Like probably most of my peers, I had arrived, with great fear, to my first day in nursery school. One of my classmates was a bit more honest and direct than most of us in expressing his feelings about having his mother abandon him to a room full of strangers. He was standing on his hands, with his feet kicking against the door, and screaming at the top of his lungs, while objects poured from his pockets and mucous flowed from his nostrils. It was an Olympic-caliber performance. School is strong stuff, and it can be scary or boring.
Recent findings suggest that attachment to school helps keep kids out of trouble.
Those who feel bonded to school are less likely to engage in risky behaviors such as substance use and delinquency. This alone is reason enough to want to make schools less boring and unfriendly. The United States spends nearly half a trillion dollars a year on education, and most kids still find school boring and uninspiring. Character educators have come to discover that their effectiveness depends upon whether kids see their schools as caring communities. Kids also become more likely to support democratic values, to avoid drugs and other risky behaviors, to want to do well in school, and to get better grades.