A Confused Conundrum of Critical Questions

September 7, 2010

I met the mother of one young student.  Dressed in a burqa, her sudden presence reminded me that the student is Muslim.  What that means for the young person, I do not know.  I never asked and the topic never came up in conversation save once.

This young girl participated in a small focus group I created to track the learning (or lack thereof) of the broader participating student population. During one of our interview sessions, one student asked if I would be here during Christmas.  As we discussed the holiday, I asked what each does to celebrate. That’s when the group of 6 students told me their religious affiliation; two Christians, one Muslim and three Hindu.  Although the information changed nothing at the moment nor in our conversation, it got me thinking.

First. Each day the news fills us with details of people (which ones? How many?) who protest against a mosque being built near the area where the World Trade Towers once stood.  The protests sometimes take on vicious tones of ‘Why do we allow a temple to murders to be erected near the hallowed ground of the murdered?’

Second. For the past two and a half months I have worked with such mixed groups of children, guiding them to explore a mythological history represented in archaeological sites through drama techniques.  But who’s history is represented?  It is one stream of history that makes up this multifarious country which I temporarily call home.  So, again, who’s history? The Gods and characters represented come from a Hindu tradition, but the children have said to me that it is good to know these mythologies ‘for us and for the people who visit here.’ No student seems to believe he or she has more or less claim to that history.

Third. What about these words, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

Fourth. Regularly we read of the deterioration of the public school system in the US.  Despite repeated attempts to perform triage on the system, fundamentals seem to be left behind in the determined, nay, obsessive need to strong-arm children into focusing on Reading, Writing, Math and Science. And, oddly, I agree with that focus, but not the approach. Education is stifling in its attempt to teach KNOWLEDGE, but not UNDERSTANDING.  What we learn in school is to accept what others, authority figures, tell us is the truth or the answer.  We learn to suck that in and spit it back out, to then be praised for our ‘ability’ to ape what we see, hear and are taught.  To think is almost a foreign process in school. To analyze, question and come to our own understanding and belief.  If we don’t question, do we get swept up with the crowd? To demonize that which disagrees with our truth?

Fifth. As I watch children develop the capacity for cooperative and collaborative learning and working, I marvel at how they find great joy in discovering how much they can benefit from each other.  Their ideas are infectious, their joy like a potent virus spreading through the room.  Their willingness to help each other and to celebrate the success of their peers comes from their shared commitment to common goals and understanding of what obstacles each faced from similar experiences.  But this is not about tolerance, this is about empathy, about knowing each other from the inside and respecting each other’s deserved right to joy and success.

Sixth considers a choice. I wonder why a priest would want to burn the Quran?

Seventh is a question. At what point does the child who plays nicely with a neighbor, be the neighborhood on the same street or across the globe, develop the capacity to demonize that same neighbor? Who teaches this? How does that method of teaching help children achieve or the world progress?

Since I am not very talented in math, I leave it to you to calculate the answer to the mathematical conundrum of these pieces. I will continue my journey of understanding the child’s perspective.