I think Bob's onto something very important here. As a kid, albeit not growing
up in St. Paul, I lived on the playgrounds, often six or seven days a week. For
boys, it was an enormously valuable socializing process, learning how to get
along, how to resolve disputes, how to earn respect, and yes, on occasion, how
not to do things. (I also remember young girls hanging out as well, but I
suspect the socialization process then and now was somewhat different.) All the
friends who hung out at the playground were schoolmates; we all lived somewhere
in a few mile radius, and there was never a shortage of ballgames (changing
with the seasons) in the streets and in the local playground/park.
My kid goes to a magnet school as well, which has been great for him
educationally but not so good in terms of making friendships with kids in the
neighborhood. But then, even in the neighborhood, there are seldom kids at play
in the local park. Now whether it's the lack of emphasis on the neighborhood
schools or other factors that contribute to this phenomena, I don't know. But
here's what I'd do if I were mayor: Have every playground staffed with licensed
and trained recreation leaders, then send a letter to every single resident in
the city, saying, "Please send your kids to the parks! Your tax dollars are now
paying for highly trained staff, so why spend all your money on daycare or your
time chaperoning your kids everywhere? Your kids will be safe, they'll learn
how to become kids again, and hey, you can go back to being a mom or dad
instead of acting as their personal assistant!"
Of course, I'm not running for mayor, and I'm not hearing anything remotely
like this coming from anybody who is, but that would sure be a major priority
of mine. Anybody else want this?
Because I am running for school board, however, I am very interested in finding
ways in which St. Paul can have strong magnet schools and strong neighborhood
schools. I know the consensus seems to be that we can't have both, but I hate
thinking that way, so I'd sure want to see the board and our community explore
all sorts of options that might make both possible.
Tom Goldstein
Hamline-Midway
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bob Treumann" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Tim Erickson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "St. Paul Issues Forum"
<stpaul@mnforum.org>
Sent: Tuesday, April 19, 2005 1:00 PM
Subject: Re: [StPaul] Booster Clubs
I think this is related to the disappearance of the neighborhood school. My
kids went to different schools, and all their friends went to other different
schools.
My kids had bus friends, school friends , church friends, day care friends and
a few 'block friends', but almost no "neighborhood friends" like we did when we
went to school
I tried to take my kids over to two community centers near us, but they didn't
know anybody at either place, so they lost interest quickly.
The neighborhood school is the anchor of the community. I think we need to
strengthen neighborhood school programs, even if it means getting rid of
magnets, though I doubt that will happen.
In the interest of disclosure, we chose magnet schools for our kids, and the
number one reason was that it would get them away from the kids whose parents
didn't care where they went.
By choosing a magnet school, we did something similar to choosing a
neighborhood in the old days. We tried to put our kids in a good environment,
with other good kids who had parents that cared about education and were paying
attention.
Bob Treumann
Como
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