Personal account by the author about the relationship between his six-year-old son and an insensitive teacher. (MLF)

Personal account in prose-poem form of the author's experience as a first grader with an insensitive and cruel teacher. (MLF)

Foster children's most common problems are falling behind academically, failing to do homework, disrupting class, failing courses, being picked on, cheating and lying, fearing school, and engaging in truancy. Teachers and other school staff members can help by developing reasonable expectations, becoming advocates, involving foster families, and…

Today, fewer city blocks preserve the confidence of lifestyle and urban geography that sustain traditional games and outdoor play. Large groups of children choosing sides and organizing Red Rover games are no longer commonplace. Teachers must encourage free play; urban planners must build cities that are safe play havens. (MLH)

Administrator recounts experience growing up in alcoholic home, hoping to inspire other school professionals helping young people with substance abuse problems. Although helping others seems natural for adult children of alcoholics, certain unconsciously held attitudes and behaviors can impede school prevention and recovery programs. Organizations…

Representational competence develops as individuals learn that objects, events, and places can be represented in some form. Irving Siegel's studies of classification competencies showed that underprivileged children have difficulty sorting pictures into meaningful groupings. However, both privileged and underprivileged children construct…

Parents and schools teach impulse control, but television says, "If you want it now, you should have it." (Author)

Comments on Tawana Brawley, a Black teenager who ran away mentally to escape the violence she feared from her mother's boyfriend. Other "throwaway" children prefer life in the streets to being beaten, sexually molested, or psychologically abused in their own homes. Tawana's self-mutilation may have resulted from such fear. (MLH)

When closely examining America's children, we see that even basic needs for care, shelter, food, and love are going unmet for millions. Family, society, and school are failing children barraged with conflicting consumer messages. The restoration of childhood demands creation of enlightened social policy and child-friendly islands of decency.…

The nation's teachers are dissatisfied with school reform impacts. To improve schooling, we must begin with the children--not dry abstractions such as students, cohorts, and classes. Teachers recommend that well-paid, literate older people help in classrooms, since children are arriving at school with fewer skills and less readiness. (MLH)

The idealized nuclear family values of romantic love, maternalism, and domesticity are being supplanted by postmodernist sentiments such as consensual love, shared parenting, and urbanity. Today's "competent" kids are developing more stress-related problems. Schools can help families by placing students' and teachers' needs above…

Grim statistics on poor children, homeless families, and child abuse belie our civic leaders' public assertions of love and concern for children. Children are often not well-served in their relationships with adults. Educators need to cooperate with others to create social policy that treats children as valued persons, not commodities. Includes…

According to Fordham University's 1996 "Index of Social Health," our society's overall well-being is decreasing significantly. Today's children are not sufficiently shielded from adult economic, political, and sexual forces. Children's social world has become poisonous, due to escalating violence, the potentially lethal consequences of…

As families and institutions change, many U.S. children could fail to realize their potential to lead fulfilling adult lives. Confronted by poverty, the crack cocaine epidemic, and increased exposure to violence, children make daily choices altering their life's course. Schools are increasingly expected to resolve social problems without…

The real enemy is not working mothers, but a society that undervalues parenting. Schools can help parents address and manage their guilt and stress, stop the mommy wars (between working and nonworking parents), work to improve community childcare, include fathers in outreach efforts, and help employers become family-friendly. (MLH)