In our community alone there are probably close to a thousand graduates from local high schools each year.  They have just completed on the average thirteen years of school.  Many of the attentive one can share facts and figures from the last few months of schooling.  Some will have developed a skill or two that will support them in a chosen profession.  Many will have discovered some lifelong interests and even more will have found a friend or two to last a life time. 

All of these are valuable reasons for going to school.  But the question begs to be asked: Are they truly getting thirteen years worth of value for their time?

In no way should this be construed as a criticism of the teaching profession; they all are doing the best they can with the tools they have.  They are working within a system that has outgrown itself and must now change. 
In order to change any system we must first change our perspective about it.  This was true about the concept of a round earth and true about the modern solar system.  This is equally true about our education system; as long as we continue to believe that it works fine we will not seek to change it.
Yes I recognized that it worked OK for most of my children.  That doesn’t make it good; that only makes it OK.  And in this fast paced world of change ‘OK’ is a dinosaur whose days are few. 

We are quickly approaching a stage in our global evolution when changes in perspective will no longer be a choice.  If we do not change our way of looking at our present obstacles they will consume us.  This is already happening on many fronts the world over.  Our refusal to change our minds on almost all issues is leading to ‘crises’ of epic proportions.  And the real clincher is that the only thing necessary is a true change of perspective.  Can we change our view, and our language, so that violence is no longer an option?  Is it possible to shift our thinking and speaking to include only peaceful resolution? 

Be very careful how you answer these questions, because those who answer `no’ are making themselves casualties of an evolution that appears to be unstoppable, they are making themselves redundant.  The change is possible and it is simple.  Yet in my experience I have found the hardest thing to change is our perspective.

This last weekend I had the pleasure of taking a couple of our teens to a youth camp for a very intense life changing experience.  During this weekend they discovered trust, respect for others and appreciation, love and respect of self.  They studied ways to recognize and overcome obstacles.  They explored the processes of death and grieving; they pushed their limits and began to realize their passions.