The British Prime Minister has called on schools to help curb the recruitment of young people to join extremist causes. Cameron announced that, “The fight against Islamist extremist terror is not just one that we can wage by the police and border control. It needs every school, every university, every college, every community to recognize they have a role to play.”
What exactly does that mean?
Does that mean that schools are supposed to begin profiling students to predict which ones might want to join an extremist cause? Are teachers supposed to report students to authorities when they think a student is overly religious?
Or does it mean that schools in societies around the world are supposed to take on the role of educating young people about secular societies? Oh wait, I forgot, schools are pretty much the only institution doing so in most countries. That said, does it mean that governments are going to start allocating more funding to schools PK-12 and into university so that teachers can work with smaller numbers of students and thereby know their students better? Maybe we will be better able to 'spot' potential extremists.
Forgive the bitterness, but we live in a time in which schools and teachers are both blamed for perceived shortcomings while also asked to take on more societal responsibilities. Cameron's call on schools to combat 'extremist terror' is in addition to the very long list of things that teachers are already asked to do. This includes:
- teaching everything from reading and writing to arts and sciences
- prevention of pregnancy
- fostering healthy active lifestyles
- teaching about healthy diets
- prevention of drug use
- prevention of sexually transmitted diseases
- fostering creativity
- encouraging collaboration with peers
- preparation for university
- teaching the appropriate use of social media
- identifying and preventing abuse
- use of and digital tools to help create the workforce of the future
- helping students become caring global citizens
- teaching correct posture while using computers (yes, we have been asked to do this)
The list above was what came to mind in about 2 minutes of stream of consciousness typing. It's by no means meant to be complete. What's most important about this list, however, is that schools and teachers willingly take on these responsibilities. Teachers know that we are lucky to have the chance to work with young people and to help them take their rightful place in society. But more and more of us feel that society seems to basically be in a constant state of complaint about our failure to 'fix' all the problems that come our way.
The thing is, whether it's safe sex or 'extremist terror', these are societal problems. Reflexively saying that schools need to take on the responsibility of dealing with them hasn't really worked so far and probably won't in future. Governments has many tools at its disposal to reach into and shape society. It just seems to be easier to ask schools to do something than it is to support community programs that engage youth, to foster arts and film projects that encourage youth participation, fund social welfare programs that benefit young people and their families, or provide opportunities for youth to work and be productive members of their communities.
Schools and teachers will do just about anything, in part because the people who work in them care AND because they know that if they don't do something no one else will. But let's be honest with politicians like David Cameron, the problems schools deal with did not start in schools and they can never be fixed solely inside them either.
Time to think a bit bigger, Mr. Prime Minister.
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