When I was in college, many leaders of student organizations spent a lot of time discussing the lack of participation of thier fellow students in their organizations, activities and events. They even held forums to discuss "student apathy". I found this extremely ironic given that I knew a lot of students that were interested in getting involved but didn't know where to start. They tried going to the meetings of the various organizations, nut were turned off by the "leaders" who spent the entire time talking at their members about all of the burdens put on them, as opposed to talking with them about the role each member could play in moving the groups agenda forward.
Many of us up and coming leaders recognized the underlying problem and sought out to correct it. Student apathy wasn't the problem. The problem was that the leadership was employing the wrong strategies for getting thier fellow students involved. They didn't need to hear endless complaining about apathy. They needed a plan for how to get more students involved. We set out to devise a plan. We identified the things that needed to get done (short term and long term). We then let students know about these concrete opportunities. They could choose between long term or short term assignments. We usually got reluctant volunteers to take on a "one shot deal" assignment, meaning it only took a few hours on one day and then you were done. Unless, of course, you caught the volunteering bug (which often happened) and you volunteered again.
We need to ease parents into involvement in a structured way. Everyone is not ready to lead a city wide organization. As for the teachers. They need some tender prodding from the parents of the children in thier classroom. The parents that are involved need to communicate to their children's teachers how important it is to them that the teacher come out to some of the PTO meetings and/or events. Parents can play a huge role in changing the attitude of a particular teacher. Some parents just need a little training on how to go about this effectively.
I believe that an organization like PEP could play a positive role in supporting the PTO's at the individual schools by providing training to parents on effective practices in school involvement.
I want to thank the person who took the time to submit this response. Your guidance is on point and I hope others --like yourself-- will take the opportunity to get involved with PEP whether it be in a leadership role or as a foot soldier.
I too agree and it is the impetus for my involvment in this organization -- "that an organization like PEP could play a positive role in supporting the PTO's at the individual schools by providing training to parents on effective practices in school involvement."
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