October
24th Make a Difference Day
By Albert B. Kelly
On Saturday, October 24th,
a number of community partners and stakeholders will be joining forces on
behalf of the Cumberland County Positive Youth Development Coalition (CCPYDC)
for national “Make a Difference Day”. To help showcase the message, we will
kick things off at 2:30pm with a “walk for education” and a follow-up rally that
will begin at the Alden Field parking lot in Bridgeton City Park.
From Alden Field, we will walk
to the Riverfront Plaza where I and other community leaders, including Father
David Rivera from Immaculate Conception Church, will continue the rally
highlighting the importance of education not only for students, but how education
in the home impacts the entire family.
It’s no small thing.
Education remains the golden ticket to a better life. I think most people know
this and will tell you as much, what doesn’t get talked about is the amount of
hard work that’s required to get a solid education. That’s the part that’s
often overlooked.
We get distracted today
when we discuss education because the focus is on test scores and teacher
evaluations and public pensions. What is often overlooked is the role of
parents and woe to the parent who thinks it only the school’s responsibility to
educate their children. Teachers work incredibly hard, but they generally can’t
go any further than parents are willing to support.
If a student is failing or
struggling in school, how often do parents look at themselves and the home
environment as the main contributing factor to the problem? Probably not as
much as we should, the focus shifts to the teachers when it in reality, it
takes both parents and teachers to keep students on track and successful.
I understand that times
are different now, that many homes are single parent homes and life is hectic
and busy. But parents have to make their child’s education a responsibility
because who should worker harder at their child’s future than the parents?
But there’s something else
to consider. Maybe parents today didn’t get the education they would have liked
or needed. And maybe today’s parents were basically on their own growing up so
they can’t easily give to their kids what they themselves never had. That’s why
it takes a village and that’s why it’s important that we create a culture of
collaboration.
“Make a Difference Day” on
October 24th is about collaboration so that our parents and students,
in working with educators and other stakeholders, are able build articulate,
resilient, socially responsible, life-long learners equipped for success.
In fact, I’m not so sure
that schools shouldn’t branch out and try and new model, one where both parents
and their children would go to school together to learn and grow. Imagine a
parent who needs an ESL class or a GED class or new job skills taking
appropriate courses while their child is taking their own class down the hall
or a floor above.
Imagine parents and
children doing their respective homework assignments together, consider the
message this would send to the child about the importance of hard work and
learning. In an age when so much comes between parents and children, such a
parent-child model would do wonders for strengthening that bond.
Pride cuts both ways and
if it is enough for parents to swell with pride on graduation day because their
sons and daughters have achieved something, it might well be enough for
children to swell with pride because mom or dad achieved something as well.
Regardless of how we put
it together, it is about collaboration and fostering a real culture of lifelong
learners. Much depends on this because the new form of segregation in our
society won’t mostly be about geography (i.e., physical facilities) or even
money (i.e. middle class or upper class), but knowledge.
As Knowledge gets more
specialized and segregated in the years ahead, there will be those who have it
and many more who don’t. For those who don’t, I fear that making a living will
always be hard and getting ahead will always be limited by the credentials they
don’t have.
For those reasons and so
much more, I hope you will consider joining us- the Cumberland County Positive
Youth Coalition (CCPYDC), PAL and Gear Up- for the 2015 “Make a Difference Day”
Education Walk and Rally beginning at the Alden Field parking lot in City Park
and continuing at the Riverfront Plaza. Things will kick off at 2:30pm and you
know we’ll always be glad to see you.
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to keep updated.