http://www.capitol-college.edu/troxler/essay3.htm [1] Thoughts from Under a Black Hat Be sure to read the other essays in the "[2]Thoughts from Under a Black Hat" series. Teach Your Children Well One of the rock 'n roll icons of my generation was a group known by their last names: Crosby, Stills, and Nash. Unusually inventive harmonies placed these three performers in a unique musical space. They were magic to hear and are credited with writing some of the anthems of that time of tumult. Graham Nash wrote one of the most enduring songs of the group. It is called [3]Teach Your Children and the chorus is: Teach your children well their father's hell did slowly go by and, feed them on your dreams the one they pick's the one you'll know by and don't ever ask them why If they tell you, you would cry so just look at them and sigh and know they love you. Looking for profundity in rock 'n roll lyrics is a fool's errand. On the other hand, no less an authority than Scientific American has agreed with Graham Nash - teach your children well. In a recent Scientific American article titled "The Moral Development of Children." William Damon, Director of the Center on Adolescence at Stanford University, wrote: "Everything that psychologists know from the study of children's moral development indicates that moral identity - the key source of moral commitment throughout life - is fostered by multiple social influences that guide a child in the same general direction. Children must hear the message enough for it to stick. The challenge for pluralistic societies will be to find enough common ground to communicate the shared standards that the young need." What a basic, almost primitive, concept! The tribe is responsible for the moral fiber of the next generation. Somehow we have lost our grip on this notion. In the competition for resources between teaching moral identity and punishing for the lack of it, the gold medal belongs to punishing. [INLINE] The cost of our collective malfeasance in raising children can be gauged by how much the country spends to operate its criminal justice system. The U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) reports that federal, local and municipal governments spend about $94 billion annually to operate the civil and criminal justice system. Why does the justice system cost so much? In part it is because so many people are being processed by it. BJS reports that in the most recent year data were compiled, 5.5 million Americans were on probation, in prison or on parole. That means 2.8% of all U.S. adult residents are joined at the hip with the criminal justice system. We imprison our citizens at roughly the same rate as the People's Republic of China (PRC). In the U.S. 668 of every 100,000 citizens are in jail. In the PRC 690 of every 100,000 citizens are in jail. Among developed nations, the U. S. leads in the number of citizens it jails. Britain, France Germany and Italy imprison their citizens at rates less than one-sixth that of the U.S. Let's do the numbers. $94 billion spread over 5.5 million citizens means we spend about $17,000 annually per participant in the justice system. At the same time, the country annually spends $600 billion spread over 55.5 million students in kindergarten through college. We spend about $10,800 annually per student at all levels of education. In jail the prisoner-to-jailer ratio is, according to BJS, 2.8. In the public schools the student-to-teacher ratio lies between 25 and 30. We may not like it, but these data define us as a people. During nearly four centuries, America's thumping Puritan heart has had its way - punishment and retribution are more important than education. In America, the average criminal receives about 70% more resources than the average student. In our jails, more than 40% of the population is twenty-four years old or younger - ages at which people ought to be in a classroom not a 6 x 10-ft. cell. [INLINE] Since 1972 the prison population has increased by five hundred percent. About 60% of the increase in the U.S. prison population is due to a rise in prisoners convicted of non-violent crimes. Most of these prisoners are in jail for drug possession. Credit a combination of mandatory sentencing requirements and the war on drugs as the significant causes of the rise of this tax-funded growth industry. The problem with the current insistence on incarceration of these kinds of offenders is that prison provides a graduate education in criminality. The experience teaches too many young people to be the kind of adults we do not want in society. The justice system creates more criminals than it rehabilitates. America is not in the midst of a tide of violence. It is in the grip of a bankrupt attitude toward young people. Perhaps the major barrier for the amelioration of the disastrous triumph of punishment over education is the fragmentation of morality by tribe. Studies done by Lawrence Walker of the University of British Columbia show that nurses hold a common sense of morality, scientists hold their view, homemakers have theirs, high school dropouts have a moral code and yes, even lawyers hold to a moral view of the world. The trouble is that these shared moral codes of various guilds are not universal codes. In fact there is precious little overlap among them. Homemakers' views of morality are vastly different than those of high school dropouts living in urban ghettos. Accountants think about this subject differently than scientists. Politicians regularly demonstrate that their understanding of morality is unlike that of their constituents. Until these distinct views of morality can be drawn closer together, it is likely that America will fall back on its tried and true behavior - punish thoroughly, educate minimally if at all. All of this may reflect American values but does it reflect American intent? Despite our history of "lock `em up and throw away the key," do we really want to do that to our neighbor's kid? Do we plan to lock up a double-digit percentage of successive generations of young people? It's madness. If these numbers don't stagger you, then I am powerless to persuade you that we have any duty at all to set the moral foundations of young people - all of our young people. I stand with Graham Nash. I think he got it right. "Teach your children well." It's cheaper, safer and more effective. Isn't it time we stopped getting even and started getting ahead? Teaching anyone? gwt.gif (1400 bytes) G. William Troxler, Ph.D. President _________________________________________________________________ Responses welcome: [4]http://webboard.capitol-college.edu/~blackhat Be sure to read the other essays in the "[5]Thoughts from Under a Black Hat" series. Graham Nash, Teach Your Children Crosby Stills & Nash, So Far, Atlantic Records (1974) audio source: [6]http://www.amazon.com (c) 1999, G. William Troxler All rights reserved [INLINE] The views expressed in this essay are not statements of the official position or policy of Capitol College on any matter. Dr. Troxler's essay does not necessarily reflect views of the faculty or Board of Trustees of Capitol College. This essay was not reviewed by the faculty or board prior to publication. Dr. Troxler offers his opinions to the Capitol College community as a means of stimulating discussion and prompting the notion that Capitol's students should participate in an education experience that attempts to balance the development of excellent, marketable technical skills with the expansion of peripheral intellect. 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