It is becoming far too frequent in the world today that we hear, see and read about trouble in our public schools.
From terrible test scores to teachers being assaulted and ending up in the hospital, our schools are no longer places where students feel safe. Fortunately Central Minnesota is not feeling and seeing these effects but how long will this remain?
There are many factors being speculated on as far as causes leading to these issues. American's confidence in the public school systems has been on a fairly steady decline since the '70s with it landing at 31 percent of Americans saying they have confidence in their public schools, according to Gallup.
What is happening in our public schools leading to this decline? Just last week it was announced a student had picked a fight with another student over football statistics and when a teacher tried to end the fight, he was violently attacked suffering a traumatic brain injury. What makes matters worse is this is the 27th case this year in Ramsey County of student on school official attacks.
How does this happen in our schools? What are children not learning?
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Character counts.
Thankfully there is a place where our young men and yes even young ladies can learn character. That place is Scouting.
A recent study by Tufts University confirmed what Scouting parents know; Scouting teaches character.
The study showed Scouts were more likely than non-Scouts to embrace positive social values. Ask a Scout what's most important to him, and he was likely to respond with answers like "helping others" or "doing the right thing." Ask a non-Scout the same thing, and he was likely to say "being smart," "being the best" or "playing sports."
We need more children with character like those of our Scouts.
Kenneth Toole
Baxter
