These thoughts, although just opinion, are based on my time in the classroom as a teacher and from being an astute people watcher. As I write this levels upon layers of the problem shoot through my mind. There are psycological, sociological, economic, ethical, political, cultural and a myriad of different lenses to look at this problem through. Children themselves can be blamed as well as teachers, parents, churches and whevere one feels like putting the crosshairs on but I think that the bottom of the problem centers around 3 areas, love, honesty and responsibility.
If all who say they are concerned with the welfare of children approach the situation with love, honesty and responsibility a lot of the bullshit would evaporate. If parents used those lenses regardless of hardship children would understand what wasn't acceptable and fall in line with the parent. If teachers used those lenses they would look at every child individually and do what it takes to draw the best out of students.
I know this all sounds simplistic but it's all culled from my experiences. Because I have been able to forge relationships with many of the kids at the school I work at I see each and every one of them as a person and I give them my all.