September 20, 2014
Ms Marilyn Atler
National Sexual Violence Resource Center
123 North Enola Dr.
Enola, PA 17025
Dear Ms Atler
The NFL and the National Sexual Violence Resource Center have a unique opportunity now to redirect the spotlight of attention from individual instances of domestic violence to the general lack of education on family health. The No Child Left Behind law requires teachers to drill students in reading, writing, and arithmetic to the exclusion of other subjects of equal or even more importance. As a result, American kids tend to graduate from high school with adequate academic skills, but inadequate human skills. They don’t know how to discipline children or resolve disputes with partners or foster healthy families. The NFL and the NSVRC are in the spotlight now, but the problem is common throughout society. And who could be surprised? If we don’t teach kids how to function as partners and parents, how can we expect them to acquire these skills? I urge you to seize this moment to direct attention to where it is needed, i.e., on the social inadequacy of American education, and I offer my services. I have extensive experience in family matters and would be happy to develop a course that might be offered to the NFL and could serve as a model for similar courses that could be offered to all students in all schools. I enclose an op-ed on this topic. Thanks for considering.
Sincerely,
Doug Dix, Ph.D., Professor, and
Secretary/Treasurer of MOMS: The Fund for Mothers with Young Children
Dix@hartford.edu
Sent also to National Domestic Violence Hotline, National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and Jonathan Alger, President, James Madison University
Reply to Dix@hartford.edu