Month: January 2020

President Trump is teaching our children.

~ Ann Policelli Cronin ~ Leave a comment

 

 

The 7th grade field trip at The Connecticut Science Center was over. The bus arrived to bring the class back to their school. The kids were lined up to board the bus. Two boys, Mike and Pete, broke out of the line and, bumping into each other, ran to the back of the bus. When they arrived there, they began to argue.

Mike: Pete, it’s my turn to sit in the back seat of the bus. You had the back seat on the last field trip.

Pete: Tough luck, Misfit Mikey. You don’t get a turn because you’re a fat slob, dumb as they come, and nobody, nobody at all, likes you.

Mike stood up to push Pete out of the way.

Pete:  You touch me, Misfit Mikey, and, when we get off the bus, me and my three  friends will get you on the walk home. We’ll make you wish you’d never talked to me

Mr. Smith, their teacher, ran down the aisle of the bus and separated the two boys and began to talk to them.

Mr. Smith: I don’t care whose turn it is to sit in the back of the bus. There’s something more important going on here. Pete,  you’ve lost your chance for the seat. What’s important here is how you are treating someone else in the class. Calling someone names is always wrong.  And it’s always wrong to threaten people because they don’t agree with you. Who would do that?  What kind of a grown-up will you be if you call people names and  bully them?

Pete: Who could I be, Mr. Smith? Well, I could be the President of the United States of America, that’s who. He does that. I saw two of his tweets the other day.

One tweet said: Our case against lyin’, cheatin’, liddle’ Adam “Shifty” Schiff, Cryin’ Chuck Schumer, Nervous Nancy Pelosi, their leader, dumb as a rock AOC, & the entire Radical Left, Do Nothing Democrat Party, starts today at 10:00.  

The other tweet said: Shifty Adam Schiff is a CORRUPT POLITICIAN, and probably a very sick man. He has not paid the price, yet, for what he has done to our Country!

If the President of the United States can insult people in Congress and bully the one he’s the most angry at, then why can’t I?

It must OK, Mr. Smith, or people wouldn’t let him be President. Right, Mr. Smith? But what do you know, Mr. Smith? You’re a terrible, hideous teacher and everyone hates you and you dress like a dork and you can’t even run fast down the aisle of this stupid bus.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

As the song says “Teach your children well….and feed them on your dreams.” Our children become what they see. Our children become what we dream for them.

We must dream kindness for them. We must dream decency for them, We must dream maturity for them. We must dream a President other than Donald Trump for them.

 

 

Mothers, Make A Phone Call Today

~ Ann Policelli Cronin ~ Leave a comment

 

 

Today, let’s each of us call the office of one Republican senator and ask the question: “Why would an innocent man and you as a jurist interested in the truth not want all the evidence out and all the witnesses to testify? Wouldn’t you if you were innocent?”

Tom Friedman explains why that simple question is what we must ask now. 

For millions of mothers to ask that question now of senators will save our republic from shame and disgrace and could even save the republic itself. It can allow us to prove that we still have a government with three equal branches and that the U.S. Constitution is still the foundation of that government.

We bring up our children to tell the truth, to know right from wrong, to admit it when they have done something wrong, and to face the consequences of their actions.

We can’t hold up as role model for our children a President of the United States who doesn’t tell the truth and has made 16,241 false or misleading claims (what we moms call lies) in his first three years in office, who bribes a leader of another country with money appropriated by Congress for his own person gain and thinks it “perfect”, who has absolutely no sense of right and wrong, and who will destroy any institution in our society, such as the Justice Department, the intelligence agencies and the free press, instead of admitting he is wrong and taking the consequences.

We can’t hold up as role models for our children senators who turn a blind eye to all of this because they condone what we tell our children in wrong.

Call a Republican senator today and insist that the senator act in the way we can hold up to our children as honorable. Leave a message asking the senator to vote to call witnesses and admit documents to the impeachment hearing so that we have a fair trial, so that our government functions as the Founding Fathers intended, and so that our government functions as we tell our children is right and good.

 

Call An End To Closing The Achievement Gap

~ Ann Policelli Cronin ~ Leave a comment

 

We hear so often, including from the new Connecticut Commissioner of Education, that the most important goal for K-12 education is to close the achievement gap. Well, what if it isn’t? What if that goal to have students affected by poverty and racism achieve standardized test scores as high as students of privilege is not only an impossible goal, because standardized test scores are correlated with family income, but one that is damaging to all K-12 students in this country?

Equating achievement with high standardized test scores does a terrible injustice to all of our children. What if we gave up on closing the achievement gap and gave up on standardized testing? What then could our schools look like?

A picture of what those elementary, middle, and high schools could look like is provided by James Hatch, a first year student at Yale who is a 52 years old retired Navy SEAL, covered with tattoos and accompanied by a service dog. Read his story here. 

James Hatch began his college education afraid of the academic competition from his classmates but left that behind when he became engaged in shared inquiry with a broad range of learners and was encouraged by a professor to recognize his own good mind and not see himself in competition with other students. He developed an appreciation for the diversity of experiences that the other students brought to class discussions and valued their questions and their passion. Through both the subject matter of his classes and interactions with his classmates, he began to think in new ways and see the world differently. He determined his life’s goal – to lead by building bridges between those who are different. He was transformed by his education.

From my experience as a teacher and an administrator in elementary, middle, and high schools, I know that we can offer that kind of education to all of our students. In grades kindergarten through grade 12, students can be taught to learn in collaboration with others so that they see that there is more than one perspective or one interpretation. They can be taught to question rather than merely to answer so that they become deep and innovative thinkers. They can see themselves as learners and thinkers because that is what their teachers encourage them to be. They can develop skills that lead them to believe in themselves. They can fall in love with learning. They can be transformed.

But none of that will happen if the students’ learning is measured by standardized tests. And none of this will happen if closing the achievement gap is the national goal.