Essay About Promise Child And School Cafeteria

The Student at Promise
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The At Promise Child 1
Running head: THE AT PROMISE CHILD
The At Promise Child: An Alternative Paradigm
Timothy S. Stuart
[email protected]
Seattle Pacific University
The At Promise Child 2
The At Promise Child
Ninety percent of Americas youth belong to one or more official “at-risk”
category. These include, but are not limited to, children living in poverty, minority
children, immigrant and bilingual children, children with disabilities and latchkey
children. Nine-out-of-ten kids on every playground in America, and 90 out of 100 teens
in every school cafeteria are at risk, in some way, today (Ornstein and Hunkins, 1998).
Very few families are unaffected by these statistics, and even fewer families are exempt
from concern.
The “At Risk” Label
While there are many popular arguments for labeling children “at-risk”, most of
them benefit researchers, institutions, advocacy groups and policy makers rather than
children. (Banks and Banks, 2001) At its best, labeling surrounds children with advocates
in well-funded programs. At its worst, it abandons children to a future of likely failure
and anticipated defeat. The “at risk label tells children that they are more likely to fail
than other children. It teaches them to keep their eyes on the cracks so that they dont fall
through them. Labeling encourages educators and parents to act against their deepest
desires for childrens success by guarding and lowering expectations of them. As a result
of negative labeling, schools have become fixated on the very deficits they hope to
eliminate.
Origins of the term “At Promise”
For several decades the term “at risk” has become a part of the vernacular when
speaking about children. In fact, between 1989 and 1995 “over 2,500 articles and
conference papers have focused on this topic and a growing number of state and national
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reports and schools districts and state committees have made recommendations for
addressing this crisis” (Swadener and Lubeck, 1995, p.1). The “at risk” vocabulary is
harmful and does not accurately reflect the complete picture. The time has come to
expand this vocabulary. Children must be freed from the bondage of the “at risk” label
and given the opportunity to experience the freedom of a new identity: the “At Promise”
identity.
The term “at promise” was coined in 1991 by Dr. Beth Blue Swadener in an
attempt to deconstruct the “at risk” label which she claimed is a reflection of a dominant
societys act of oppression over poor and unrepresented people groups. (Swadener and
Lubeck, 1995) She suggested that “Instead of seeing children and families as “at risk”,
all children and families might be viewed as “at promise.” (Swadener and Lubeck, 1995,
p. 2)
While there is considerable power in words, simply calling children “At
Promise”, as Swadener suggested, will not change the real risks that children face
everyday. Words become more powerful when they become flesh. This paper will
attempt to place flesh on the “at promise” paradigm.
The “At Promise” Perspective
The “At Promise” perspective is a practical and hope-filled approach to fulfilling
the deepest promise in children. This perspective applies to kids, whether in private
Swiss boarding schools or on Native American reservations. It calls caring adults to
action, and is a vaccination against what Dr. Martin Seligman (1995) called in his book
The Optimistic Child, an “epidemic of pessimism.”(p.6)
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The “At Promise” perspective looks squarely at the nature of children and
acknowledges that every child is inherently “at risk” and “at promise” simultaneously.
All children come equipped with flawed natures that make them vulnerable to great
chasms of risk in their character and in their environment. Anyone who has worked or
lived with children would agree with G.K. Chesterton who asserts that original sin is the
one, empirically verifiable, Christian doctrine. (Holms, 1995)
Still, according to Judeo Ð- Christian beliefs, children are also created in the image
of God (Genesis 1:26) — with imbedded seeds of promise yearning to grow. Ultimately,
God disarms the risks in childrens lives when they find their identity in Him. The
significance of a central and transforming relationship with God serves as a model for
adults and children. The “At Promise” perspective