Why Schools Must Teach a Counterculture

School Administrator, Jan, 1999 by Gary A. Burton

Times change and so do people. During the 1960s, few school administrators approved of the counterculture movement that reflected student behavior all across the country. Hippies, flower power, questioning authority and breaking the establishment's rules all helped to define this turbulent decade.

In a strange reversal of roles, school officials today now encourage students to behave in ways that easily can be considered countercultural. See whether you agree.

We live in a violent society. It's unfortunate, but violence is very much a part of our culture. We see it on the evening news, we read about it in our daily newspapers, and we watch far too many movies and play too many video games that glorify all forms of brutality.

On a personal level, almost everyone has been (or knows someone who has been) a victim of a violent act. Today, the fear of violence for many people is real, and parents, in particular, want assurance that their children will be safe while at school. Sadly, this has not been true in too many tragic examples.

Discriminatory Acts

We live in a sexist society. Sexism permeates our culture. We see examples of the exploitation of women in our magazines and on television, and we read regularly about gender bias in the workplace, military and elsewhere. Only within the past few years have elementary textbooks begun to portray young girls as problem solvers and leaders among their classmates. At the secondary level, denying young women access to advanced-level math and science classes is a well-documented past practice.

We live in a racist society. Racism continues to define our culture. Issues of race divide and embarrass us as a nation. While our country has certainly come a long way since the early days of the civil rights movement, equal opportunities for people of color are far from universal. It is, indeed, sad that almost daily we learn of blatant acts of hatred perpetrated against members of minority groups.

We live in a materialistic society. Materialism has become part of our culture. Those with wealth often overindulge themselves with goods and services that far exceed their basic needs. Elsewhere a growing segment of our population has watched its standard of living slowly erode even as our nation experiences unprecedented economic growth. Poverty is still far too prevalent in a country as rich in resources as the United States.

Changing Behavior

Why are issues of violence, sexism, racism and materialism important to our public schools? As social issues, they're not new. They have been with us for a long, long time. Thirty years ago, school authorities tried to prevent the widespread countercultural behavior of students, while today many educators are encouraging students to speak out and act in ways that can only be described as countercultural.

Violence, sexism, racism and materialism may be embedded in our culture, but they are not welcome in our public schools. Today more and more educators and students are trying to do something positive to demonstrate this point.

Schools now teach children to be nonviolent with lessons in conflict resolution, peer mediation and violence-avoidance techniques. Violence in our society is a threat to everyone, and schools must be made safe, physically and emotionally, for all students. The involuntary segregation of students, racial slurs and the elimination of passive acts of racism are being systematically eliminated from our public schools. Political correctness aside, racism is wrong and many educators now actively teach children to expose the culture of racism wherever it is found.

Furthermore, federal and state law specifically prohibits acts that diminish or demean individuals based on gender. Most school officials are keenly aware of adult preconceptions that have prevented many young female students from pursuing opportunities readily available to male counterparts. Such biases no longer are practiced in most public schools. Materialism is certainly not illegal, but many school officials readily agree that children need to learn lessons of compassion, charity and concern for others less fortunate than themselves. Our future as an enlightened society may rest on such simple teachings.

With administrative encouragement, many schools today sponsor student organizations that specifically focus on issues such as school climate, cultural identity, gay/straight alliances and racial diversity. State and federal officials are also promoting a counterculture with competitive grants for districts willing to confront these societal problems.

Should schools teach these things? Absolutely. The promotion of systems of fairness, tolerance, safety and concern for others are common values that must be taught both at home and in our schools. Such lessons are an essential part of any child's upbringing, and, when you stop to think about it, where better to practice these values than in our public schools?

Gary Burton is superintendent of Wayland Public Schools, P.O. Box 408, Wayland, Mass. 01778.