Home 禄 Opinion 禄 Foreign Views
Kids know the simple lesson of right and wrong
Print Edition
It was the Friday before Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Kathryn Frey had decided to read Carmen Agra Deedy鈥檚 children鈥檚 book, 鈥淭he Yellow Star: The Legend of King Christian X of Denmark,鈥 to her fourth-grade, Greenwich, Conn., class. It tells a tale of how the king and his countrymen protected the nation鈥檚 Jews from Nazi persecution during World War II.
Frey teaches at New Lebanon School, one of the town鈥檚 three Title I elementary schools. Some know Greenwich as a tony New York suburb. But one corner of it is not. In her class of 18, there are 14 Latinos, two African Americans and two whites. Seventeen are either immigrants or the children of immigrants.
Frey was sick that day, so I was recruited to read to her students. The children, 9 and 10, gathered in front of me on the rug. They had barely heard of Nazi Germany or the war, and couldn鈥檛 say when the events in question took place. But they did have a firm sense of right and wrong. They blanched when I told them of what the Nazis had done and how they had discriminated.
I opened the book and began to read, pausing after each page to show the children the illustrations that help illuminate the story. Deedy鈥檚 picture book is myth inspired by fact. In her telling, the king encouraged all his people to wear on their outer clothing the yellow star meant by the Nazis to identify and isolate Jews, so the invaders wouldn鈥檛 know who was Jewish and who was not. History teaches that the king protected Denmark鈥檚 Jews by other means. But the students got the point: Jews, non-Jews, all were Danes.
Since President Donald J. Trump issued his initial executive order, temporarily barring US entry to visa holders from seven predominantly Muslim nations, and banning refugees from all nations and those from Syria indefinitely, I鈥檝e thought quite a bit about Deedy鈥檚 book, and why Frey chose it for her students. I sought her out in her classroom.
Frey has taught for 30 years, the last four at New Lebanon. She invited me to sit at a small, round child-size worktable near the center of the room. We were alone; her students were in gym class. The wall in front of us was lined with baskets of books that made up the room鈥檚 library. Above them was a partial timeline of US history, from the first British expedition to Roanoke Island, N.C., in 1584, funded by Sir Walter Raleigh, to the civil-rights era, in 1960.
Frey said that the class had just begun a unit on historical fiction 鈥 a genre with which few of the students were familiar. She had selected 鈥淭he Yellow Star鈥 for its simple theme and its schoolchild accessibility. 鈥淭his is the first time that most of them have been exposed to historical time periods,鈥 she said. 鈥淎t this age, they know famous people, but they don鈥檛 have a sense of what happened. They know Martin Luther King, and when I returned the day after his holiday, we talked about how a person鈥檚 actions and words can cause change. They made the connection between Dr. King and King Christian.鈥
Change and action and the power of words have taken on particular meaning for her students. 鈥淭he day after the [presidential] election, several children told me they were very worried about what might happen to them,鈥 Frey said. 鈥淭hey talked about it that morning among themselves when they came into class. They were worried about their families. One boy came to me in tears and said he was leaving the country, that his family was going back to Portugal. He went around the room, saying goodbye to his friends. Later that day I called his dad. The boy was mistaken; the family was staying.鈥
But the damage was done.
It took 15 minutes to read 鈥淭he Yellow Star鈥 to the class. Upon finishing, I looked up at the students. From their expressions, I feared I had upset some of them all over again. When I asked their thoughts on those who had threatened Denmark鈥檚 Jews, their response was heartfelt, uncomplicated. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 wrong,鈥 blurted one boy, to general agreement. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not fair,鈥 seconded another.
The students never mentioned the president or his executive order. But they decided they liked King Christian X very much.
Ron Berler is the author of Raising the Curve: Teachers, Students 鈥 a True Portrayal of Classroom Life. This piece first appeared in the Miami Herald.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 娌狪CP璇侊細娌狪CP澶05050403鍙-1
- |
- 浜掕仈缃戞柊闂讳俊鎭湇鍔¤鍙瘉锛31120180004
- |
- 缃戠粶瑙嗗惉璁稿彲璇侊細0909346
- |
- 骞挎挱鐢佃鑺傜洰鍒朵綔璁稿彲璇侊細娌瓧绗354鍙
- |
- 澧炲肩數淇′笟鍔＄粡钀ヨ鍙瘉锛氭勃B2-20120012
Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
