Person-to-person communication and friendly relationships in technological society are terribly underestimated and sometimes even ignored.  Having recently researched a book on improving the educational system, I loved  and will employ the point that “friendship is as essential to your health as diet and exercise.”   

The separation of parents and families from teachers and administrators is a critical part of the learning process that unconsciously was abandoned by forces concerned with desegregation of our schools in favor of focusing on the teacher-student relationship. In fact, the success of schooling rests on the balance of a three-legged stool that was always dependent on friendships and relationships that were established by the educational establishment with parents, families, and communities. The dissolution of after-school recreational activities for all (not “just” athletes), in loco parentis, corporal punishment (due to extremes of its implementation), and many other connections between schools and communities is evidence of how “friendship” was deprioritized and removed as an essential element in the field of education. Through dissemination of information Lydia Denworth ’88 and other researchers have to offer, I hope we will restore the importance of establishing communication and relationships by teachers with families.

John T. Mavros ’71
St. Petersburg, Fla.