Back to School

It's amazing how quickly a well-intentioned goal can become sidelined when late August rolls around.  I had every intention of blogging about the many books I've read over the last month, but unfortunately back-to-school meetings and plans, along with last-minute getaways and family vacations, interfered. So now I will attempt to play catch up!

I have been dying to write about the following book since I read it in early August. The memoir, called It Happened on the Way to War: A Marine's Path to Peace, was the most inspiring book I read all summer. I heard about it from a graduating senior on one of the final days of last school year. I had mentioned that our department was contemplating a "One Book One School" program, which was exactly what her university was doing. This was the book she was to read over the summer before her freshman year at college.

The most intriguing aspect of this book, by Rye Barcott (@ryebarcott), is the dichotomy between the author's passion for the U.S. military and his commitment to peacefully reconciling ethnic violence, particularly in areas of Africa. His desire to maintain peace in the world--shaped in large part by his anthropology professor mother and his Vietnam vet father--drives him to simultaneously enroll in the ROTC program and pursue an independent research project, which involves semi-annual trips to Kiberia, the largest slum in Kenya.

Throughout the approximately ten-year span of the book, Barcott details his experiences in the U.S., Kenya, Somalia, and Iraq. He describes the extreme patriotism he feels for his country, as well as the compassion he feels for the residents of Kiberia. He emphasizes the importance of helping the poor, downtrodden members of society by empowering them to begin their own community outreach programs, clinics, and small businesses so as to increase a sense of responsibility and ownership within the residents of these communities. Barcott also believes in the necessity of a strong military in order to maintain peace and order throughout the world.

The path to peace is not easy for Barcott, and his relationships and investments do not always go as planned. On several occasions he literally and figuratively falls on his face in his efforts to achieve high military honors and large-scale humanitarian efforts simultaneously. One of his most significant obstacles is fundraising and selecting the best local projects in which to invest. He is at times misunderstood by his fellow Marines and does not always attain top honors in his military trainings as he aspires to do. In Kiberia, an area ruled in large part by gang violence as the Kenyan police find it too dangerous to enter, Barcott--the only white person in Kieberia on most occasions--must learn the appropriate greetings and ways of life as to not be targeted by the gang leaders.

What Barcott achieves by the age of 30 is remarkable and inspiring to anyone who reads it. Incoming college students are a prime audience, since the memoir largely describes the author's accomplishments throughout his late teens and twenties. Nevertheless, this book could certainly be a One Book One School selection for a high school population, too. Students reading at a middle school reading level might have some difficulty with the book's somewhat sophisticated writing style, which I would estimate to be written at about a 10th or 11th grade reading level. Reluctant readers might be turned off by the book's length (352 pages).  However, if these students have any interest in poverty, the military, or human rights, the intriguing subject matter might be all they need to persevere through the challenging spots.  Low readers could also read excerpts or perhaps an easier text with similar themes.

Finally, It Happened on the Way to War: A Marine's Path to Peace would be an excellent text to read in conjunction with a service project or a volunteer assignment. When you close the final pages of the book, you will certainly feel an overwhelming desire to make a difference in the world.

Teaching Kids to Tweet Responsibly!

The ongoing Olympic games have been impressive, breathtaking, and record-breaking. But perhaps the most intriguing and unexpected record of all involves the incredible number of people tweeting about Olympic events. According to Bluefin Labs, during the opening ceremonies alone, athletes, spectators, and journalists issued 5 million tweets mentioning the Olympics. Twitter claims that number is in the 10 million range. Regardless, we can only assume that just as many tweets will be tweeted (I'm starting to feel a bit ridiculous using this terminology) throughout the duration of the games.  

These tweets are mostly informative and upbeat, showing a world united through its love of friendly competition. Unfortunately, however, a few athletes have not shared in this spirit of sportsmanship.  

On July 25th, two days before the opening ceremonies, a 23-year-old female Greek triple jumper was expelled from the Olympics for this tweet: “With so many Africans in Greece... the West Nile mosquitoes will at least eat homemade food!!!”

Only a few days later a 23-year-old Swiss soccer player was banned for derogatory tweets about his opponents. Translated, his tweet read, "I want to beat up all South Koreans. Bunch of mentally handicapped retards."

With one more week of the Olympics to go, I can only hope that the remaining athletes have learned a lesson from these fallen heroes and will start filtering their thoughts and words before tweeting them.

Not only do these examples illustrate the necessity of teaching kids to use social media responsibly, a task which should be shared by parents and teachers alike, it also shows a need to teach kids to be compassionate towards others, to accept others' differences, and to be good sports.

I've had several students involved in the Best Buddies program at school attempt to educate their classmates about the negative effects of using the word "retard" or "retarded" to mean "stupid."  I've taken up their cause and have spoken to students who use this epithet, explaining the guilty remorse I felt the time I used the word in front of a classmate whose brother really did suffer from developmental delays. I've had similar discussions with students who use the words "gay" and "fag" to mean "stupid" and "loser."

This past summer, as I was walking into my school, a colleague noticed that I had a bag of arts and crafts supplies from a local teacher supply store and asked if I was planning a fun project with my class. I grumbled to her that I was making a large, colorful sign that said "THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK" to hang in my classroom since I had one class in particular that seemed to lack filters. Her take on this issue, which she also had experienced, was that due to Facebook, Twitter, and other social media, students have a false impression that everything they think is so important that it requires publishing. Nothing supports her argument more than the recent Twitter follies committed by (young) Olympians. 

Not only do students need to be instructed on how to effectively filter their thoughts into coherent and respectful sentences, they also must be required to overcome tendencies to act in a prejudiced manner towards those who come from backgrounds different than their own. Educating my fairly homogenous students about other cultures within the confines of my curriculum has been an important component of my teaching for the length of my career. For instance, when studying Greek mythology, I've also required students to read myths from Asian and African cultures. When studying the French Revolution while reading A Tale of Two Cities, I've asked students to research slave rebellions and other revolutions that have occurred around the world. When reading A Separate Peace, I make sure students know the history of the Japanese internment camps when we discuss WWII, even though this has no direct relevance to the text. Does this take additional time? Yes. Do I have time to do all of these activities every year? No. But, I can't bear to imply to students that Greece is the only nation worthy of having its mythology read in schools, that France and America are the only countries who ever revolted against an oppressor, and that the Americans were unequivocally the "good guys" in WWII. 

Perhaps none of my attempts at teaching from this 'world perspective' have made a difference in most of my students' lives. But if even one of these lessons changed one student's tendency to speak without thinking or judge someone solely because of his or her nationality (gender, sexual orientation, religion, disability, etc.), my work will not have been in vain.  

The weird thing about the teaching profession is that I may never know for sure if my words and actions changed a student's behaviors or thoughts. What's weirder still? I'm okay with that, as long as I know I've tried my hardest to do my part to make the world a better place.  

For more ideas on teaching @tolerance_org, visit www.tolerance.org. 

For a lesson plan on using social media responsibly, visit teachtoday.edu or click here.