Foreword
The 21st century demands a highly skilled, educated work force and citizenry unlike any we have seen before. The global marketplace and economy are a reality. Change and innovation have become the new status quo while too many of our schools, communities, and systems use models designed to prepare young people for life in the middle of the last century. We live in a time that requires our students to be prepared to think both critically and creatively, to evaluate massive amounts of information, solve complex problems, and communicate well, yet our education systems remain committed to time structures, coursework, instructional methods, and assessments designed more than a century ago. A strong foundation in reading, writing, math, and other core subjects is as important as ever, yet insufficient for lifelong success.
These 21st century demands require a new and better way of approaching education policy and practice—a whole child approach to learning, teaching, and community engagement. What if decisions about education policy were made by first asking, "What works best for children?" What if the education, health, housing, public safety, recreation, and business systems within our communities aligned human and capital resources to provide coordinated service to kids and families? What if policymakers at all levels worked with educators, families, and community members to ensure that we as a society meet our social compact to prepare children for their future rather than our past?
The answers push us to redefine what a successful learner is and how we measure success. It is time to put students first, align resources to students' multiple needs, and advocate for a more balanced approach. A child who enters school in good health, feels safe, and is connected to her school is ready to learn. A student who has at least one adult in school who understands his social and emotional development is more likely to stay in school. All students who have access to challenging academic programs are better prepared for further education, work, and civic life.
ASCD proposes a definition of achievement and accountability that promotes the development of children who are healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged.
ASCD's Whole Child Tenets
Each student enters school healthy and learns about and practices a healthy lifestyle.
Each student learns in an intellectually challenging environment that is physically and emotionally safe for students and adults.
Each student is actively engaged in learning and is connected to the school and broader community.
Each student has access to personalized learning and is supported by qualified, caring adults.
Each graduate is challenged academically and prepared for success in college or further study and for employment in a global environment.
ASCD is helping schools, districts, and communities move from rhetoric about educating the whole child to reality. No single person, institution, or system can work in isolation to achieve such results so we have launched a Web site for educators, families, community members, and policymakers to share their stories, access resources, assess their progress, and advocate for children. Join us at www.wholechildeducation.org. Our children deserve it. Our future demands it.
—Molly McCloskeyHost of the Whole Child Podcast
Introduction
A Wish for the Good Life
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
