Iraqtivism paints a broad stroke through academia – that is no surprise. And, though I generally decry the efforts of protesters of all sorts [because of their Alinsky-esque methods, not their messages], I honor that centuries-old American tradition of respecting free speech. Mixing Iraqtivism with 10 year olds in a public school? That’s a problem.
About a week ago, HumanEvents.com posted a letter
“Please bring our soldiers home!
They are our family.”
As HumanEvents points out, the schoolchildren just signed their name to the letter r
HumanEvents suggested that interested parties contact the school district’s curriculum director to weigh in on using children to accomplish political missions – and this is where it gets interesting.
Having written about and discussed the role of blogs in education [along with Part II], the issue of accountability – how much, the cost/benefit, etc. – pops up constantly. As I’ve also stated before, I try to make myself accountable and accessible as much as possible so that I might help alleviate that obnoxious problem of anonymity in the blogosphere [though I do recognize that many in education need to stay anonymous for a host of reasons, and they are excused].
I also dislike idle whining in the blogosphere. Whereas pointing fingers at wrongs is entertaining and informative, there’s little sense in having an opinion on a serious issue if you aren’t going to do something about it. So, I wrote the following letter to Kenai Peninsula’s Ms. Doris Cannon, Director of Elementary Education, Curriculum and Assessment:
Matthew K. Tabor
XXXX XXXXXX XX
Cooperstown, New York 13326June 10, 2007
Ms. Doris Cannon
Director of Elementary Education, Curriculum and Assessment
Kenai Peninsula Borough School District
148 N. Binkley
Soldotna, Alaska 99669 Dear Ms. Cannon,
The purpose of public education in the United States has evolved from the most rudimentary efforts by the early settlers to our current comprehensive system that offers support and opportunities from pre-school through doctoral study in public universities. There is, necessarily, a great deal of debate over what effective education is; even so, over the last four hundred years, through refined values, practices, and legal statutes to back them up, citizens of the United States have reached consensus regarding what it is not.
Freedom from indoctrination on the public dime is one such value that is a strength of our education system – when it is honored. Ms. Jan Bobek’s recent class project, a letter on playful stationary pleading, “Please bring our soldiers home! / They are our family.” was signed by her students and sent to Washington (and, oddly enough, received by a United States Congressman located outside the bounds of Alaska). Ms. Bobek is entitled to any opinion she sees fit regarding our country’s foreign and domestic policy. She is not, however, entitled to burdening a class of 10-year old fifth graders with executing her political will.
I am sure that Ms. Bobek was blinded by good intentions as she channeled her commitment to social justice through her young students; I have a difficult time imagining that she executed a calculated attempt to leverage the childhood innocence of elementary school children for the purpose of achieving her own political goals. I would also like to believe that an elementary school teacher recognizes that political matters that divide a nation – and the international community – may be too complex for the mind of a child, especially those who are barely capable of proper penmanship when signing their own names. I can only hope that Ms. Bobek experienced a serious lapse in judgment, unaware of any negative consequences to the freedom and development of her charges, rather than wringing her hands in sinister delight at such an effective use of her pawns.
As Director of Elementary Education, Curriculum and Assessment, you have a responsibility to ensure that teachers in the Kenai Peninsula Borough Schools keep their commitment to education on a level appropriate for the children they teach – not political or social indoctrination. Ms. Bobek’s oversight here is shameful because it not only reflects poorly on the district, but also because the action may prove harmful to her students by undermining family values and creating internal dissonance in young, vulnerable minds. Simply put, this cannot happen again.
Though I am troubled by Ms. Bobek’s decision to involve such young children in a contentious, complex issue that she chose to distill unfairly down to nine words, I have not entirely lost faith in Soldotna E
lementary’s civics education; both Tyler Morgan and Mary had the sense to pen a bombastic signature in the tradition of John Hancock. I wish you and all your students, current and future, the best. If I can do anything to aid your district, I am available via the methods indicated below.
Sincerely,
Matthew K. Tabor
Cooperstown, New York[signature]
mktabor@gmail.com
www.matthewktabor.comcc: Ms. Jan Bobek, Soldotna Elementary School
Ms. Carolyn Cannava, Principal, Soldotna Elementary School
Dr. Donna Peterson, Superintendent of Schools, Kenai Peninsula Borough School District
Mr. Glen Szymoniak, Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Kenai Peninsula Borough School District
Ms. Debra Mullins, President, Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education
If you’re interested in writing your own letter, you can get all necessary addresses off the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s website [and the links above]. I do hope the Kenai Peninsula and Soldotna e
I welcome and will post on this site any rebuttal.
UPDATE at 6/13/07, 1.30am:
- The Anchoress gives a shout-out and links to some very good related content.
- Michelle Malkin
- The forums at military.com have an excellent thread on the letter – it’s a great complement to the points of view that are coming from pundits and educators.
- Solomon at Solomonia tagged this one, too.
- The Wide Awake Cafe offers up some analysis and takes a look at the kids’ handwriting – and you know I sympathize with that.
Though no rebuttals have come yet in the comments in this thread, there are a few the social bookmarking sites – they have a different take on the situation. On reddit.com:
I take it this is admission that Republicans do NOT want to bring our troops home? I realize they don’t appear to be in a hurry to do so, but they would like them to come home, no? They just want to “win” first, right? Kill, mame or mentally fuck a few thousand moms, dads, sisters, brothers, cousins, until as many of them thar muslims is dead and gone as we can afford to bomb, then bring the rest of the soldiers home so they can get shitty health care and MAYBE get their old job back.
Yeah. I agree that this shouldn’t have been conducted in a classroom, but c’mon. The message is positive. It’s only indoctrination if you believe that Republicans disagree with the message…
This is illogical – this also has nothing to do with the Republicans, as I haven’t here or anywhere else in person or offline expressed explicit support to the Republicans, and Bobek didn’t mention them in any of the nine words of her letter. And, if I were to apply the same illogic to his comment, I could say, “I take it you don’t want to have positive messages in classrooms?” He also should re-evaluate the meaning of indoctrination.
And at digg:
You can just as easily assume that it is the children’s family members over in Iraq as you can assume that it is the teachers own personal agenda. This fallacious argument has no basis as the assumption of the argument’s premise is the only way that the conclusion can follow logically.
“Freedom from indoctrination on the public dime is one such value that is a strength of our education system – when it is honored”
The system is designed to indoctrinate citizens by building a base of nationalism – that is the way that education goes, which includes telling tall tales, singing national anthems, and reciting the pledge of allegiance at the beginning of school days. I’m not sure that you are too politically savvy, however, in Washington state a fourth grade class was actually able to lobby the government to pass a bill. Therefore, democratic protest, one of the defining features of our democracy, is indeed educational, and should be encouraged as a form of discourse. Without the principle of being able to shape the government, faith in the system falters and inevitably, young citizens gain a perspective analogous to that of our youth today. Cynicism for the political process is indicative of what students learn about the political process: often negative, shaped mainly by the prevalence of mud-slinging advertising campaigns that allow faith in the process to falter.
So my point is this: you cannot assume that it was the teachers own personal agenda. It is just as possible that these kids have family overseas that they are concerned about. Kids often share identical values and political ideology to that of their parents, and if they had family overseas, it is very possible that there was anxiety at home. Therefore, this whole argument is based solely on an assumption that the teacher is the one to introduce it. Without further information I think that this argument is moot.
I really can’t take the time to parse this one, but it does remind me of why I hated the one meeting of the Philosophy Club that I went to in college. It’s worth reading, though – it’s a great example of the unnecessarily confusing [or "bewildering?"] writing we’re talking about over here.
UPDATE at 06/18/07, 2.29pm:
A reader pointed out that “Tyler Morgan” is probably two students, Tyler and Morgan. Apologies to the tykes – small image, similar handwriting.
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Luke Walsh 06.12.07 at 11:05 pm
In your last sentence you write, “…ensure that their teachers stop using small children as political pawns.” Is it possible to take out the word political and insert other descriptions of how children are being used as pawns in the education system? For instance, the first phrase coming to my mind would be “state test taken”. Does this fit? “…ensure that their teachers stop using small children as state test taken pawns.” From my experience it does. The point I am trying to make is that this teacher is just one out of many that are implementing personal beliefs into their teaching practices. For effective educators, this is a fine line to walk because one has to continually reflect on the question, “Is this best for my students or is this best for myself?” I know that I have plenty of personal beliefs about how math should be taught. I just hope that I am choosing the ones that are best for my students and for myself.