Teaching Conflict Resolution

Can the school system solve the violence problem on Chicago streets - and should it be their job?

by Jerry Agar

Karl von Clausewitz said that war is nothing more than the continuation of politics by other means.  The Chicago Tribune reports that the street violence taking the lives of young people in Chicago is often the continuation of simple disagreements by other means.

In “Lesson From the Street: Don’t Back Down,” reporter Azam Ahmed writes, “Among the challenges officials face is reversing a culture of violence that pervades Chicago’s toughest, poorest and most desolate stretches, where pride is a fiercely guarded commodity and showing weakness just invites more trouble. This mentality, shared by many teens, helps explain how something as minor as a bump in a hallway or a hard stare can escalate into a brawl — or even a murder.”

I believe there is a failure of government to solve this problem.  Specifically, it is a problem of the failure of the education system.

You may think it unfair for me to lay the blame on educators, but consider that conflict resolution skills are learned, and if not taught properly, young people are on their own in a culture of false pride and dangerously false bravado.  And it is the education system that has demanded that they have exclusive rights to educate young people. 

Yes, parents are responsible for bringing up children.  But too many parents are failing and no amount of scolding from society at large is going to change the mind-set of an alcoholic, a drug addict or a criminal who is unprepared to parent.

Educators, on the other hand, can be held responsible for the job we pay them to do.  That job is to prepare young people for the challenges of life.  Schools have demanded tax dollars to solve the problem of students who do not come to school with a full stomach, which is also a parent responsibility.  Many school systems run buses to get kids to school, which could also fairly be deemed a parent responsibility.  First Lady and Chicago native Michelle Obama calls for government to solve childhood obesity.  Fair enough, but safety seems to be a more pressing problem.

The point is that government is already deeply involved in running our children’s lives.

The government demands that children be educated.  Many parents have no choice but to send their children to public schools, regardless of the effectiveness of the local school.  Teacher unions, the politicians the unions control, and professional educators continue to fight vouchers and the lifting of caps on charter schools, while demanding total control over the tax dollars they take.  As a result, the public school system spends more time influencing young people than anyone else does.

I realize that many teachers did not get into the job to solve street violence and fill in for dysfunctional parents.  It is okay with me if they don’t want to do it.  There is no shame in admitting that you don’t have the answer.  Let the responsibility – and the money and control – go, and we will look for someone who can and will solve problems.  America is a can-do nation, and one that has traditionally solved problems through a free market of ideas and products.

We can’t fix bad parenting.  We do pay – and therefore should control – the public education system.  The buck stops there.

For some young people this is a matter of life and death.  It is time for schools to step up, or step out.