Often I hear politicians talk about our children being our richest resource. Usually it is in the context of money for some project which can benefit children. I agree with the concept but not always with the means to the end.
It takes a generation to raise a productive citizen. It also takes a generation to produce a destructive citizen. Since I have experienced the process/privilege of raising two productive citizens, I claim some knowledge of how we go about doing this. I have been in a position to see how some children are bent in the destructive direction. It often shows up quite early and unless one is in the place to see daily progress of a child, it may be missed. It is my claim that it boils down to wants and needs, the understanding of which requires education.
Part of the curriculum in a first grade classroom is a unit in Social Studies on Wants and Needs. Let me take you back to an experience I had in a class at Mercer University in Atlanta, Ga. in 1970. I was very recently widowed and my two children and I were all starting back to school. They to High School and me to a graduate class at Mercer in Teaching Social Studies to Children. The Mercer students in my class were required to teach a lesson observed by the other students in our class in a large room while being videotaped. The children we were to be teaching were first graders and we had never seen the children before we began the lesson. This is how it went down.
I had pictures of a large family of eight and talked about their daily lives, what they did where they lived. I guided their thinking into what they might need. Then I asked the question: What are some things they might want and what they might really need. I was getting the expected replies of food, shelter, etc. Then one little boy held up his hand and when I called on him he said " a new baby".
My audience of adults burst out laughing. Of course I could not laugh, I had to maintain composure and get us back on track. His answer points out that young children do not understand the concept of wants and needs. They must be taught the difference. Even adults have problems with what they need and what they want. What we may want is often decided by marketers who are in the business of selling a product whether it is something we need or just something we would like to have.
Even our own government seems unable to decide what this country needs. Jobs for it's citizens is foremost in our national debate in this year of 2013. An informed citizenry seems to me to be one thing our country needs. Someone else might say that national defense is a major need. The events of this past week in Boston make a good argument for that.
How to go about avoiding raising the destructive citizen is a huge question. It obviously begins with the family environment. The gold standard for the structure of that perfect family is obvious to some and oblivious to others. It is my belief that it begins with education. Uneducated parents have a huge roadblock right from the beginning. How can parents create a good environment for their children if they have not had it modeled for them. Faith is a large factor in building a steady, nurturing family group. Income plays a huge part in stability of a family. How can parents provide the basic needs for their children if they cannot manage what income they do have available to them. Extended family support has a place in the stability of a family group. So much points back to education. Without it job choice is very limited. It is really not an easy problem to solve. The problem has been studied and will continue to be studied. The children who come from good and not so good families will continue to be the building blocks of this nation. How we will refine the gold will continue to be foremost in our national debate, let us choose carefully the plan we follow. Basic to the plan, I think, is to have freedom within structure. Families cannot function without structure nor can a nation function without structure.
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