One of the 5
Cs that often gets overlooked in today’s schools is citizenship. I strongly believe that citizenship is an
important part of the educational experience. IWCS developed a Focus Document (included
below) which outlines our beliefs and expectations for students, faculty, and
staff. One of the beliefs is treating all individuals with dignity and respect.
We often
have to make decisions that will affect our student’s education. An example is the current review of our exam
policy. We need to decide whether exams are an integral part of the educational
experience that will prepare our students for college, career, and life and, if
so, how much they should count in the overall class grade.
This
decision, and all similar decisions, needs to be made with stakeholder input.
When involving all stakeholders, we need to understand the importance of
respecting people’s individual opinions. In modeling positive relationships and
citizenship, we must demonstrate mutual respect and confidence that all
stakeholders have the best interest of our children in mind when making a
suggestion. If we have that common understanding, then we should have the
confidence to know that whatever we choose to proceed with will be what’s best
for our students and yield the desired result.
I have that
level of confidence in our teachers, staff, and parents. If we all demonstrate
this type of respect and understanding to our students, not only will we make sound
decisions for them, we will help to create
great citizens for our community, our country, and, in fact, the entire
world.
