A Delicate Balance: Principles and Practices Of Promising Arts And Humanities Programs
CLEAR GOALS AND HIGH EXPECTATIONS
Clear goals provide security to children whose lives are often chaotic and overwhelming. Knowing what the expectations are and learning the relationship between effort and results is a potent experience.
For many youth in these programs, it is a new one.
In some programs, contracts with outside businesses and organizationsãwith defined goals, timetables and standards-provide a structure within which artistry takes place, just as preparing for a performance or exhibit provides it in others.
Some programs have set up specific mechanisms for rewarding positive performance. For instance, the Working Classroom, Inc. has a point system: Teens earn points for keeping up their grades in school and participating in classes. These points can be "cashed in" for special events or related travel, or, for some, financial assistance for college.
While programs emphasize mutual respect and openness to the ideas of the children, they also recognize that it is important for adults to set certain parameters; it's not just "anything goes." Willie Reale at The 52nd Street Project describes this arrangement as a "benevolent dictatorship." "The rules are democratic in that everybody gets fair and equal treatment under the law. But the law is the law."
At The Artists Collective, Inc., youth wanting to receive a check from the Summer Youth Employment and Training Program must meet certain grooming, dress and behavior standards. "They know that we're strict. But they also know that we care about them," says Founding Executive Director Dollie McLean.
However, setting expectations for behavior and performance is different from being inflexible or authoritarian. Such rigidity, in part, makes many of these children rebel against school, home and community. As Carlos Uribe points out, "If you come across as an authoritative hard-line, no-flexibility figure, kids are going to turn away from you immediately. That's why the kids turn away from education. That's why they turn away from parents or religious institutions that don't give them the permission to figure it out."
Effective programs have clear goals and high expectations. "These kids, if put into the right kind of environment, can absolutely flourish," says Capanna, reflecting the positive expectations the directors of these programs have concerning the children they serve. The "right environment" includes clearly articulated goals with a reliable structure.