Week 1 Free Choice Entry

Today is July 4th and most of the nation is celebrating what we perceive to be our independence from British Royalty and when our forefathers decided enough is enough. Yet, I sit and ponder why we should still be celebrating this independence when we have become prisoners of our own making by choosing to limit ourselves to the technology we currently have in our educational system, and choosing to let our children fall by the wayside. This week I am in my hometown of New York City visiting friends and family and celebrating this 'holiday'. To my amazement, I have met a large number of teenagers aged 14-21 that have chosen to drop out of school for idiotic reasons while their parents sit by and allow them to do so. When did it become the child's choice not to go to school? These same kids are in front of me drinking, smoking, and choosing to engage in adult behaviors without the benefit of adult self-control and discipline. Who are they kidding? Heck, who are we kidding?

The damage that these parents have inflicted on their own children is immeasurable considering the far reaching effects that these decisions will have on future generations. These dropouts are the parents of our tomorrow. We teach them that we do not care when we allow them to drop out and smoke and engage in negative activities. These kids are the ones who will care for us when we are seniors yet do we not see that these kids are being limited not by their own decisions but by those of the parents that do not parent. These are the parents that are friends to their children instead of a role model or authority figure.

As a teacher in the making, I try to do my part and talk to these teens before me. They listen with half an ear because they believe they have all the time in the world. I feel as if they have been failed and I hope they have more time than the time that is before them. This is why I chose to be a human service professional. To try to save some of them. You can't save them all but all it really takes is the first ones and the rest will follow.