What One Retired Elementary School Teacher Thinks About Teaching History to Young Children

 

A note to my readers, old and new:  I retired from teaching in May 2018 and I thought my concerns about public education would retire with me. That has not been the case as recent trends in education have rekindled my passion.  I hope this letter speaks to other educators hearts and minds. Please share with like-minded friends.
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As a retired public-school teacher, I enjoyed a long, rewarding career.  For 31 years, I was privileged to teach in suburban Chicago schools.  Throughout my career, I was fortunate to work with supportive administrators and open-minded school boards.  I was an innovative teacher and my creativity was encouraged. I wanted my students to feel empowered by their learning. That is what I will always want for our children, and it is why I am so concerned about the rage unleashed at our public-school teachers, at school board meetings, and in the recent elections.

 

Among my most original lessons was my “Birthday Party for Martin Luther King.” Each January, my kindergarten, first or second grade students invited their parents to our birthday party.  The children wore paper birthday hats that they made themselves.  There was cake and ice cream.  Before the party, each child had drawn a picture and written their dream for a better world “No more pollution.”  “A puppy in every house.” “Rainbows every time it rains.”  They presented their dreams at the party and we put them all in a big gift box to the delight of parents and children, alike. For me, though, the highlight of every party was the game that we all played, “Going on a Long March.” 

 

“Going on a Long March” was my adaptation of a popular children’s game, “Going on a Bear Hunt,” by Michael Rosen.  All of us stood in a circle and started marching to a regular beat.  Then, in “call and repeat” fashion, I chanted each of the lines of the poem and the adults and children echoed my words:

Going on a Long March

We are going on a long march

A very long march

We’re marching with Martin

Martin Luther King

A great black man

An African American

First, we’ll march through the neighborhoods

Right through the neighborhoods

Oh, no!

Two different neighborhoods

One for whites

One for blacks

We’ll say “No Fair”

We’ll call to the children

“Come on let’s join hands

We can all live together

In this fine land.”

(repeat but substitute with schools, drinking fountains, and beaches)

Oh look

We’ve marched to Washington

Washington, D.C.

We’ve marched with Martin

Martin Luther King

A great black man

An African American

We’ve marched a long way

A very long way

It’s time to sit down and listen

Listen to his dream

Listen to his dream

Listen to his dream.

After we sat down, I read the famous lines of Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech:

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” And then, I simply said, “Now you know how it used to be in parts of America.  Things are better now because of the hard work of Martin Luther King and people like him.  That’s what we do in America—if there is a problem, we work hard to solve it. And things get better.” 

 

For all those years, this is what I did as a public -school teacher.  I only received compliments from the parents of my students and the administrators who came to the birthday parties.  But when I read today of the turmoil over teaching the hard facts of history, I doubt that I would any longer be allowed to share my birthday party for Martin Luther King.  Some parents would surely vociferously object to young children being made aware of racism even if the lesson was designed to show the ability—the responsibility—we Americans have to make the world a better place.  Our children are our future.  Their education should prepare them to recognize and solve the problems they will inevitably face.