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A comprehensive national study of high school students is the basis for Laurence Steinberg's book "Beyond the Classroom." This study points to several pervasive problems outside of school that must be addressed if efforts at school reform are to succeed.
The most significant problem cited is the fact that nearly a third of all parents are seriously disengaged from the lives of their teen-agers. An equal portion of the students surveyed say their parents have no idea how they are doing in school, while about one-sixth report that their parents don't care if they earn good grades or not.
A second contributor to the problem is described as a contemporary American peer culture that does not value school success. Widespread parental disengagement has left a large proportion of adolescents far more susceptible to the negative peer pressures of their friends than in previous generations. Fewer than 20 percent of students say their friends think it is important to get good grades in school, and a like number of all students say they do not try as hard as they can in school because they are worried about what their friends might think.
These problems are compounded by a schedule that demands little academic energy from students when they are not actually in the classroom. Many students are allowed to devote excessive amounts of time to socializing, part-time employment, and a variety of non-productive leisure activities. Only a small portion of the typical student's time - about 15 percent of his waking hours - is spent on activities that support learning or achievement. Based on the study, Steinberg identifies several recommendations, which include:
1. Refocus The Discussion
The national debate about the causes and cures for school achievement problems must be broadened to include dialogue about how to transform student and parent attitudes. We must recognize that the solution to the problem is much more complicated than simply raising standards or tweaking the curriculum.
2. Establish Academic Excellence As A National Priority
All of us - family, community and school personnel - must send a consistent message to our youth that their primary responsibility is to gain a good education. We must reinforce to them that doing well in school is more important than socializing, more important than organized sports, and more important than working at after-school jobs.
3. Increase Parental Effectiveness
We need to confront parental irresponsibility and truly recognize the toll it is taking on youngsters' lives. The growing number of parents who are disengaged from their parental responsibilities is a national public health problem and needs to be so recognized and aggressively addressed.
4. Make School Performance Really Count
Far too many students feel that the grades they earn in school have little or no impact on their future success. In the study, more than half of the students said they could bring home grades of C or worse without their parents getting upset, and one-fourth said they could bring home grades of D or worse without it bothering their parents. Few employers ask to see high school grade transcripts, and most take at face value a job applicant's indication that he or she is a high school graduate.
5. Support Appropriate School-Sponsored Extracurricular Activities
American schools are sometimes criticized for the extracurricular activities they offer for students. While it is true that they can be overemphasized, the fact is that an appropriate level of participation in school-sponsored activities can strengthen youngters' commitment to school. There are benefits from this participation that spill over into the classroom - as well as into life. In addition, such activities can provide a more desirable "pool" of influential peers for the young person to associate with than may otherwise be the case.
6. Limit Time In After-School Jobs
Visit any high school and you will likely see students who are unable to concentrate sufficiently on classroom activities because of a too-heavy commitment to a part-time job. Students who are employed for more than 20 hours a week perform worse in school, are less committed to their education, and are less engaged in class than classmates who work less or not at all. While there are valuable lessons that can be learned from a part-time job, there is considerable proof that extensive after-school employment has more cost than benefits.
These "tales outside of school" are important in understanding that educating our young people takes everyone. As parents and other caring adults, we need to insist that our young people assume their responsibility to participate in gaining a good education, and then hold them accountable when they do not. In today's world economy, the stakes are enormous. We simply cannot afford to fail.
