“By virtually every conceivable measure social capital has eroded steadily and sometimes dramatically over the past two generations.” Robert D. Putnam Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community.
Why is strengthening social capital so important?
When social capital erodes, as it inevitably does in all societies, people lose sight of their shared values and beliefs and the sense of the common purpose that binds them together. When that occurs, the society experiences problems that can be harmful to its well-being. Trust between individuals and between individuals and their institutions breaks down, problems that demand collective action are more difficult to solve, business dealings become more problematic, the sense of mutual connection with one another disintegrates resulting in a focus on me as opposed to we.
Few of us would quarrel with Putnam’s assessment. We see the signs that social capital in America is in decline. We know that there are far too many dysfunctional families; we recognize that church attendance is at an all-time low and that too many neighborhoods are in trouble. Social, economic and ideological barriers are increasingly separating us and the trust that is so vital between individuals and institutions (government and business in particular) is at an all-time low. Many fear that we are a nation in decline and that the decline is inescapable. But that does not have to be our fate. John W. Gardner, author of Self Renewal: the Individual and the Innovative Society notes that “Societies that keep their values alive do not do so by escaping the process of decay but by a powerful process of regeneration.”
The School’s Role in Regenerating Social Capital
The quality of the educational system has much to do with society’s capacity for renewal. John W. Gardner
Schools by their very nature are communities composed of a collection of diverse individuals, adults and young people, organized around a common purpose. If they are effective schools, they cultivate shared values, habits, attitudes and a common understanding that what they are doing is important and that each individual must work to ensure that the enterprise is a success—for everyone.
There are traditions and rituals in the school that promote and celebrate teamwork, personal responsibility, sharing, caring, contribution to the school community and the community in which it resides. Every year members of the school leave bringing the values they’ve learned out to the wider community and new members come into the school to learn its values. This is one important way schools help to infuse our communities with an understanding of the importance of social capital.
But good schools do more than that; they teach the broader community—the one outside their walls—the importance of community. They do that by bringing members of their city or town into the schoolhouse and by bringing those in the schoolhouse out into the community. Let me share with you a few small ways schools in which I have worked reached out to the community to help develop social capital. I invite you to share some of your own examples.
Some Examples of Schools Reaching Out to the Community
· A school my wife worked in offered Parent-Effective Training to share with parents ways to more effectively work with their adolescent children. School counselors conducted this program.
· In a school where I worked, we organized quarterly meetings with the local police chief, a Department of Social Service representative and juvenile probation officers to discuss and plan ways to effectively deal with truancy, crime and juvenile misconduct in the community.
· In that same school, a faculty member organized (can you believe this?) a sixth grade/senior citizens’ spelling bee. The activity became so successful it broadened out into art shows and other middle school/ senior citizen activities.
So let’s acknowledge and celebrate the contributions that our schools make to the revival of social capital and the restoration of community. And let’s never forget what is possible because schools do contribute to the renewal of sense of community.
“The power of education extends beyond the development of skills we need for economic success. It can contribute to nation-building and reconciliation. Our previous system emphasized the physical and other differences of South Africans with devastating effects. We are steadily but surely introducing education that enables our children to exploit their similarities and common goals, while appreciating the strength in their diversity.” Nelson Mandela