When I was eight years old, learning to maneuver and pin a cloth diaper around my baby brother felt monumental. I didn’t like rinsing soiled diapers in the toilet before adding them to the nearby pail, but I never lacked warm water to wash my hands afterward. A sink, plus a tub/shower combination, were steps away. Our family of eight—and later ten—shared that single bathroom, mostly without complaint. My best friend, Re-Re, lived one block away in a home with two bathrooms. She had twelve in her family though, so a second lavatory seemed well deserved.
I was reminded of my idyllic childhood while reading about Xóchitl Guadalupe Cruz, a third grader in Chiapas, Mexico. Families in her community relied upon trees as a source of fuel to heat water for bathing. A seasoned science fair competitor, Xóchitl created a solar-powered apparatus that, in addition to heating water for her family and others, conserved trees. The Nuclear Sciences Institute at Mexico’s Autonomous University recognized her for her invention which could positively impact lives worldwide.
Cheers to Xóchitl Guadalupe Cruz. As O. Delgado wrote: “If this is what Xóchitl is doing at eight, we can only imagine what the future holds.” Her story and others, like that of Sweden’s Greta Thunberg who is crossing the Atlantic Ocean by sailboat to speak at the UN Climate Action Summit in September, bring me hope for the preservation of our Mother Earth. (View Greta’s sailing updates here.)
Seventy-six voices, garnered from 2009 to 2016, weave a rich collection of witnessing, connecting, remembering, waking, recognizing, acting, nurturing, and growing. “These true tales, our sisters’ voices, link us and can lead us forward,” writes Susan F. Schoch, editor.
Susan Witting Albert adds, “But while these stories are grounded in the daily realities of individual lives, they tell us a communal story. . . . At SCN [Story Circle Network], we say that every woman has a hundred stories to tell, and they are all true.”
I am about to witness my first birth. I am twenty; my patient and her husband are eighteen. “Childbirth 1977”
Humbled and honored to be part of the tapestry of SCN’s latest book.
This Promise from a first and second grade multiage class fills me with hope. Their collective words—penned in a public school classroom two miles from my home—demonstrate a culture of collaboration, creativity, and community.
I hope for equity in our cities, state, country, and world. I hope that our United States will be the welcoming country embodied by the Statue of Liberty. I hope that those tasked with reconciling revenue deficits and funding for essential services will embrace this spirit of collaboration. Most of all, I hope that sharing this Promise from thoughtful, kind, courageous six- to eight-year-old leaders will inspire each of us, particularly elected officials, to model their words.
Missoula held a screening of “Race to Nowhere” during the Replace the Race Nationwide, March 2014 campaign, thanks to the Missoula Forum for Children and Youth, MCCHD Suicide Prevention, MCCHD Tobacco Prevention, Potomac School District No. 11 and United Way of Missoula County.
This powerful documentary about our education system and its challenges presented much food for thought. As I sat in the darkened theater, I was moved by the film and its message and jotted down the following:
The Blessing of a Skinned Knee
Six hours of homework a night. Plus soccer.
Looks good for colleges.
He is all about learning to take tests.
People get caught up in the race to nowhere.
Kids are our leaders. Without creativity, they are not going to be prepared to lead us.
Play is a critical part of a child’s growing mind and growing body.
Blue Man Group founder: “Why can’t we have happiness as important a metric as reading skills?”
What does it take to produce a happy, motivated, creative human being?
“If every day there wasn’t homework, he would love school.” Mother of a 4th grader (in response to a special “no homework” day).
There were numerous gut-wrenching comments I didn’t write down. A fourth grader talking about stress-induced stomach aches. A high school student saying she didn’t eat because, by not eating, she could concentrate so much better. Conversations about drug use—Adderall to stay up, sedatives to come down; about cutting; about not sleeping, or sleeping only a few hours; about over-scheduled students of all ages; about suicide; about stress-related ER visits and hospital admissions; and about teacher burnout. It was heartbreaking to hear passionate, skilled educators speak about the pressures to teach toward test results, critical thinking skills be damned. Sadly, but understandably, our system is pushing some of these educators out.
Students spoke about the stresses imposed upon them by parents, by teachers, by the pursuit of admission to “top schools.” I was reminded of a conversation I had with my younger son at the beginning of his sophomore year. “Why don’t you join Key Club? It’d look good on college applications,” I said, certain the latter would be a selling point. He replied, “How many times are you going to tell me that?” I made a silent pledge that would be the last.
And it was.
According to a recent Washington Post article, “Local [McLean, VA] school board representative Jane Strauss says she is routinely contacted by parents asking how to prepare their 2-year-olds for a test to get into the Advanced Academic Program for gifted students in third grade.”
Is this what we want for our kids?
I don’t think so.
I do know this. When seniors come into our high school library to get signed off this June, I won’t be asking, “What’s on your horizon?” I don’t want them to think I’m assigning values to their lives-beyond-high-school. And whether they’ll be taking time off; joining the workforce; or going to a community college, a state-funded university, a private or an Ivy League school; my wish for them will be the same. “Congratulations. Take good care.”
