BEING WHO WE WANT OUR CHILDREN TO BECOME

This blog will resume after Labor Day , the traditional time when school began.I know teachers need that time to settle in and get their classes headed in the direction needed. Good luck to you and your students and welcome back.THe blog will have varied features this year as we continue to experiment with what works best for teachers and Americans Who Tell the Truth.

  When students witness the tragedy of the Gulf Coast and  ponder it, feelings of hopelessness and helplessness can fill them and us both to the brim. Here is Sue Coe’s portrait with an important quote.  Sharing this can remind us of the incredible good that abounds, even amidst horrors. And again, students of all ages should be directed to ACTION. Even gathering bottles of Dawn detergent for cleaning up those animals that can be saved can restore some sense of power and allow them to grieve for the loss at the same time.

  ”We despair for the fate of animals, the senseless cruelties inflicted upon them by our species, their and our own helplessness in the face of mass slaughter — all this is true. And if we could really see what we have done to the earth, we would go mad.

Alongside that is yet another truth: there is a palpable goodness all around us, even in the most terrible times, that all things point to, like the north star.”

Once again the gulf coast faces hardship  and once again, though in relationship to the natural world, the disaster created by humans and the lack of accountability in relation to resources/ protection of nature.What we and our students need when these things happen is something we can DO to help. Here is a posting listing suggestions for that. Some students will despair deeply at the results for wildlife and families whose livelihood depends on the gulf waters.For them ,especially, it will be important that they feel they can DO something.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/30/deepwater-horizon-oil-spi_n_558736.html 

From the incredible leader, Desmond Tutu, words to us about immigration , Arizona and the future of our country.An article to share, discuss and ponder for us all….

“I am saddened today at the prospect of a young Hispanic immigrant in Arizona going to the grocery store and forgetting to bring her passport and immigration documents with her. I cannot be dispassionate about the fact that the very act of her being in the grocery store will soon be a crime in the state she lives in. Or that, should a policeman hear her accent and form a “reasonable suspicion” that she is an illegal immigrant, she can — and will — be taken into custody until someone sorts it out, while her children are at home waiting for their dinner.

Equally disturbing is what will happen in the mind of the policeman. The police talk today about how they do not wish to, and will not, engage in racial profiling. Yet faced with the option of using common sense and compassion, or harassing a person who has done nothing wrong, a particularly sinister aspect of Arizona’s new immigration law will be hanging over his head. He can be personally sued, by anyone, for failing to enforce this inhumane new act.

I recognize that Arizona has become a widening entry point for illegal immigration from the South. The wave has brought with it rising violence and drug smuggling.

But a solution that degrades innocent people, or that makes anyone with broken English a suspect, is not a solution. A solution that fails to distinguish between a young child coming over the border in search of his mother and a drug smuggler is not a solution.

I am not speaking from an ivory tower. I lived in the South Africa that has now thankfully faded into history, where a black man or woman could be grabbed off the street and thrown in jail for not having his or her documents on their person.

How far can this go? We lived it — police waking a man up in the middle of the night and hauling him off to jail for not having his documents on his person while he slept. The fact that they were in his nightstand near the bed was not good enough.

Of course if you suggested such a possibility today to an Arizona policeman he would be adamant that he would never do such a thing. And I would believe him. Arizona is a long way from apartheid South Africa.

The problem is, under the new law, the one or two who would do it are legitimized. All they have to say is that they believed that illegal immigrants were being harbored in the house. They would be protected and sanctioned by this law.

Abominations such as apartheid do not start with an entire population suddenly becoming inhumane. They start here. They start with generalizing unwanted characteristics across an entire segment of a population. They start with trying to solve a problem by asserting superior force over a population. They start with stripping people of rights and dignity - such as the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty - that you yourself enjoy. Not because it is right, but because you can. And because somehow, you think this is going to solve a problem.

However, when you strip a man or a woman of their basic human rights, you strip them of their dignity in the eyes of their family and their community, and even in their own eyes. An immigrant who is charged with the crime of trespassing for simply being in a community without his papers on him is being told he is committing a crime by simply being. He or she feels degraded and feels they are of less worth than others of a different color skin. These are the seeds of resentment, hostilities and in extreme cases, conflict.

Such “solutions” solve nothing. As already pointed out, even by people on the police force, Arizona’s new laws will split the communities, make it less likely that people in the immigrant communities will work with the police. They will create conditions favorable to the very criminals these laws are trying to disarm.

The Latinos in Arizona have not come to Arizona because they want to live in communities wracked with violence and crime. I would guess that the most recent arrivals have fled their border towns and the growing violence there as drug lords tightened their control of the communities. They want to live and raise their children in peace, just as you or I do.

I am certain that, given the chance, the leaders of the Latino immigrant communities in Arizona would enthusiastically work with the state to find constructive solutions to these problems. I am very sure that they would like, as much as others, to rid Arizona of the drug smugglers, human traffickers and other criminal elements infiltrating their communities.

We can only hope that this law will be thrown out of the courts in short order. I do not disagree with the calls to boycott the businesses in the state until it is turned around.

In the meantime, it has opened the door to some smart state leaders sitting down with the leaders of the Latino communities in Arizona and hammering out some solutions that actually work. Hopefully these solutions would recognize the difference between a drug smuggler and a man willing to stand outside a gas station in the hot sun for hours in the hopes that someone will give him some work for the day.

The problem of migrating populations is not going to go away any time soon. If anyone should know this, it should be Americans, many of whom landed here themselves to escape persecution, famine or conflict. With the eyes of the world now on them, Arizona has the opportunity to create a new model for dealing with the pitfalls, and help the nation as a whole find its way through the problems of illegal immigration. But to work, it must be a model that is based on a deep respect for the essential human rights Americans themselves have grown up enjoying. ”

 David Korten was recently added to the Americans Who Tell the Truth portrait series. During this time of debate and outrage at financial deeds and misdeeds, students might be at a loss, as are many of us, to know what to do.At the heart of the problems lie some essential questions that David Korten asks and explores. Students might find him both helpful and reassuring as they ask themselves these same things.What is wealth? - a starting point for discussion!Be sure to have students examine his portrait quote and AS IMPORTANT, the quote to reporters at the end of his biography about remaining joyful and creative while attempting to make change!

From Orion Magazine, essential questions and many other great resources for basing discussion, assignments and knowledge of the most important questions regarding the environment and our relationship to the earth.http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/education/item/3548/ From YES! magazine, Free downloadable posters or “for sale” versions that are great for classroom use:http://store.yesmagazine.org/images/poster_17rules_large.jpgA wonderful poster, either for sale or downloadable free from the site that describes 17 Rules for A Sustainable Community by Wendell Berry. A wonderful resource for the classroom and great beginning for conversation as students consider their own local habits and needs.http://store.yesmagazine.org/images/poster_noimpact_large.jpg Ten Ways to Change Your Life, Not Just Your Light Bulb! Great for personal change consideration. Have students share with the families and examine school areas related to the poster suggestions!http://store.yesmagazine.org/images/poster_everybodyeats_large.jpg Everybody Eats poster- how many of our students really understand the relationship between our food and the cycle that brings it to us? This is an important visual that can assist with the process. Students can create their own rendition after investigating the cycle that brings their food to the school cafeteria!http://store.yesmagazine.org/images/poster_jones_large.jpg The “Jones’ household reduces carbon over time. For older students this could be a basis for examining their own family’s relationship to the things shown on the poster. What a great project for them to create their own versions with family and display results. Or host a forum with displayed posters AND have families share ideas and results of the project using the poster as a starting point!

 I believe this Earth Day demands something much more compelling for students than what many have grown up understanding: recycling, energy efficiency , water issues, and so forth. Something more action oriented is needed and perhaps even jolting for much older students at the community college level. Thus, today I feature Derrick Jensen, whose writing is jarring , for some even too harsh. But I suggest it anyway , because the nature of the truth at times is that it is extreme. At times it alarms, worries or frightens us and when in those grips, he suggest action. Action moves fear into the realm of change. It reminds us that we have a choice in everything we do. He also suggests that personal changes might not be enough anymore. Read the article below with students. It will make for an excellent Earth Day conversation or writing prompt.Is personal change enough? http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/4801/ You can find other examples of his work in his regular column in Orion Magazine, a must-have resource for the classroom.Next, I call students’ attention to Winona LaDuke, someone whose work embodies exactly what Jensen wants from us. He poses the question and the call ; she answers .

 Today marks the centennial of the death of Mark Twain’s death. The quote Rob chose for his portrait seems more relevant now than ever. Why is this so? What do students feel about this and what can be done with the honest assessment of governance?I have also included an interview done with Mark Twain by Rudyard Kipling. Students will be able to read it and be transported! Both facinating literary giants! Many will be surprised to learn about Mark Twain’s political views!  A great addition to study of his work and a new lens from which to view it… http://www.scribd.com/doc/30250943/Rudyard-Kipling-s-Mark-Twain-Interview

I believe this op-ed will serve to make teachers feel honored, parents consider what’s at stake in their children’s schools and all of us , to pay attention! The writer speaks honestly about the realities of teaching today, the nature of how teachers are treated in public education, what’s needed for the future and how our children’s lives are compromised in school daily. Extremely effective piece about the concerns we face in education.http://www.truthout.org/in-defense-public-school-teachers-a-time-crisis58567 Truth teller James Baldwin is quoted here in his work directed at teachers. A relevant message, even today.ted here in his work directed at teachers. A relevant message, even today.

I love working on “myth busting” with students. I love it when my own beliefs about something are challenged and truths can emerge. Have students read the quote below and discuss how the media portrays these women, as suggested by Ms. Gbowee and who she says they really are!Can they take that further now and see that this is true in their immediate world as well? Who in their world deserves a Mythbuster statement!?Heres’ a BEAUTIFUL one for the classroom from Peace Is Loud. 

“I’m so tired of seeing photographs of depressed-looking African women with sagging breasts. I know from experience that African women can be absolute hell-raisers. We have no other choice.” 

Leymah Gbowee, the founder of Liberia’s infamous sex strike and new Daily Beast Africa columnist, on how women can raise havoc to end sexual violence in the Congo and beyond.

For older students and teachers …to read the full article : http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-04-05/its-time-to-end-africas-mass-rape-tragedy/