THE ONLY IMPORTANT EDUCATION

 Johann Christoph Arnold

 As a speaker in public schools, I talk with teens every week. They are
usually full of life and hope. But many are desperate because of the chaos
and disorder around them. It's no wonder, when you consider the way their
world is changing.

 New York City has announced a new "zero tolerance" policy that will send
SWAT teams into the city's most violent high schools to combat juvenile
crime. The governor asserts that "we must help keep our schools, campuses,
and daycare facilities safe by imposing tough new penalties for violence
committed on school grounds."

 Everyone wants safe schools. But isn't it hypocritical for a society like
ours, which idolizes violence, profits from it and even teaches it through
films, video games and music, to punish it in schools? Yes, violent students
cannot be left to terrorize classrooms and halls. But until we address the
roots of their behaviour, we will achieve nothing. These roots are obvious:
racism, poverty, divorce, neglect, abuse, hunger and--perhaps worst of
all--loneliness, self-hatred and despair.

 At the same time, New York City's mayor is pushing for tough new standards
to make sure that third graders in the city's public schools perform at an
"acceptable" level before they move on to the fourth grade. The new
standardized tests could result in some 15,000 eight-year-olds being held
back at the end of the year.

 I'm all for better education. But the way we're going after it spells
disaster. At a public school I visited last year, the student body spoke 22
different languages. Most were non-white and came from poor families. At a
time when cash-strapped school districts are dismissing teacher's aides and
librarians and janitors--and hiring more armed security guards--how on earth
are these kids supposed to learn English well?

 In one inner-city district after another, we are holding a whole
generation of children hostage. The decaying buildings we lock them in each
day may be called schools, but in reality they are prisons for the poor. And
their jail keepers are not only the wealthy politicians who govern them, but
each of us who has hardened our heart against their pain in order to
preserve a comfortable life.

 I know that millions of parents and teachers are deeply concerned about
this state of affairs. At a conference of educators a few years ago, I said
standardized testing is ruining public schools and borders on child abuse.
That statement set off a standing ovation. So did my feeling that it won't
be long before we see suicides brought on by academic pressure, as Japan and
Korea have seen for years.

 Plenty of people do care about these things. They know that children
deserve better than the continual pressure to excel--especially impoverished
ones who don't have a chance to begin with. But we are all products of a
society based on degrees and certificates and credentials, and most of us
give far more weight than we'd like to admit to SAT scores and class
rankings and scholarships and the like.

 How many of us worry more about these things, than about other, far more
important dimensions of life? In a culture of irresponsibility, promiscuity,
and violence, shouldn't our main concern be the inner lives of our children?
In a society where obesity is epidemic among children, shouldn't we be more
concerned about exercise, healthy eating, self-control, and self-respect?

 And what about our children's spiritual education? We live in frightening
times. As parents and educators, our main task is to equip children for such
times. This means not only educating them physically and mentally; it means
preparing them to listen to their consciences in the midst of mass hysteria.
It means helping them to find courage when others cower. It means inspiring
them to hold on to faith when everyone around them has lost it. It means
readying them to make sacrifices, rather than save their own skin.

 On 9/11, when planes and buildings were falling, the most prestigious
education meant nothing. Courageous men and women stopped to help at the
cost of their own lives. Isn't that the noblest thing a human being can do:
lay down his life in order to save another? In today's world it is
inevitable that there will be more such days of reckoning. Unless we guide
our children toward selflessness and compassion, we may be denying them what
is ultimately the only important education.

 [Johann Christoph Arnold ( http://www.ChristophArnold.com ) is an author
and speaker who teaches non-violent conflict resolution in high schools ( see
http://www.breakingthecycle.us ).]