Looking at our children, we often wonder how they will be able to deal with the intense challenge they face, issues including unemployment, poverty and injustice. Will our children be “history-shapers” or will they fade into the background?

Grace Academy of Napa Valley recently hosted a Speech and Debate conference for the Institute of Cultural Communicators to help address these issues. The ICC operates from Murfreesboro, Ten., and travels throughout the nation conducting conferences reclaiming the lost art of cultural communication. The focus of the Napa conference was in not only cultivating the art of public speaking and debate in children from an early age, but also creating a local chapter for ICC.

Historically, public school students were expected to speak with confidence and clarity in any public setting. Students from the age of 6 were prepared for the podium, and their communicative skills sharpened throughout their scholastic years. By the time they graduated from high school, they would be equipped to address and debate issues of the day.

However, the trend in our age has been to withdraw children from the public sphere and shield them from issues of the day. The saying, “Children should be seen and not heard” remind us of how society has silenced our children. Children now seem to be deprived of a public voice, and a platform to express themselves. Children now have to re-learn the basics of speech and debate; which is logical and persuasive communicative skills.

The challenges for parents and teachers begin at helping our children regain their confidence and overcome their inherent shyness to speak in public. The ICC aims to reclaim these “neglected skills” of effectively communicating in the public arena. There are plans to establish a ICC chapter in Napa that will help teachers, parents and children reclaim the art of public speaking and debate. Individuals interested in becoming part of the Napa chapter of ICC may contact Trina at trenamad@yahoo.com or 226-1699.