Actually, it is who we are

 Actually, it is who we are.

 

After every event of egregious violence, whether it is the recent attack on our Nation’s Capitol, the rampage in Charlottesville championing White supremacy, or the looting and store burning when the Black Lives Matter marches get out of hand… someone will write a column or give a speech proclaiming that this is not who we are.  Well in point of fact- it is exactly who we are.  Every one of those instances of extreme, unacceptable behaviors were committed by Americans and that is who we are.  More people are incarcerated in the United States than in any other western democracy.  We have more guns than any other western democracy.  Sadly, violence from the very beginning of our nation found a happy home on our shores.

In many ways, ours is a double-edged sword.  One the one hand, we are more religious but less organized, less class-conscious, and more libertarian than our western democratic counterparts.  On the other hand, we are more violent and more indifferent to economic inequality.  We are among the most charitable of all people and often resentful of government assistance to those most in need.  As the King says in the King and I, “’tis a puzzlement”.

What can we do about this for our children.?  First of all, we must conquer the racial divide.  The United States is no longer majority white.   Latinos are the largest minority group.  It is confusing as to the traits white supremacy folks believe makes them supreme?   Based on their behaviors, it is certainly not intelligence, reasoning ability or problem solving.  Is it just that they think peach is a better color than black, brown, yellow or red?  Makes no sense.

The United States is exceptional even though we mess up mightily on a regular basis.  The fact remains that we are the longest existing democracy that still clings to the rule of law.  The 46^th President of the United States was inaugurated in a peaceful process that included many of the pre-pandemic traditions.  The inauguration happened even if Washington, D.C. was guarded by national guard troops and the insurrectionists got that they shouldn’t show up.  

Our children do not know these facts.   The news media binges on all the negative.  They grab defeat from the jaws of victory every time.  Evidently bad news sells better than the good stuff.

As educators we must teach our kids enough history and civics so they can be stalwarts against the misinformation and partial information that is proliferating.  Amanda Gorman, the very young poet laureate who read her poem at the January inauguration reminded us, “there is always light if only we are brave enough to see it.  If only we are brave enough to be it.”   We must teach our children to both see the light and be the light for the next generation.

Betcha you couldn't pass it!

 Betcha you couldn’t pass it

 

Immigrants need to pass a test in order to become citizens.   Native born Americans just need to be born in the States.  They still get to vote.   

Our schools have worried that we are not giving kids a rigorous education so all students  are taking algebra II, but not civics.   Doesn’t take a genius to figure out which content will be more useful!   

Events of the last few weeks have shown how little the average citizen knows about civics and how the government works, yet they get to protest, to vote and to spread information that is clearly false.

It is probably too late to fix adults.   I am not arguing for a return of tests for voters because we all know how that turned out as the tests were used to disenfranchise minority groups.  And those efforts continue to be in play in some states.

But, we are short changing our students if we do not teach them how a democracy functions.  As Winston Churchill said, “democracy is the worst form or government except for all other forms that have been tried from time to time”.   He was correct.

We live in a democracy and our young people need to understand that democracy is messy.  That is the downside. An authoritarian dictatorship is ever so more efficient. The dictator speaks and the people hear and obey.   Without knowing how a democracy functions our children will never learn why we tolerate the downside to get to the upside that is so much more relevant to our lives.   Unfortunately, it would be great if adults were required to get some sort of instruction as well, but I am not that much of a Pollyanna  to expect anything to come of that.

We can help the next generation.   Currently some states (including Maryland) require a course in government and an exit exam for the course.  That course itself is barely relevant because it asks students to memorize things that are not functional to their daily lives.  Why not make native born students pass the citizenship test in order to graduate high school?   Immigrant students in our high schools could wind up being their coaches.

What students need is a course in civics.  They need to know the functions of each branch of government, what each branch can do and what it cannot do.  They need to learn that rights have connected responsibilities and that when advocating for their rights they must engage in those responsibilities.  Kids need to know what the Constitution says citizens are guaranteed and what it does not guarantee.  Students need to be taught that the U.S. is a nation of laws- not men or women!  They need to learn that the Constitution is the bedrock of those laws.

One of the things we learned about getting people to stop smoking is that the dangers of smoking taught in school were often delivered to families by the kids.  Maybe if we required and tested for civics education children could educate adults, who I bet couldn’t pass the citizenship test!

Character Counts

 Character Counts

 

This past week our nation was rocked by behaviors that were both frightening and disgusting.   American citizens performed act of insurrection against our Capitol building and upon the elected officials of our government.  

The people who did these things while primarily white and male, came from all walks of life.  It is totally irrelevant what one's political beliefs are.  What is very relevant is exactly what the Vice-President of our country said, "violence does not solve problems".

 People are blaming Trump for the violence and in some ways he is certainly to blame. However, there is enough blame to go around.  Somewhere along the line, the thousands of people at that insurrection also need to be accountable for their behaviors.

When these adults were children where were the people who are responsible for teaching character- I’m looking at the adults in the lives of these children- parents, educators, clergy, community leaders.  Why were they not taught that freedoms are inexorably linked to responsibility?   Yes our Constitution guarantees free speech, but that free speech is not unfettered.   We cannot cry fire in a crowded room where there is not fire; and we cannot make threats to the physical safety of others.

We have allowed the character of too many of our citizens to be lost to corruption.  Corruption is the erosion of standards and principles and their replacement with baser motives like money and power.

What is most frightening of all is that we live in a capitalistic society where supply and demand rule the economy.   So it is also true that when there is a high demand for these outrageous behaviors, market incentive increases and we get more of the vile twisting of character to cater to ego rather than principle.

We need to teach our children both at home and in schools and in the community that there are yardsticks of good character and these yardsticks are not bent or shaved to meet ego needs of others.

Each time a person accepts an unacceptable behavior, we all move closer to the fire.  And one day as last week, we find ourselves in the flames and wonder how that happened.

It happened because we failed to say “NO” to the minor acts of indecency by our children, adults and particularly our “so called” leaders. And so each time we did not call the person out on a wrongful behavior, each time we did not exact a consequence for that behavior, the next act of indecency just got more indecent until you had an attempt at a full-scale insurrection.  And each of us became complacent in those terrible behaviors. 

Character counts and we cannot start too soon to teach that concept to our children.

Make this a year of CAN

 Make this a year of CAN

 

Not sure about you, but I am really tired of the 2020 and the year of CAN’T.   We can’t be in school, we can’t eat in restaurants, we can’t travel, we can’t gather with loved ones!   How much CAN’T can people put up with?   I am done.

2021 needs to be the year of CAN!

First of all, let’s get more kids back in schools.   We know that the schools have not been a significant spreader of the virus.  Schools can open safely.  We also know that even middle class kids are going to lose six months to a year of academic achievement and lower socio-economic kids are expected to lose a full year or more.  That is learning that will not be easily caught up.

We also know that kids with disabilities have a finite amount of time for their entitlement and there has been slim to none discussion about extending that time.  The learning loses for those kids will have life-long impact.

We CAN have a more positive attitude about what is happening.   Right now the positivity rate in Maryland is about 9.5%.  That is really high, but it also means that the NEGATIVETY rate is 90.5%.   Why don’t we announce that along with the positive rate.   My guess is because we are afraid that folks won’t take the danger seriously enough.  But there is a significant danger to the mental health of all of us with the constant drumbeat of negativity.  This situation is particularly true for kids who are showing increasing anxiety, either because they are reflecting how their families are feeling or because  they are so anxious themselves.   We CAN have a more positive attitude and we need to start cultivating that for all of us.

We CAN reach out to our neighbors and to our schools and offer to volunteer.  We CAN volunteer virtually.  There are kids who are learning online by themselves.  We CAN volunteer to coach them virtually either during instruction or later.

We CAN read to kids online.  We CAN help kids create a virtual social group besides school.  We CAN prioritize learning over other activities such as medical appointments and visits with family members.  Too many people are acting as if online learning is something to do when there aren’t other activities scheduled sort of like watching a streamed new episode on NetFlix.  

We all need a YEAR OF CAN.   And we each need to pitch in so we CAN!