Superintendent October Address
Everyone has dreams or nightmares, it is what our subconscious does while we sleep. However, I do not like recurring dreams or nightmares and that is how I am feeling at this point. Last year I wrote a Superintendent’s post on how we must rise as a community to help our youth understand there is a different way of doing things. We do not always have to fight or have confrontation. We were blessed with the ability to communicate with each other through words. We were both blessed and cursed with a tongue which can both soothe and create turmoil.
However, we continue to think the only way to deal with issues is through physical violence and altercations. Plato stated the following: “Do not train a child to learn by force or harshness; but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each.”
― Plato
Genius is in all of us. It just has to be cultivated and recognized. The District has created so many more opportunities in the last two years which did not exist before. We should be encouraging and cultivating these opportunities for our students. Do we have all the experiences we wish for our students? The answer is plain and simple NO! However, we are building them. We must change our mindset and change it quickly.
Education is a process in which we try to train the minds to understand things in which they have not been exposed too. However, it is hard to train a young person’s mind if they are constantly encouraged to use force for whatever battles present themselves. While I will agree that not everything done in school is worthwhile to every student in that moment, all students gain something through the process which will help them throughout life. However, we teach about communicating with others and having empathy for others.
The biggest point is we have so many positive things to celebrate. Our youth have it in them. Today, I witnessed another student helping a peer who was struggling to gain confidence in what they were trying to achieve. The same class period, there was another student who was acting out and instead of the instructor calming them down or getting them in order it was another student who asked them to stop and listen to the education occurring. Our students have the innate ability to recognize what should be done and how one should act. It is our job as a community to encourage this and recognize it.
The bottom line is how are we going to convince our young people there is a better way to solve issues? How are we going to change our environment and community? The best news is that we can, we just need your help and support! We ask you to help us to have our youth use their minds to solve problems and issues. They must also learn to use their words in a positive manner.
Thank you,
Jon