We know it's time to shift gears because of a time-honored ritual every bit as resonant as Thanksgiving or Christmas. It's Back to School time. Right now 50 million children are reembarked on their tortuous pilgrimages through the nations' beleaguered public school systems. Along with reading, writing and looking cool, we like to think they are learning responsibility, self-discipline and citizenship. Yet, today the widespread concern that schools aren't doing their jobs anymore has reached almost crisis proportions.
Studies keep showing that millions of kids are woefully behind grade level.
Even more disturbing is the endless stream of reports of thuggish misconduct, and the accumulating evidence that too many kids don't feel safe and focused enough to learn. The publicity surrounding the school shootings in recent years has further pushed these concerns onto the front pages, leading to a collective soul-searching that goes beyond what should be taught in schools to the question of what kind of emotional climate schools must create for real learning to take place at all. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent on special programs to bring greater psychological sensitivity into the classroom to stem the decline in children's ability to learn. This is a question of more than passing interest to psychotherapists. First of all, it forces us to think more clearly about what we know that can truly make a difference in the world beyond our offices.