Public Schools and Drug Use

Public school culture is fairly similar even amidst ethnically and geographically diverse schools. For example, there is prohibition of classroom prayer. Students and school staff must maintain a professional and platonic relationship at all times. Any student or school staff engaging in illegal behaviors must be reported. These are just some things that every public school must do or else face potential legal problems. That being said, the culture in the school can be split up into subcultures where the differences can clearly be seen.

Cultural context has always been an important area to examine. Organizations often have their own sub-culture demonstrated by the ones working there. An example is corporate culture. Each company has its own corporate culture and corporate cultures often develop as an ethos generated and maintained by images, ritual, symbols, and social processes. "Rituals are often embedded in the formal structure of the organization, as in the case of the president's weekly staff meeting, the real function .. some form of peace with each other" (Morgan, 2006, p. 52).

The school has a culture among its student population. The inner-city school has students that experience poverty and exist within the 'drug culture'. Meaning, impoverished students engage in risky behaviors like selling drugs in order to potentially escape their life of struggle. The teachers and principal of the school may not come from the inner-city. Many in fact come from a different state and moved to the inner-city for work. Their experiences translate to a different culture that is not exposed to the realities that the student culture face.

Furthermore, there's a desired level of professionalism and decorum that must be maintained. This also translates to a different culture within the organization and marked differences from the students and the school staff. Although some similarities exist between populations, they marked differences are what separate the two. Getting people to collaborate and organize so the school can meet the same goal can be difficult. "The main problem that systems theory tries to solve is the problem of complexity.

The notion of complexity is very often correlated to variables such as entropy and energy, organization and disorganization and others that eventually converge to comprehensibility or incomprehensibility" (Mavrofides, Kameas, Papageorgiou, & Los, 2011, p. 353). However, because schools work towards objectives the majority of the time, it is easier than with other organizations. One common goal is to help every child achieve a high quality education.

Students like James who performed well in the past and then struggled due to drug addiction, require additional services that a school staff member would need to collaborate with external sources in order to achieve. School protocols, policy, and rules help make that process smoother because the tools and information are given to make informed decisions. Generating awareness through making information available is an important way to reach consensus in an organization.

When people know about an issue or all the information related to an objective, it is much easier to communicate about how the objective can be met. By increasing awareness, there is also a chance to increase engagement. When people engage more, they are more willing to do what is necessary to reach consensus. Ultimately, policy and information availability play a big role in consensus. People must be informed and know what is expected of them and what to do, in order to agree on a resolution or objective.

Schools have systems in place that provide that with some schools experiencing a lower or higher degree of implementation. The current need for consensus is how to combat drug addiction and drug-related behavior among the student population of the school. My role is that of facilitator. I help students bridge the gap with their parents or other school staff members. If one were to examine General Systems Theory (GST) the emphasis tends to be on exchanges. "A fundamental notion of general systems theory is its focus on interactions.

The center in relationships lead to sustain that the behavior of a single autonomous element is different from its behavior when the element interacts with other elements" (Mele, Pels, & Polese, 2010, p. 127). By acting as a facilitator, my 'exchanges' with students encourage a different outcome. Some behaviors from students can lead to negative results, such as was seen with the case of James. With my role serving as a means of engagement and communication, it makes it easier for students like James to reach out.

Although actual job description is teacher, I can also serve the temporary role of counselor. The differences are not many. Good teacher encourage communication among their students. By encouraging students to voice any concerns they have, that is serving a role similar to that of a.