QUIET TIME

I caught the tail end of an NBC Nightly News "Making a Difference" segment while recording something else on the television last night, and was so impressed that I went online to check it out.  The report is about a meditation program at Visitacion Valley Middle School in San Francisco where, outside the school, violence, vandalism and other social problems are the norm, and where students were struggling to keep up.  The "Quiet Time" program introduced two 15-minute periods of silent meditation each day about four years ago and the results--no surprise, surely, to those of us who have been practicing for a while--have been significant: the kids are calmer, happier, less prone to violence and anger, and the school's performance statistics have improved dramatically.  There are far fewer suspensions, fewer absences, and grades are significantly improved.  Outside the school, the kids are better prepared to deal with the daily stress of an impoverished urban environment.

Here's a report from SFGate, whose reporter, David L. Kirp, writes, "I've spent a lot of time in urban schools and I've never seen anything like it."  The report continues:

In this neighborhood, gunfire is as common as birdsong - nine shootings have been recorded in the past month - and most students know someone who's been shot or did the shooting. Murders are so frequent that the school employs a full-time grief counselor.  In years past, these students were largely out of control, frequently fighting in the corridors, scrawling graffiti on the walls and cursing their teachers. Absenteeism rates were among the city's highest and so were suspensions. Worn-down teachers routinely called in sick. 

Unsurprisingly, academics suffered.  The school tried everything, from counseling and peer support to after-school tutoring and sports, but to disappointingly little effect.  

Now these students are doing light-years better. In the first year of Quiet Time, the number of suspensions fell by 45 percent. Within four years, the suspension rate was among the lowest in the city. Daily attendance rates climbed to 98 percent, well above the citywide average. Grade point averages improved markedly. About 20 percent of graduates are admitted to Lowell High School - before Quiet Time, getting any students into this elite high school was a rarity. Remarkably, in the annual California Healthy Kids Survey, these middle school youngsters recorded the highest happiness levels in San Francisco.

I knew that meditation had proved notably successful in prison populations, but this is the first time I heard of an inner city school introducing such a program.  The improvements at Visitacion, it seems, resulted in the adoption of similar programs at other middle and high schools in the San Francisco area.  Despite initial skepticism on the part of administrators and teachers, they too are bringing about remarkable transformation in both attitude and performance.

Can we foresee--could we hope for--a time when the practice will be introduced into school curricula nationwide?  What a difference that would make to a country that is suffering so much, these days, from ignorance and delusion!

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

I was watching the network news last night and came upon this "Making a Difference" report, one of a series of "good news" segments on NBC Nightly News. It's about a wonderful volunteer effort to promote literacy amongst the poor and the underprivileged, and I thought, yes, these are truly generous and compassionate people who devote their time, energy, and financial resources to improving the lot of other less fortunate.

And at the same time I thought, this is disgraceful. Disgraceful that in this wealthiest of wealthy countries, a job of this importance should be left to a handful of good-hearted volunteers. The education of our young is a responsibility that should not be handed off to the charitable efforts of a dedicated few, it should be the obligation of every one one of us--an obligation of such vast and critical importance that only government is able to handle it with equity and fairness. And yet, in this country, successive governments have been systematically degrading our education system for decades. And now our Republicans are intent on making still further cuts in funding for basic education progams like Head Start.

"Making a Difference" notwithstanding, education is not, and should not be a do-good enterprise. As one who was born and raised in ("socialist"!) Europe, I still feel appalled when I find myself listening to appeals for money from what is billed as "public" radio or television. Public is public, I always thought. Of course there's a place for private enterprise, but private enterprise brings with it the private slant, the usually profit-driven motive. Between Fox News and corporate network broadcasting, we need a source of information that is put out in the public interest. I'm aware that the BBC has had its problems and controversies over the years, but if you take a few minutes to compare the quality of news presented on BBC World News and American commercial networks, the difference is clear. Even Al Jazeera English, these days (have you watched it?) offers a fairer and more complete picture of what's going on in the world than, say, CBS or NBC.

I think it's wonderful that private donors are generous with their support for all kinds of organizations that provide help for those who need it. But these "thousand points of light," as the first Bush famously called them, cannot conceivably replace the responsibilities of government in today's complex world, with its rapidly growing populations and decreasing resources. There are many functions that must be addressed as a collective responsibility: education is but one of them.

The fundamental belief in ever smaller government, as embraced by Republicans, is a pipe dream in a world of such complexity. Our children have a right to receive the education they need as a first step toward a successful and happy future. It should not be left to the whims of a charitable few, no matter how valiantly they may be "making a difference." The only real difference that can be made through a common effort to make education a national priority, and a determination to devoting the resources needed to make it happen.