孩子需要结构.docx

1、孩子需要结构鲍威尔：孩子需要结构What I want to do this afternoon is something a little different than whats scheduled. Foreign policy, you can figure that out by watching, I dont know, Rachel Maddow or somebody, but (Laughter) I want to talk about young people and structure, young people and structure. This was las

2、t Wednesday afternoon at a school in Brooklyn, New York, at Cristo Rey High School, run by the Jesuits. And I was talking to this group of students, and take a look at them. They were around me in three directions. Youll noticed that almost all of them are minority. Youll notice that the building is

3、 rather austere. Its an old New York school building, nothing fancy. They still have old blackboards and whatnot. And there are about 300 kids in this school, and the schools been going now for four years, and theyre about to graduate their first class. Twenty-two people are graduating, and all 22 a

4、re going to college. They all come from homes where there is, for the most part, just one person in the home, usually the mother or the grandmother, and thats it, and they come here for their education and for their structure.Now I had this picture taken, and it was put up on my Facebook page last w

5、eek, and somebody wrote in, Huh, why does he have him standing at attention like that? And then they said, But he looks good. (Laughter)He does look good, because kids need structure, and the trick I play in all of my school appearances is that when I get through with my little homily to the kids, I

6、 then invite them to ask questions, and when they raise their hands, I say, Come up, and I make them come up and stand in front of me. I make them stand at attention like a soldier. Put your arms straight down at your side, look up, open your eyes, stare straight ahead, and speak out your question l

7、oudly so everybody can hear. No slouching, no pants hanging down, none of that stuff. (Laughter) And this young man, his name is - his last name Cruz - he loved it. Thats all over his Facebook page and its gone viral. (Laughter) So people think Im being unkind to this kid. No, were having a little f

8、un. And the thing about it, Ive done this for years, the younger they are, the more fun it is.When I get six- and seven-year-olds in a group, I have to figure out how to keep them quiet. You know that theyll always start yakking. And so I play a little game with them before I make them stand at atte

9、ntion.I say, Now listen. In the army, when we want you to pay attention, we have a command. Its called at ease. It means everybody be quiet and pay attention. Listen up. Do you understand?Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh.Lets practice. Everybody start chatting. And I let them go for about 10 seconds, then I g

10、o, At ease!Huh! (Laughter)Yes, General. Yes, General.Try it with your kids. See if it works. (Laughter) I dont think so.But anyway, its a game I play, and it comes obviously from my military experience. Because for the majority of my adult life, I worked with young kids, teenagers with guns, I call

11、them. And we would bring them into the army, and the first thing we would do is to put them in an environment of structure, put them in ranks, make them all wear the same clothes, cut all their hair off so they look alike, make sure that they are standing in ranks. We teach them how to go right face

12、, left face, so they can obey instructions and know the consequences of not obeying instructions. It gives them structure. And then we introduce them to somebody who they come to hate immediately, the drill sergeant. And they hate him. And the drill sergeant starts screaming at them, and telling the

13、m to do all kinds of awful things. But then the most amazing thing happens over time. Once that structure is developed, once they understand the reason for something, once they understand, Mama aint here, son. Im your worst nightmare. Im your daddy and your mommy. And thats just the way it is. You g

14、ot that, son? Yeah, and then when I ask you a question, there are only three possible answers: yes, sir; no, sir; and no excuse, sir. Dont start telling me why you didnt do something. Its yes, sir; no, sir; no excuse, sir.You didnt shave.But sir No, dont tell me how often you scraped your face this

15、morning. Im telling you you didnt shave.No excuse, sir.Attaboy, youre learning fast.But youd be amazed at what you can do with them once you put them in that structure. In 18 weeks, they have a skill. They are mature. And you know what, they come to admire the drill sergeant and they never forget th

16、e drill sergeant. They come to respect him. And so we need more of this kind of structure and respect in the lives of our children.I spend a lot of time with youth groups, and I say to people, When does the education process begin? Were always talking about, Lets fix the schools. Lets do more for ou

17、r teachers. Lets put more computers in our schools. Lets get it all online.That isnt the whole answer. Its part of the answer. But the real answer begins with bringing a child to the school with structure in that childs heart and soul to begin with.When does the learning process begin? Does it begin

18、 in first grade? No, no, it begins the first time a child in a mothers arms looks up at the mother and says, Oh, this must be my mother. Shes the one who feeds me. Oh yeah, when I dont feel so good down there, she takes care of me. Its her language I will learn. And at that moment they shut out all

19、the other languages that they could be learning at that age, but by three months, thats her. And if the person doing it, whether its the mother or grandmother, whoevers doing it, that is when the education process begins. Thats when language begins. Thats when love begins. Thats when structure begin

20、s. Thats when you start to imprint on the child that you are special, you are different from every other child in the world. And were going to read to you. A child who has not been read to is in danger when that child gets to school. A child who doesnt know his or her colors or doesnt know how to te

21、ll time, doesnt know how to tie shoes, doesnt know how to do those things, and doesnt know how to do something that goes by a word that was drilled into me as a kid: mind. Mind your manners! Mind your adults! Mind what youre saying! This is the way children are raised properly. And I watched my own

22、young grandchildren now come along and theyre, much to the distress of my children, they are acting just like we did. You know? You imprint them.And thats what you have to do to prepare children for education and for school. And Im working at all the energy I have to sort of communicate this message

23、 that we need preschool, we need Head Start, we need prenatal care. The education process begins even before the child is born, and if you dont do that, youre going to have difficulty. And we are having difficulties in so many of our communities and so many of our schools where kids are coming to fi

24、rst grade and their eyes are blazing, theyve got their little knapsack on and theyre ready to go, and then they realize theyre not like the other first graders who know books, have been read to, can do their alphabet. And by the third grade, the kids who didnt have that structure and minding in the

25、beginning start to realize theyre behind, and what do they do? They act it out. They act it out, and theyre on their way to jail or theyre on their way to being dropouts. Its predictable. If youre not at the right reading level at third grade, you are a candidate for jail at age 18, and we have the

26、highest incarceration rate because were not getting our kids the proper start in life.The last chapter in my book is called The Gift of a Good Start. The gift of a good start. Every child ought to have a good start in life.I was privileged to have that kind of good start. I was not a great student.

27、I was a public school kid in New York City, and I didnt do well at all. I have my entire New York City Board of Education transcript from kindergarten through college. I wanted it when I was writing my first book. I wanted to see if my memory was correct, and, my God, it was. (Laughter) Straight C e

28、verywhere. And I finally bounced through high school, got into the City College of New York with a 78.3 average, which I shouldnt have been allowed in with, and then I started out in engineering, and that only lasted six months. (Laughter) And then I went into geology, rocks for jocks. This is easy.

29、 And then I found ROTC. I found something that I did well and something that I loved doing, and I found a group of youngsters like me who felt the same way. And so my whole life then was dedicated to ROTC and the military. And I say to young kids everywhere, as youre growing up and as this structure

30、 is being developed inside of you, always be looking for that which you do well and that which you love doing, and when you find those two things together, man, you got it. Thats whats going on. And thats what I found.Now the authorities at CCNY were getting tired of me being there. Id been there fo

31、ur and a half going on five years, and my grades were not doing particularly well, and I was in occasional difficulties with the administration. And so they said, But he does so well in ROTC. Look, he gets straight As in that but not in anything else. And so they said, Look, lets take his ROTC grade

32、s and roll them into his overall GPA and see what happens. And they did, and it brought me up to 2.0. (Laughter) Yep. (Laughter) (Applause) They said, Its good enough for government work. Give him to the army. Well never see him again. Well never see him again. So they shipped me off to the army, and lo and behold, many years later, Im considered one of the greatest sons the City College of New York has ever had. (Laughter) So, I tell young people everywhere, it aint where you start in life, its what you d