At Risk: Stories of Hope

The most frequently asked question I remember hearing from teachers rather they were just beginning in the education field, or seasoned teachers is “How can we get different segments of the school’s population to get motivated to learn?”

Education seems to be losing it’s appeal as if it were a poor meal. It just doesn’t seem to stimulate most of America’s students. Many schools have lost funding for art and music. The curriculum is being watered down to the basics to the point that students have chosen to drop out. A creative student in today’s public schools must be frustrated. The creative impulse won’t automatically go away. The child is left thinking something is wrong with him or herself because they are supposed to be enlightened by a curriculum that is lacking emotional nurturing. (Often these same creatively thinking students are labeled as “poor learners” and are placed in special programs for the “underachiever”.) The arts feed this basic human need to express him or herself.

I think we have as a nation misdirected a whole generation of students into thinking learning is about becoming a more successful consumer in life. It seems to have gotten to the point where any negative human behavior can be compromised if the price is right. We forgot to emphasize that education is intended to create good citizens that continue to improve the quality of human life in some way. We used money as the motivating carrot when we should have been preparing our students for waves of negativity by strengthening their personal talents. We need different carrots to motivate today’s student. We need to focus on what children dream about by nurturing their ability to dream through the arts.

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