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October 13, 2005 Paul Who?
So through the night rode Paul
Revere;
And so through the night went his cry of alarm
To every Middlesex village and farm,---
A cry of defiance, and not of fear,
A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door,
And a word that shall echo for evermore!
For, borne on the night-wind of the Past,
Through all our history, to the last,
In the hour of darkness and peril and need,
The people will waken and listen to hear
The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed,
And the midnight message of Paul Revere.
The above is the conclusion to "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Earlier this week, my fifth-grader (who--in spite of her
abilities--would have been a fourth-grader if we'd left her to languish
in LBUSD) was studying her poetry unit and we wandered a bit. The
official lesson included "The Creation", "Lochivar", The Raven",
"Annabel Lee" and "The Wreck of the Hesperus". Because the lesson was
done at home, enjoyment of "The Creation" led naturally to the complete
work, "God's Trombones" and "The Wreck of the Hesperus" led to the poem
quoted above.
During our lesson, which stretched to hours because it was enjoyable
and home education allows in-depth discussion of interesting topics,
our discussion wandered through subjects like religion, ethics and the
meaning of American Freedom.
Today, when a Millikan administrator admitted, even after being informed
that the conversation was being taped, that he cared less for the rule
of law and more for LBUSD policy, I harkened back to the above poem.
Tell me, LBUSD, what child 'educated' in a system where black pants vs.
navy blue pants is enough to remove a child from a classroom, and Gwen
Matthews, an LBUSD district administrator claims to be powerless to
require common-sense be used in a district school under her supervison,
will, if ever it is needed, "waken and listen to hear the hurrying
hoof-beats of that steed...?"
My nine-year-old, taught at home is clear on the concept of American
Freedom. She knows that it requires thought and committment and the
willingness to endure unto death if necessary. She knows many
people died, and many more were willing to die, to make this a free
country. She knows that American freedom is not, and never has
been, a gift.
The children taught at home learn about American Freedom and the
responsibility of every American to guard and protect it. They
sometimes learn while wearing their pajamas.
My LBUSD "educated" child learns that American teachers blindly follow
district policies even when the policy is illegal and has no rational
basis. It's the only lesson he's allowed to learn if he goes to school
in black pants.
It
would be simpler and less time-consuming, as parents, to do the easy thing. To shrug and go
along with the program, however idiotic. However, we don't plan to raise
children to be childlike psuedo-adults who do the easy thing. We would, as proud American parents,
be ashamed to loosen upon the world people who could, with a straight
face, and serious voice explain that they are aware that they are
breaking the law, but do it because it's district policy.
We
want to raise children to become adults who do the right thing. They
should know their responsibility to try to work through the system to
change bad laws whenever possible.
Should they ever decide to break the law, it should be because the law
is too wrong to obey. They should engage in civil disobedience because
it's the right thing to do. Should the call ever come, we want them to
'waken and listen'.
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