What about us?

Problem Child

As President Obama tries to improve the “No Child Left Behind” act, it got me thinking about our nation’s children.  Having been raised in New York and currently working with youth in Philadelphia, without question, our nation has failed many of our children.  The solution to this problem often gets caught up in pointless debates and the need to be politically correct.  People are afraid to offend so they decide to appease rather than be completely honest.  Although a solution is no easy task, its impossible if we don’t collectively agree to this notion…

Every child can’t be saved.

Once you acknowledge and embrace this sad and harsh truth, we can begin to rebuild a system that can better serve our young people.  We like to believe that as long as a child is under 18 and not actually in prison, then there is still a chance to put them on the right track.  While there is truth to that statement, it’s flawed because it’s hopeful at the expense of reality.  Simply put, some kids are going to fail and there’s nothing that we can do about it.

Just because a child can’t be helped doesn’t mean that he or she isn’t still a victim.  We’ve gotten to this point because our government, teachers and most importantly parents have left an entire generation of children alone to fend for themselves.  That fact breaks my heart but I can’t let my emotions cloud my judgment because up until now, this post reflects the reason why there hasn’t been change.

We only focus on the kids that can’t be saved.

Bad statistics and sad stories are the only things that make headlines so that’s all we focus on.  What we are missing are the countless number of kids that CAN be saved but get caught up in all of the nonsense.  I have the privilege of working some of the best kids that Philly has to offer and I hear how they have to try to learn in an environment where kids curse at teachers and have to stay positive in a neighborhood where fights occur daily.  No one pays attention to the good kids.  There are very few public resources for the kid that wants to succeed but has the unfortunate luck of being born in the wrong place at wrong time.  Because of this, many of these good kids run out of options and become bad kids.

Its time we save the kids that we can save.

First, we have to identify the bad kids and separate them from the good ones.  A kid trying to learn doesn’t deserve to be in the same school, let alone a classroom, with someone who thinks it’s cool to throw a textbook at a teacher. (A similar idea was featured on the HBO show “The Wire”)  Once separated, you can provide a better environment for kids to learn.  Teachers get to focus on what they do best because its hard to teach calculus when you are scared.  Grades will skyrocket.  The bad kids will benefit as well.  We can stop pretending that learning about the Civil War is helping.  While continuing to teach the basics, you can add things like anger management and conflict resolution to the curriculum.  Its not preparing them for Harvard but it has a chance of keeping them out of prison.

Second, lets stop wasting millions of dollars on social programs geared towards the bad kids because they don’t work.  As a politician, it’s easier to continue these failing programs than to be looked at as the bad guy as you try to make real change.  These kids deserve someone with the courage to make tough decisions.  Instead, we need to use these funds and help the good kids achieve even more.  We need to help pay for computers, educational trips around the world, scholarships for college, and anything else that will expand their horizons.  What we will get is an entire group of new, young leaders that will help diversify our political and economic landscape.  It will help create a brand new cycle of success in this country.

Without question people will argue both of my proposed solutions.  They will think that its unfair to separate kids and treating them like “prisoners” will further condition them for a life of crime.  To that I say, what’s the difference?  If they were going to jail either way, is postponing the inevitable helping anyone?  Taking money and resources away from the bad kids will have people up in arms because it will be admission that we’ve “given up”.  Truth is, we’ve already failed these kids, and pretending to fix the problem is only compounding our error.  My plan isn’t perfect and it isn’t easy to accomplish but it definitely better than what going on now.  While it has an outside chance of saving some of the bad kids it will do what’s not being done today…

Saving the good ones.