Date: Fri 01-May-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: CURT

Quick Words:

edink-school-community-team

Full Text:

Ed Ink: Kids And The Community

It's difficult to say how, why, or when a person becomes selfish and narrow in

his view of the world. Certainly very young children who are made to feel

supported, secure, and loved, quickly move out of themselves to take an

expansive view of life. Their attraction to play, small animals, and any large

being willing to get down on the floor with them helps them explore the

possibilities of how the world can get better and better through

understanding, kindness, and careful attention to others.

For some people, sadly, that process stops and is replaced by a self-centered

isolation that cuts them off from their innate sense of community. Somehow the

Golden Rule gets perverted along the way to be: Do unto others before they do

unto you. The school community at Head O' Meadow School, however, is taking

steps to ensure that it doesn't happen at their school. Fifth-grade teachers

and students have teamed up to form a School Community Team (SCT). The team

has initiated a number of projects designed to help improve the lives of

others. These include everything from replacing institutional posters with

children's artwork to make the school more welcoming and warm to collecting

food and making placemats for the food pantry that helps needy families in

town.

The teachers working with the SCT report that the kids are coming up with more

ideas for improving life in their school and community than can be reasonably

accomplished given the time and resources they have at school. But even if

everything doesn't get done, the attitude of giving has taken hold; the kids

are thinking of others, helping others, and making a difference in the lives

of others. And they are finding that when they apply their intelligence and

creativity for the benefit of others, it makes them feel good. Of all the

lessons we expect our schools to convey, that is perhaps the most important.