Mari_Social Responsibility vs School Responsibility

The quiet contemplation and breathing time in class is helpful to let the mind come to a clearing moment in which nothing matters but understanding that I have to take time for myself.  Contemplative moments like this make you realize that you are a human being and need to step outside of yourself, the craziness of life and the hecticness of getting a master’s degree.  I feel that this type of contemplative exercise will be more helpful as the summer progresses, stresses increase and writer’s block happens in my paper.  This is a chance to know what is real in my mind and if it is focusing on breathe, a particular data question or issue in schools- this will help me think more clearly and precisely on those topics. 

As the experienced cohort, we were given opportunities to work with mindfulness/contemplative practices within our classrooms last fall; and much like the individuals in our current classes, contemplative education was received in different ways.  In my school, it was seen as a hippie movement that offended students and I could not call it “mindfulness” within my classroom.  After the first experience the students didn’t want to do it again, I made them try it two more times before changing paths all together.  The resistance students had towards contemplative was mirrored within the adult community I teach in.  It was hard for me to accept this idea because I too thought it was not my job or a waste of valuable instruction time.  Lots of things have changed since that mini action research project.  My goal was to be more contemplative in my personal life so that at the start of this school year I could again introduce students to the idea of being calm and reflective.  This personal contemplation has come in the way of writing, breathing, prayer and just quiet time for me.  This is not something everyone believes in and that is okay, it is something that is good for kids though.  My students were not receptive to mindful breathing or quiet moments so instead I replaced it with stress balls during tests, something to focus their negative energy and world problems on.  This was a great success.  While I am still hesitant on the use of mindfulness school wide, I know personally it is helping.

To talk about the Schools book, I want to focus on the one section which really got me thinking.  I LOVE this book.  Maybe it is truly the history nerd in me, maybe it is just the resound appreciation I have for education system or very much a combination of both but this is a book that I will photocopy (and break copyright ;))  in order to give my students the opportunity to engage in worthwhile discussions of such depth that we are experiencing in our own classes.

The issue that has stayed in my mind was the issue of schools as substitute families.  Schools are now responsible for feeding, character education, moral education and teaching common sense.  All of which were taught by parents in the past.  So why the change?  Why have schools begun to be this mechanism to replace families?  In the Common School era schools taught the 3 Rs, schools were there to teach content, democracy and introduce working skills.  Schools did not teach students to bathe, brush their teeth or the basic elements of right and wrong.  The question for me, as a social historian, is why did this societal shift occur? The Progressives encouraged the idea of holistic schooling, of teaching students what was needed to live and survive both today and in the future so that their entire self was prepared.  I don’t understand why society had to give up this basic responsibility.  Yes, families were working hard hours in poor circumstances but we, as a society, have been raising children for centuries and have found balance before- what makes American Schools and society so different that we are substituting our schools for the family structures of the past.  Today, schools feed children 2-3 meals per day, in some cases we supply basic hygiene supplies, clothing and the most necessary love and security.  These are all basic structures needed for centuries and families previously obliged, so what is different now? I think it is society that needs reformed… not school reform. Society has now dictated that in order for families to become wealthy there is no time left to “raise” kids and schools are now surrogate parents.  Is this bad? For some kids no, but there is a desire for schools to teach academics and electives not “how to bathe, eat right, and survive day to day”.  So what matters here? Is it that schools want to be surrogate families or that society expects it? If schools naturally took this responsibility on then there is no problem because it was a need addressed by schools, but if this is a shift that society doesn’t want responsibility any more, then that needs to be looked at.  There are so many bad things in society today and schools cannot fix them all.  Don’t put the burden on schools to fix everything that is wrong- find a way to give some responsibility back to society.  Historically, there are societal and family norms.  These norms changed at each of the great historical moments as well as the transition in school history outlined in the Schools book.  I can go on about what norms have transferred and the effect historically on society and families but that is not my point.  My point is that a transfer occurred without a dynamic rationale, a transfer of more than just social norms but social responsibility.