By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — For Faris Elementary Principal James Moffett, getting kids, especially those who may have had trauma at home or elsewhere in their lives, to do what they need to in order to succeed is different than it was when he was in school.
"In the schools that I went to, everything was very fear and compliance-based," Moffett said. "We did things, we comply with our teachers, our principals, because we fear them. We're trying to make a shift from fear and compliance to love and compassion. Just getting kids to a point where they are doing the things that we're asking them to do because they know that we love them and we would never ask them to do anything that would harm them."
The thought is that students are people, too, and they deserve to be acknowledged, even as you ask them to do the right thing.
"Really, it's just about treating people the way that you want to be treated," Moffett said. "That's the Golden Rule that you learned as a kid. Just practices that are based in empathy, based in love, based in compassion. That's where we're really focusing on. That's the highlight of what we do every single day at Faris. I know lots of schools in USD 308 take a similar approach. I'm excited to be part of that."
A big key is the world seems to be moving faster for each generation, but children need to know people care and will spend time with and for them.
"Parents are just busier," Moffett said. "They are working two jobs, sometimes three jobs. They have a lot going on. It's not that they love their kids any less, they are just not always there to invest the amount of time that we have previously. There's just different demands on their time. I don't know that kids have truly changed that much, I just think their interactions have become less and less. It's just about putting an emphasis on just quality time and care and concern in the way that we treat kids."
Moffett is an expert on trauma-informed practices and speaks across the country on how to communicate openly and effectively with kids and parents.
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