With Apologies to Noel Coward, A Plea During the Week Before Spring Break!

Don’t pull your daughter out of school, Mrs. Worthington

Don’t pull your daughter out of school

She is already confounded

This class’s pretty tough

And admitting the fact that she can’t subtract

If that isn’t reason enough

She’s a nice girl and though her grades are just fair

She’s not the type that can rebound and retool

I repeat, Mrs. Worthington, sweet Mrs. Worthington

Don’t pull your daughter out of school!

Regarding yours, dear Mrs. Worthington

Of the week before the break

Although you got a great deal on the flight

I won’t give up the fight since we can’t teach her to write

If you make her disappear, Mrs. Worthington

It is beyond absurd

Why in reality would you unilaterally take her away, missing those days

And setting her back weeks!

Don’t pull your daughter out of school, Mrs. Worthington

Don’t pull your daughter out of school

She’s a bit of a slow starter, you must honestly confess

And the quality of her work would surely defeat

Her chances of her success

It’s not that she doesn’t exactly excel in class

But missing before break, she’ll be April’s fool

On my knees, Mrs. Worthington, please Mrs. Worthington

Don’t pull your daughter out of school

Don’t pull your daughter out of school, Mrs. Worthington

Don’t pull your daughter out of school

Though they showed movies before break

At the junior high last year

I’m afraid, missing class, she’ll not pass, we don’t do that here.
She’ll come back with a tan, from her two weeks in Cannes

But by missing a week, she’ll not swim but sink!

No more buts, Mrs. Worthington, nuts! Mrs. Worthington

Don’t pull your daughter out of school!

My Letter to the Legislator

Dear Legislator,

Thank you for your service. Thank you for all you do for the United States and all of us. It cannot be easy to be in your role. You must receive countless communications that ask, demand, threaten, or beg. I don’t think I can imagine the sort of uncomfortable dilemmas that you must face regularly.

I am a high school teacher. My wife is a high school counselor. Like you, we are public servants. Like you, we do our best to serve our kids and our community. Like you, we are often servant to masters who don’t agree and with whom we sometimes disagree.

While I may agree with you on some issues and disagree on others, this letter is not for or against any particular policy. However, in one respect, this letter is going to be like the others; I do have a request: I hope it is something you are already doing.

This email is not to ask you to support or reject any particular rule, bill, or action. It is not to yell, scream, beg, or complain. It is to ask you to do the right thing, to listen to your inner conscience, your sense of duty and morality and to act from that center.

I urge you to hold the historic values of democracy and the United States close when you make decisions that affect so many, to remain true to the values that are the foundation of our nation. I urge you to make sure that the legislative and decision-making processes are fair, honest, transparent, and forthright – and that they serve the long-term interests of our country. Please build bridges and be inclusive. Please investigate questions that pose dangers to our countries and find clear and objective answers.

You must be pulled in many directions. At times, you are asked, for political reasons, to support and defend things that you think are wrong. I implore you to take the time to consider, research, listen, and learn. My biggest mistakes are when I have moved too quickly, rushed into decisions, or allowed loud voices to pressure me into doing things that did not sit well with me.

Consider your legacy. Look at the leaders of the twentieth century; while their policies and actions are remembered, they are heightened or tainted by their moral character. We remember what they did, but how and why they did took those actions is what fills the history books.

I know you know this. You don’t need a letter reminding you. However, given all the communications you receive and all the burdens put upon you, I wanted to make sure that a voice in that enormous chorus was singing with you on this very important note.

Once again, thank you for your service, and thank you for, even sometimes in the face of great pressure and price, maintaining your integrity and our great country.

Yours sincerely,

David A. Hirsch

Beating the Third Quarter Blues

Third quarter is long, dark, and cold. The excitement of the beginning of the school year has been forgotten. In fact, we all now know each other so well that it feels as if we have been in class together five-ever.

Second quarter feels like the incline before the first big thrill on the rollercoaster. The honeymoon is over, and we are well into the real work. It is challenging and intense. It ends with the winter holidays and winter break with great relief and celebration.

And then we return for third quarter. The winter holiday decorations have been taken down. If any are still dangling, they seem like a sad reminder of past joy. The temperatures plunge into subzero. The school courtyards are closed. The sting of finals doesn’t go away quickly.

Like the third volume in a four-part series, the third quarter has little of its own story. In class, we work on new texts, but old skills. Very little is truly new and, no matter how I try to inject novelty and excitement, the lessons are bridges between the introductions of first semester and the challenges that await us in the spring.

So what is to be done? How do we beat the third quarter blues? Here are a few suggestions:

Games: Third quarter brings more than March Madness and, by the time that rolls along, madness may be too tame a word. My Freshman English students love playing the Sunday puzzle on NPR’s Weekend Edition. These are little challenges and joys that provide us with a dessert after wrestling with Shakespeare. In theatre class, be begin an improvisation unit where we can play both completive and collaborative theatre games that make us laugh.

Student Choice: My freshmen work hard to understand Shakespeare. During third quarter, they get to make Shakespeare do what they want him to do! They create puppet shows, parodies, graphic novels, and Shakespeare talk shows. Most of these are on video and treat our very British and revered literary texts to a good dose of satire, humor, slapstick, and healthy irreverence.

Get Moving: Getting students out of their desks is always important, but during third quarter it is critical. Whether it is enacting the play we are reading, working in small groups, using large paper and drawing on the floor, or cutting out words from newspapers and magazines to create ransom note poems, students will be able to fight the third quarter blues better if their bodies and minds are in motion.

Reflecting and Renewing:  My Senior English class writes graduation speeches during third quarter. These students are so focused on finishing their high school careers that third quarter can be a horrible tease: it is in the way of getting to May! Reflecting back on their high school years, collecting memories, and realizing how much they have changed and grown brings an appreciation of the journey when they only want to see its end.

Life Beyond School: All of us, teachers, students, parents, and others, need to balance our work life with our other roles. During third quarter, we feel like Tantalus rolling a rock up a hill only to have it come crashing down when the job is almost complete. Sharing our non-school lives not only enhances our relationships but also reminds us that our world is bigger than schoolwork. Kids light up when they talk about their passions. A few moments to celebrate the teams, shows, games, and other non-academic parts of our lives can be the sugar that makes third quarter go down.

Some would say that the best thing about third quarter is that it ends – with spring break! We return and it truly feels like spring, even if it is wet, gray, and muddy. Fourth quarter is the last lap to the finish line and we are eager to complete the year’s work. We can live through third quarter with games, choice, movement, reflection, perspective, and lots and lots of laughter!

Let's Agree: We Need A Children's Bill of Rights

Nothing is more important than our children. How we treat them, both individually and collectively is the real measure of who we are. In this time of division and dissent, I am looking for places that provide common ground. I think the love of our children may be such a place. Can we all agree that all policies should be evaluated on their effect on children? No law, rule, order, or other government action should be passed that hurts kids! 

Children don’t pay bills. They don’t vote. Most of their decisions are made by adults. If they have any power at all, it is only through influencing the adults around them. They are one of our most vulnerable and important populations. Can we all agree that their well-being must be at the top of all agendas?

As a teacher, I sometimes think of my students as little adults. I forget that they don’t control most of their world. If they are late, it is as likely to be the fault of their means of transportation. They don’t drive. They may be pulled out of school due to the choices of their parents or guardians. Getting homework done is sometimes impossible due to things happening at home. I need to remind myself that they are just children!

I wonder if lawmakers and elected officials have the same challenge. Do they forget how adults’ choices affect children? Do they attribute more control and agency to minors than they really have?

Children are the collateral damage of many of our public policies. If parents don’t make enough money, children are affected. When healthcare is too expensive or difficult to obtain, children get sick. When policies that protect adults from discrimination, deportation, and degradation are undermined or eliminated, their children pay the price.

Every policy should be evaluated through the lens of its effect on children: Will this help the kids? Will this make children’s lives better? If this is going to create a challenge for families with children, and how do we help them address that?

Children aren’t to blame for any of their parents’ struggles, but they share them. While there are many voices screaming to protect unborn children, voices are desperately needed to keep protecting them as they grow up.

While protecting them from certain ideas, philosophies, or encounters with different people may be on some lists, can we please elevate protecting them from hunger, crime, sickness, and illiteracy?

How about a Children’s Bill of Rights! Here is a start:

Regardless of political, religious, or ideological labels, every child deserves to be:

Loved and wanted

Fed and well nourished 

Healthy and have prompt and affordable access to doctors and medicine

Well educated

Safe in their neighborhoods, homes, and communities

Free from bullying, abuse, and mistreatment

Given freedom to grow, develop, explore, and play

Housed comfortably and appropriately

Free of worry for the safety of their family

Of course, there is more; this list is just a beginning. Yet, can we agree to this? Can everyone say that these items are the beginning on which we can build greater agreements? If we can agree on this, perhaps we can move our country forward and help everyone, no matter what their affiliations or alliances or age, to pursue life, liberty, and happiness!

Lessons from Mountains Beyond Mountains

I was first introduced to Paul Farmer and the book that Tracy Kidder wrote about him in the summer of 2007 when we chose Mountains Beyond Mountains for a community-wide one book program. I brought it to class the next fall. Ten years later, this book still has plenty to say.

This semester, I am reading this book with my Senior English class and I am stunned that a book published fourteen years ago can remain so relevant and powerful. Paul Farmer’s experiences and organization may have changed since then 2003, and certainly, there has been upheaval in Haiti, but the messages in this book are just as important as ever.

Medicine is more than drugs, doctors, and hospitals: One of the key ideas in the book is that we need to provide a “preferential option for the poor.” Borrowed from Catholic Liberation Theology, this central tenet of Farmer’s organization compels him to go to great lengths to serve his most impoverished patients. This may mean far more than administering medicine or healthcare. Farmer provides water, food, housing, jobs, and much more.

This idea that healthcare goes beyond the traditional doctor, medicine, hospital combination is also key. Healthcare, according to Farmer, is the total wellbeing of a person and community. It is the goal of social activist medicine. What good are the pills that will cure the disease if the patients’ living conditions are horrible?

We are all connected to each other: Farmer challenges our assumptions about wealth and money. Farmer questions why some are so wealthy and others so poor. Where did this come from? What are its effects? He argues that Haiti’s poverty has provided much wealth to America. He suggests that no individual or community’s success is independent and solitary. Instead, those who have more have an obligation to help those who are in need.

This brings up two critical concepts: duty to the poor and the interconnected nature of our world. Farmer is religious in his devotion to the poor. One of the myths that he explodes is that our choices affect only us; on an individual and collective level, there is human collateral damage paying for our affluence.

We are obligated to help those who are suffering: This creates a relationship of obligation. If my comfort has been created by someone else’s pain, I have an obligation to do something about this. Farmer takes this very seriously and his efforts border on the superhuman and selfless.

Help people help themselves: Farmer is not a “white savior.” His organization and philosophy are designed to create self-sustaining local programs. He doesn’t sweep in, wave a wand, and leave. Instead, he helps people help each other. He trains, creates systems, and makes certain that they fit within the culture and values of the community. His approach is very different from the typical international aid approach.

Assume the best: Farmer talks about a “hermeneutic of generosity.” It is an assumption of a positive motive. People aren’t poor because they are lazy, addicted, or scamming the system. Farmer makes a conscious choice to take the higher road and presume the better nature. It is supercharged optimism.

We must fight the “long defeat:” Farmer knows that the battle he is fighting, the battle he invited us to join, is one that is going to be a “long defeat.” Farmer tells the writer of the book, Tracy Kidder, “We’re used to being on a victory team, and actually what we’re really trying to do in PIH is to make common cause with the losers. Those are two very different things. We want to be on the winning team, but at the risk of turning our backs on the losers, no, it’s not worth it. So you fight the long defeat.”

There will always be mountains beyond the mountains we climb: There will always be more challenges. Whether we “win” or are defeated, the fight must go on and we must contribute.

In times of discord, disagreement, and division, Farmer’s voice is one we need to hear. More than ever, we need to remember these lessons from Mountains Beyond Mountains.