Proverbs 22:6
Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it
Anonymous
"Children are great imitators. So give them something great to imitate."
Herbert Hoover, 31st U.S. President
"Children are our most valuable natural resource."
Andy McIntyre
“If you think education is expensive, try ignorance!”
In the post 9/11 era, Americans awaken daily to headlines that caution against threats to our national security. Less obvious are the headlines that highlight a more potent foe of the American way—the inability to prepare our next generation for leadership.
The greatest assaults to our way of living might not be from Al-Qaida and their quest to arm themselves with weapons of mass distraction…nor may it be from OPEC and its global control of oil resources. Rather, it should be debated if the greatest assault on America is taken place not abroad, but right here in our homes, schools, playgrounds, daycares and institutions of worship.
Local Indianapolis Star headlines provide a testament to this fact as reports of children being held-up at gun point while waiting for their bus to transport them to school serve as its top story. The story serves as an ironic metaphor that adults are robbing our children from their ability to reach their full potential.
What accompanied the “Bus-stop Bandits” story was another report of a “Pedophile Priest.” This begs the question of: "Are we unintentionally mortgaging our future by not identifying child rearing as a national security issue?" Sure, most of us can make a valid claim for other issue to be re-defined as a national security issue; but, if we are not aptly raising the next generation of Americans, what will America be in the next generation?
In policy areas of education, juvenile justice, child welfare and mental health, we see failures in these systems to adequately care for youth and prepare them for productive citizenship. In social institutions of the family and church, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to instill proper ethos (belief systems) or provided adequate supports to promote the full potential of a young person. Certainly, we have many youth that achieve their full potential, the proportion of youth is what's more concerning. We need to be able to prepare a greater percentage of youth to assume their rightful place of participation and leadership in tomorrow’s America.
Essentially, youth development has reached the level of National Security Crisis ! As adults, we are not doing our part to ensure that our youth are ready to address tomorrow’s challenges.
Consider the Following:
· Responsible Parenting: Pledge to engage in the lives of all your children and set high expectations for their development.
· Mentoring: Assist with the development of a young person in your family or community by modeling effective interpersonal skills that will lead to success.
· Foster Parenting: Nurture the development of youth that lack a functional family by becoming surrogate parents.
· Teaching: Enlist your skills as a teacher (formal or informal) to encourage the full academic, social, and personal development every youth in your community.
· Community Service: Volunteer your time to assist with special programs that diversify youth experiences and contribute to their full development.
· Social Change Agents: Commit oneself to devoting time to help change key institutions.
· Faith Belivers: Reaffirm the values and beliefs of individual faiths in your life, family, church, and community.
Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it
Anonymous
"Children are great imitators. So give them something great to imitate."
Herbert Hoover, 31st U.S. President
"Children are our most valuable natural resource."
Andy McIntyre
“If you think education is expensive, try ignorance!”
In the post 9/11 era, Americans awaken daily to headlines that caution against threats to our national security. Less obvious are the headlines that highlight a more potent foe of the American way—the inability to prepare our next generation for leadership.
The greatest assaults to our way of living might not be from Al-Qaida and their quest to arm themselves with weapons of mass distraction…nor may it be from OPEC and its global control of oil resources. Rather, it should be debated if the greatest assault on America is taken place not abroad, but right here in our homes, schools, playgrounds, daycares and institutions of worship.
Local Indianapolis Star headlines provide a testament to this fact as reports of children being held-up at gun point while waiting for their bus to transport them to school serve as its top story. The story serves as an ironic metaphor that adults are robbing our children from their ability to reach their full potential.
What accompanied the “Bus-stop Bandits” story was another report of a “Pedophile Priest.” This begs the question of: "Are we unintentionally mortgaging our future by not identifying child rearing as a national security issue?" Sure, most of us can make a valid claim for other issue to be re-defined as a national security issue; but, if we are not aptly raising the next generation of Americans, what will America be in the next generation?
In policy areas of education, juvenile justice, child welfare and mental health, we see failures in these systems to adequately care for youth and prepare them for productive citizenship. In social institutions of the family and church, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to instill proper ethos (belief systems) or provided adequate supports to promote the full potential of a young person. Certainly, we have many youth that achieve their full potential, the proportion of youth is what's more concerning. We need to be able to prepare a greater percentage of youth to assume their rightful place of participation and leadership in tomorrow’s America.
Essentially, youth development has reached the level of National Security Crisis ! As adults, we are not doing our part to ensure that our youth are ready to address tomorrow’s challenges.
Consider the Following:
· Responsible Parenting: Pledge to engage in the lives of all your children and set high expectations for their development.
· Mentoring: Assist with the development of a young person in your family or community by modeling effective interpersonal skills that will lead to success.
· Foster Parenting: Nurture the development of youth that lack a functional family by becoming surrogate parents.
· Teaching: Enlist your skills as a teacher (formal or informal) to encourage the full academic, social, and personal development every youth in your community.
· Community Service: Volunteer your time to assist with special programs that diversify youth experiences and contribute to their full development.
· Social Change Agents: Commit oneself to devoting time to help change key institutions.
· Faith Belivers: Reaffirm the values and beliefs of individual faiths in your life, family, church, and community.
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