The Student at Promise

The At Promise Child 1

Running head: THE AT PROMISE CHILD

The At Promise Child: An Alternative Paradigm

Timothy S. Stuart

tstuart@atpromise.com

Seattle Pacific University

The At Promise Child 2

The At Promise Child

Ninety percent of America's youth belong to one or more official "at-risk"

category. These include, but are not limited to, children living in poverty, minority

children, immigrant and bilingual children, children with disabilities and latchkey

children. Nine-out-of-ten kids on every playground in America, and 90 out of 100 teens

in every school cafeteria are at risk, in some way, today (Ornstein and Hunkins, 1998).

Very few families are unaffected by these statistics, and even fewer families are exempt

from concern.

The "At Risk" Label

While there are many popular arguments for labeling children "at-risk", most of

them benefit researchers, institutions, advocacy groups and policy makers rather than

children. (Banks and Banks, 2001) At its best, labeling surrounds children with advocates

in well-funded programs. At its worst, it abandons children to a future of likely failure

and anticipated defeat. The "at risk' label tells children that they are more likely to fail

than other children. It teaches them to keep their eyes on the cracks so that they don't fall

through them. Labeling encourages educators and parents to act against their deepest

desires for children's success by guarding and lowering expectations of them. As a result

of negative labeling, schools have become fixated on the very deficits they hope to

eliminate.

Origins of the term "At Promise"

For several decades the term "at risk" has become a part of the vernacular when

speaking about children. In fact, between 1989 and 1995 "over 2,500 articles and

conference papers have focused on this topic and a growing number of state and national

The At Promise Child 3

reports and schools districts and state committees have made recommendations for

addressing this crisis" (Swadener and Lubeck, 1995, p.1). The "at risk" vocabulary is

harmful and does not accurately reflect the complete picture. The time has come to

expand this vocabulary. Children must be freed from the bondage of the "at risk" label

and given the opportunity to experience the freedom of a new identity: the "At Promise"

identity.

The term "at promise" was coined in 1991 by Dr. Beth Blue Swadener in an

attempt to deconstruct the "at risk" label which she claimed is a reflection of a dominant

society's act of oppression over poor and unrepresented people groups. (Swadener and

Lubeck, 1995) She suggested that "Instead of seeing children and families as "at risk",

all children and families might be viewed as "at promise." (Swadener and Lubeck, 1995,

p. 2)

While there is considerable power in words, simply calling children "At

Promise", as Swadener suggested, will not change the real risks that children face

everyday. Words become more powerful when they become flesh. This paper will

attempt to place flesh on the "at promise" paradigm.

The "At Promise" Perspective

The "At Promise" perspective is a practical and hope-filled approach to fulfilling

the deepest promise in children. This perspective applies to kids, whether in private

Swiss boarding schools or on Native American reservations. It calls caring adults to

action, and is a vaccination against what Dr. Martin Seligman (1995) called in his book

The Optimistic Child, an "epidemic of pessimism."(p.6)

The At Promise Child 4

The "At Promise" perspective looks squarely at the nature of children and

acknowledges that every child is inherently "at risk" and "at promise" simultaneously.

All children come equipped with flawed natures that make them vulnerable to great

chasms of risk in their character and in their environment. Anyone who has worked or

lived with children would agree with G.K. Chesterton who asserts that original sin is the

one, empirically verifiable, Christian doctrine. (Holms, 1995)

Still, according to Judeo Ð'- Christian beliefs, children are also created in the image

of God (Genesis 1:26) -- with imbedded seeds of promise yearning to grow. Ultimately,

God disarms the risks in children's lives when they find their identity in Him. The

significance of a central and transforming relationship with God serves as a model for

adults and children. The "At Promise" perspective