1) Provide
compulsory training/treatment programs of parents of troubled youth. When a
child or student is consistently defiant and/or willingly breaks the law, the
parents and children should be involved in a behavior modification program.
This kind of program is not only the responsibility of the government, but the
community also. We need more private companies investing in our youth by
helping to establish such programs. This can be in the form of a two- to
four-week camp for child and parent (up to age 18) where individual, group and
parent-child counseling/activities are done.
2) Encourage
the judicial system to enforce the laws when any teenager causes harm or gives
threats to others. Placing someone in a treatment program with punishment and
restitution is counter productive.
3) All
government and private schools should provide parenting seminars.
4) Find ways
of dealing with parents who do not come to report card days to learn about the
development and progress of their child’s educational journey.
5) Evaluate
teaching methods. Encourage teachers to be proactive and not reactive in the
classroom.
6) Establish
an in-school suspension program. Students who break school rules do not benefit
by suspending them and sending them to a community that encourages their
behavior. An in-house suspension program could be established in districts or
maybe one for the entire island of New Providence. The program will be ran by
specially trained teachers and social workers who teach them in a structured,
controlled environment.
7) Cease the
social promotion–the promotion of students to upper grades simply because
they are getting older. Reward achievement, not chronological maturity.
8) Re-evaluate
the system of co-educational schools for all ages. Research is now indicating
that there may be value in separating the teaching of boys and girls for short
periods (not the entire schooling). Although I support co-educational learning,
we do know that children coming from dysfunctional homes are greatly at-risk
when in mixed classrooms. Boys are generally under achievers and girls are the
learners. When they are separated, both sexes usually excel.
9) Solicit
more male teachers, especially in the primary schools. Since many of our homes
are empty of both parents, it is imperative that we provide a balance in the
school system. Women alone cannot effectively teach our boys. The government
and private organizations, must find ways of making the teaching profession an
attractive alternative for males today (however, not at the expense of female
teachers). Our schools are thirsty for talented male teachers at all levels.
10) Churches
must make the effort of become grace-centered and not law-centered churches
where people feel welcome and families can find healing. Grace-centered
churches are havens of affirmation where criticisms are seldom heard.
Grace-centered churches learn to find a balance between keeping the law and
understanding the spirit of the law. It is a church where members are taught to
think critically. Law-centered churches are producers and power-driven
traditional parents who are more concerned about punishing to "save
face" than making true disciples of their children.
Send your questions or comments to
Barrington H. Brennen,
question@soencouragement.org or call 1-242-327
1980, or snail
mail: P.O. Box CB-13019, Nassau, The Bahamas
First
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Rules Part 4
articles. Parents provide the first
classroom--the home, and the first lessons--table manners and the bedtime
discipline, to name a few. They also provide the foundation for active leaning
in school and community. Thus, teachers are secondary educators of
children. They build on the foundations already established in the home. Some
of the building blocks in the foundation of learning are attitude, resilience,
courage, critical thinking, independent thought, the quest for knowledge,
social justice and personal integrity. Without these building blocks to
learning, we have chaos in the classroom, and community.