OPINION: If the children are wrong then our village is also wrong

Today, I read that the teachers union voted no confidence in the superintendent who is attempting to hold the teachers accountable for teaching the students. If your unsuccessful you go. Radical change in a stagnant, corrupted, and failing system. In dire circumstances, you must take actions. I question the leadership of the teachers union what actions have you taken to ensure the teachers we pay to teach are capable and skilled in the craft, the trade, and the calling of the teacher?

Looking back and listening to this video from October of 2011, I have to say the problems are still the same. Yet thankfully many of the solutions are still the same. If we have but the will to change things, we can make a dramatic difference.

The first step is looking at the root causes. We must engage all parties and especially listen to the youth in order to understand the causation. I believe each circumstance is unique however there are common themes that can and should be addressed.

We need to integrate social service. Address the base needs of food, clothes, and shelter. New Bedford and Fall River have the highest hunger in the state. There are 500 homeless children in our public school system. And many youth dealing with realities most adults could not imagine.

Couple that with the fact that teachers are grossly under prepared and rarely rewarded for excelling. Many truthfully are not equipped to handle the needs of our children. It is our society that is raising today’s youth. If the children are wrong then our village is also wrong and responsible. As we all have the ability to respond and it truly is the village that raises the children. If our children and or our neighbors children are our not well it is because we allowed that to be so.

If we want change we need to work together. Voting no confidence is in my opinion an unwise tactic. We can do better New Bedford.