Читать книгу Keeping the Whole Child Healthy and Safe - Marge Scherer - Страница 3

Reading the Wall Street Journal in my dentist's office right before the past Christmas holiday, I saw a piece about what kids wanted from Santa this year. The Santas at the local malls reported that along with all the requests for Elmos and iPods were quite a few wishes for eyeglasses, school shoes, and a job for mom or dad.

It reminded me of a book I read as a child, whose title I can't recall, about a Depression-era family of four kids who each decides to make a wish. When the daughter in the book can't make up her mind what to wish for, she asks her father for advice, and he tells her that he would wish for good health. The child in the novel is surprised, and I—growing up a healthy child in a family of four kids—remember feeling skeptical, too. Why would anyone waste a perfectly good wish on "good health"? Later in the book, the reasoning becomes clear when the dad gets sick. Although he eventually gets better, the family learns a number of lessons in the meantime about what is truly valuable in life.

Certainly if we adults had our wishes, health—and safety, too—would be gifts that all kids could take for granted. Unfortunately, though, these basic ingredients of the good life increasingly belong to fewer children. The recent report America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being (2009) concludes that hard economic times threaten to roll back gains made since 1975 in health, safety, and education for children. The percentage of children in poverty is predicted to rise in 2010 to 21 percent. The obesity epidemic is expected to grow as parents turn to cheap fast food to feed families. Children are likely to experience both a decline in safety due to higher rates of violent crime and a setback in social connectedness as the housing crisis affects their families. In addition, the report predicts that fewer children will be participating in early childhood education programs, known to boost their success in school.

With all this bleak news, and no chance of turning back the clock to what seemed to be gentler times for children, what can schools and educators do to grant the wish of health and safety to children? That is the question that authors explore in this fourth in a four-book series of e-books on educating the whole child. Knowing that what we teach kids today will shape their future well-being, the authors look at the issues from many angles, addressing both physical and mental health and safety.

The book is divided into seven sections. In the first part, "Back to Whole," author Nel Noddings explains why schools should be involved in teaching the whole child and why health and safety aren't just extras to add to the curriculum. Noddings describes the seven aims of education, noting that schools too often concentrate on one: imparting basic academic skills. She makes the case for integrating the other aims: health, vocation, citizenship, worthy family membership, worthy use of leisure, and ethical character. Also in Part 1, Dr. David Satcher, former U.S. surgeon general, weighs in on the issues of good nutrition and physical activity and describes how they influence children's readiness to learn.

In Part 2, "Promoting the Healthy Life," our authors continue to connect health with learning as they explore the dangers of, and remedies for, our nonnutritious snacking habits, our supersize problem, our sleep-deprived children, our inactivity, and more. A piece on keeping teachers healthy reminds us that our children need the adults in their lives to take care of themselves, too.

The third section, "Protecting Students, Working with Bullies," looks closely at a safety problem that mimics society's one-upmanship and often manifests itself in school. Our authors talk about the roles adults and students can play in interrupting the language of hate, combating bullying, and creating an environment where kids and adults feel safe to live and learn.

Part 4 circles back to "Helping Students Cope with Life Challenges." Among the challenges authors describe are anxiety, stress, and even the death of a fellow classmate. Our authors tell how we can guide children toward choosing healthy responses to the realities from which adults cannot always protect them.

Part 5 takes a proactive stance toward "Teaching Values, Building Character." What better guarantee that schools are safe and healthy than assurance that students within our schools respect others' rights, value social justice, and can practice self-control? As Deborah Meier notes, schools are the ideal laboratory for students to learn the skills needed to live in a democracy. Articles in this section talk about effective ways to help children understand and practice civic participation, tolerance, equity, and peace-keeping.

The sixth part of our book, "Creating Healthy and Safe Schools," gives educators the larger picture of school/community cooperation. The exemplary partnerships illustrate the ways coordinated programs link students and their families to vital resources, providing the social connectedness our children crave. In the Appendix, ASCD describes the role of the principal in "Learning, Teaching, and Leading in Healthy School Communities."

We end our book with Part 7, "Rounding Out the Curriculum." Although health and safety are not just curriculum topics, they definitely should be formal parts of learning, according to Thomas Armstrong. He spells out strategies that help students learn from nature, enlarge knowledge of self, and develop physical skills.

We hope you enjoy this e-book compiled from Educational Leadership and other ASCD publications. Our hope is that all four "whole child books" will help you keep students engaged, challenged, supported, healthy, and safe. May they also reinforce your abiding faith in children, who despite their phenomenal resilience rely on their teachers so very much.

—Marge SchererEditor in Chief, Educational Leadership