Extra-Curricular Activities since
Irma; Why They Are Needed
As
a community our territory has been through a tremendous ordeal. Two category
five hurricanes have made life as we knew it impossible to return to as almost
everything has changed. With change comes the good and the bad as we all know;
the good part is that we get to rebuild. It is a chance for change, to learn
from our countless mistakes, to push forward, and a time for atonement. The bad
part is the restoration phase and the inconveniences that we all have to suffer
in order to make our futures brighter. One such inconvenience is the lack of
extra curricula activities and adequate after school enrichment programs to sustain
the new half day of school that we have adopted to ensure the needs of all are
met.
These half days of school are very strenuous
on families and make it hard for parents, as well as students to actively
participate in various ways. Yes, parents are allotted two hours a month to
check in with their child’s teachers and schools, but many parents have more
than one child and two hours may not be enough. Transportation and number of
children should be taken into account as well as the needs of the child or
children in question. Parents of students with delays or disabilities need to
actively participate to learn routines and techniques to attribute to their
child’s development. This too is true of students who exhibit challenging
behavior due to emotional trauma/stress, parents need to be involved to ensure resilience
is built upon with a support system; in this case the home and school
community.
Every
child on this island or in the territory at the times of hurricanes Irma and
Maria have suffered a traumatic experience that WILL stay with them throughout
their lives. When you really think of the ordeal we have faced as a community
it must have been extra hard on the children. They did not have prior knowledge
and experience that came with past hurricanes to mentally prepare for the storm
(I got my experience with Marilyn and those after and still was in shock and
dismay).
Every
outlet for recreation that still exists has been ‘modified’ somehow leaving
nothing much to help the youths cope. This is the time when we need those “Big
Brother” enrichment programs to detour youths and adolescents from participating
and engaging in self destructive behavior which can become the beginning of the
path to becoming the next degenerate on the street corner.
The
views expressed within this blog are solely those of Ms. Child Advocate and
does not reflect on any of her affiliations. For more on the youths of the U. S
Virgin Islands visit https://www.usviearlychildhoodlearning.blogspot.com
. For more on the U.S
Virgin Islands youths read Curriculum
Choices, Learning
Environment & Strategies, My Beliefs on
Language Acquisition, Respect Goes
Both Ways: Teacher and Student, V. I
Character, and Curricula
Standards & Benchmarks
