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Answering
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Executive Director, Dr. Michael Litow answers the following
questions about The Education Center. Click on the topic you want to read
more about.
The Education Center is a counseling and referral center that provides young people with a one-on-one nontraditional form of counseling - life coaching - that helps children and teens find self-confidence, independence and skills needed to succeed in school and life. It's open to all individuals ages 6 -20.
Why
was The Education Center established?
The Center is a place full of warmth, passion and dedication. I think it comes across in interactions with students, parents and in the community. It's very satisfying work to sit down with a kid and help them to realize that where they're at in life is not the end of the world, and that there are a lot of great options and positive experiences waiting for them if they make the effort for themselves.
For the staff and myself, the feeling is indescribable
when we witness a turn around in a student's life and hear a 'thank you'
from a kid or their parents. There is a chance to make a difference in
kids' lives, and that's why we founded the Center.
What
types of kids do you typically work with? We enroll any young person who is going through a rough
patch in their lives and haven't found anyone who can listen, understand
and is willing to make the commitment to believe in them and give them
a hand to make things better. We enroll children from all walks of life,
all ethnic and social backgrounds, from Chicago and the suburbs.
Can
anyone attend? How long is the program? Anybody can attend The Education Center. Parents have
to initiate enrollment. Once we do the intake, we generally work for 10
weeks with a child one-on-one, once or twice a week, during evenings and
weekends. We work with the young person's whole community - parents, teachers,
religious leaders, employers and youth officers - to help each individual
create a plan of success. How
many kids are enrolled at any one time? Typically we have 20 students enrolled for each 10 week
period. We're looking to expand the number of counselors and mentors working
with us in order to enroll more young people in the coming year. We have a sliding fee scale based on the parents income.
We never turned away anyone because they couldn't pay. The Scholarship
Fund helps those unable to pay. We raise funds throughout the year to
help kids get the support and programming they need. How
does the Center help kids? Once kids experience success, you
see a great deal of negative behavior disappear. For many of them, school
has been a punitive experience. They're left asking, "Why can't I get
this? What's wrong with me?" and that leads to other problems. Our coaching and mentoring programs help kids see what's
been giving them a hard time in the first place; their problems belong
to them, but so do their solutions. We do this by providing diagnostic
testing to determine specific learning problems. We also provide preventative
alcohol and drug abuse counseling, academic tutoring and individual and
group counseling for kids and their families.
We also provide the opportunity for young people to be
mentored by a positive role model in the community to gain real world
experience. We've had CEOs showing kids what it takes to make it in business,
companies giving kids job training and a chance to advance, and meetings
with sports or entertainment personalities to hear how they got to where
they're at. Other times, mentoring kids has meant someone committing to
spending time with a kid, getting to know what they're all about and exposing
the kid to new things. We tailor-make programs that suit where kids are
coming from and where they want to go.
What
makes your approach unique? I tell parents that we don't lecture, we don't preach,
we don't sermonize - but we do listen. We look at the whole picture and
tell it like it is to them and to their children. I don't sit across from
kids and do the old clinical thing where I say 'what's your problem?'
Why would a young person listen to me if I say the same things as mom
and dad? We establish a relationship and trust. Our uniqueness comes in building trust and respect with
kids. Once they get here, they get to try things they may not normally
try, like doing homework and jobs. A lot of these young people are not
risk-takers. We get them to feel self-confident in school and in holding
down jobs. If you're feeling good about your yourself, you will get better
at life.
How
does working with a mentor help kids? Mentors help young people see the real-world applications
of what they're learning in school, and gives them a sense of their purpose
and value in the world. This helps focus a kid's direction in school,
provides them with valuable job skills and contacts, as well as help get
kids feeling good about themselves through positive interactions.
Where
does the Center find mentors? We utilize resources in the community. Anyone can help,
from business people to athletes and politicians. Anyone willing to take
the time to talk to children can be trained to be a mentor. Many professionals
I've met with over the years had to overcome great adversity to arrive
at success. These people don't lecture kids, but they show them by example.
We're always looking for new mentors for kids, from all
levels of society with all different types of backgrounds and experiences.
Just as kids are all uniquely valuable and talented so too are all mentors.
The Center provides training and orientation to make sure a good match
is created, and monitors mentorship participants closely. Working together,
mentoring is mutually rewarding!
Children and teens are forced to grow up faster today
then ever before. There's a far greater pressure on them to succeed and
far more serious obstacles for them to overcome. Drug abuse is a major difference, but so too is the amount
of violence occurring in our society on a daily basis. Community, in many
places, is just a foreign concept. Young people too often become isolated
and fall prey to negative influences without anyone noticing the problem
until it's too late.
Why
are kids so drawn to violence? Everybody wants to point the finger of blame, but quite
frankly, we live in a violent society. I'm talking about a society where
violence is almost an acceptable form of behavior. Young people emulate
that behavior. Kids need to feel included in society so they don't feel
excluded from the world around them and act out against it. By the time
a kid has been drawn into violent behavior many people have misunderstood
that kid and also missed the chance to create a positive influence in
his or her life.
What
signs indicate a kid is in trouble? Parents, teachers and adults need to look and listen.
If you're doing all the talking to a young person you're missing the point
of what they're saying to you. Obviously, underachieving in school, getting
involved in drug and alcohol abuse or getting on the wrong side of the
law are big red flags. But so too are signs of low self-esteem and lack
of confidence; these are telltale signs of isolation and insecurity. How
do you advise parents to handle "problem" kids? Love your children for who they are. Spend time with them.
Be supportive and encouraging. Don't be too quick with judgment or advice.
Parents need to love their own kids, but they also need
to love their kids' friends. They need to give guidance and support wherever
they can. Relationships to kids are as important as location is in real
estate. Is
The Education Center method applicable at home, in school? The Center's approach is one-on-one listening and sharing
of advice. Above all, young people need a lot of support and attention,
from both parents and teachers. Our approach to each child is different.
Parents or teachers can't have just one set of rules or guidelines for
dealing with kids. They need to be flexible, open-minded and creative.
I think parents need to turn off the television and get
involved in their children's lives. The remote control switch can't instill
values, confidence or educate; but parents can. School needs to feel more
like a place where students aren't just passing through for eight hours
a day. Kids should feel that school is the center of the community, and
that they can express themselves freely, and not get lost in the shuffle.
How
many kids have participated in the programs? In more than twenty years, the Center has helped thousands
of kids and thousands of families. Who
has the responsibility to change a kid's life? Everyone has a responsibility. We do, the parents do and
so does the kid. If everyone works in a collaborative effort then we will
see results. It makes more sense to give young people the skills they
need now then to lock them up and pay $30,000 a year for their maintenance.
Every child can be successful in school and in life.
E-mail: info@theeducationcenter.org