Where we are losing the culture war

A recent rabbit trail on the internet provided me the opportunity me to review the current student handbook of a large eastern high school. This is, by the prevailing reckoning, a national and state "school of excellence."

I am no stranger to school handbooks, having authored a few myself, and I realize that they are of necessity both dry and rules-oriented. Here's what struck me about this one:

1.  Of the 31 pages, 14 pages were allotted to behavior policies, disciplinary procedures, and consequences;  11 pages to general information (timetables, lockers, driving privileges, etc.); and only 6 pages to anything related to academics. 
2.  The item with the greatest amount of information in the entire handbook was the the three-page, five-column chart of consequences for every possible behavior, with resultant consequences, delineated down to the fifth offense.
3.   Missing from the book was anything which connected the world of high school to the real world (except a warning about places where students with open lunch driving privileges were not allowed to go), any meaningful statement of intrinsic purpose in the education offered by the school, or anything that could remotely be considered wise, inspiring, uplifting.

Here's what it reflects to me.

1.  A beleaguered administration and faculty have tirelessly enumerated all the creative ways that  mischievous students with a fallen nature (and a boatload of repressed angst over the dysfunctinal home lives they represent) may possible misbehave. Subsequently, they are attempting to insulate themselves against the lawsuits and possible criminal charges which could ensue from their merely trying to get through the day unscathed.

2.  In terms of their academic mission, they have instituted creative protections to ensure that they only need to deal with the better students - Honors and AP classes, weighted grades for GPA inflation, a favored "professional" track (with others relegated to "skilled" and "entry" track), and so on. Their safety nets for the disinterested include a "credit recovery" scheme, grades based as much on participation as achievement, and provisions for "walking" at graduation even if one is a few credits short.

3.  Granted handbooks are not generally the place for philosophical discussions, it is nevertheless startling to contrast the finely honed disciplinary policies and consequences with the absence of anything encouraging, meaningful in terms of the purpose of education, or even remotely uplifting. Motivation, if it exists, is either within the student or comes from sources outside the system. This is an institution based on self-preservation.  

I could say so much more, but I call to your remembrance the fact that this represents one of the "best" of American high schools. Such impoverishment of spirit and substance cannot produce the leaders we need in this nation - and in the world at large. It is an accurate reflection of the lostness of our nation.