by Robert Reardon, Columnist
("Eye to the Future" is a column published in each issue of The Humanitarian, the newsletter for Humanitarian Society members.)

Often the most successful people, companies, and institutions are those which define their mission clearly and specifically and keep it within a narrow domain. Generally, the broader the domain of the mission, the less clear and specific it becomes until a mission is defined to be "all things to all people." Trying to be all things to all people is a blueprint for failure and a roadmap to doom.

Which is why it should concern all of us that our public education system is being asked to literally provide a wealth of human resource services for our nation's children which lead it down the road of trying to be all things to all people. Far from the initial mission of providing academic instruction in the basic literary, math, and geography skills, our public schools today are expected to provide a vast array of services such as food services, before- and after-school babysitting, nursing and medical services, counseling and mental health services, conflict resolution and social skills training, and instruction in such things as drug and alcohol awareness and crime prevention. No wonder there is little time in the school day for instruction in reading, writing, and arithmetic.

In asking our public schools to do all these things, we are risking not teaching the academic skills which will ensure a brighter future for all of our children. Let's find other ways of providing these services and let the schools teach academics. Our future depends on it.