Kids are unbelievable. I’m often amazed at how insightful young children can be and how quickly they can get to the point. There are lessons that children can teach each and every one of us.
One of the perks of this job is that school kids under 15 think I’m a celebrity — or the word has gotten around that I have the power to bring pizza and ice cream for Guest Speaker Day. It’s fun to think I’m a celebrity, but my wife reminds me it’s just the pizza. Either way, I’ll take the opportunity I get every week or so to visit a local classroom for a discussion.
About a week ago, I visited with a group of fifth graders at Mesa View Elementary on Orchard Mesa. The teacher asked me to discuss the importance of revising your work until it’s done. Apparently, the students there don’t like rewriting their work.
I asked the kids why, and the most common answer was that it’s a waste of time. If they already did it, why do it again? They said they typically write 100-200 words in a given day, and that’s plenty. I asked them to take a look at the newspaper they were going through and guess how many words I publish every day. One boy guessed 1,000. Another guessed a billion. Another guessed a gazidrillion. About 50,000 words, I told them — all of which had to be revised over and over, every day.
Why all the trouble? Because if it’s not well-written, nobody would read it. Case in point ... I told the kids I might have an inkling to reward them with a pizza party if they could keep their mouths shut for one minute and craft the perfect letter of request. You could have heard a pin drop for the next minute.
“Dear Mr. Taylor: Please, please, please, please, please bring us pizza. We really want it,” was the first attempt. Similar attempts followed. I asked them how many had parents who subscribed to The Daily Sentinel. Virtually all raised their hands (thank heavens). I asked if I printed “Please Please Please buy this paper” in big letters on the front page every morning would they continue to buy it. The kids said no. “Of course not, you’d look stupid,” said one boy.
So, I asked, why would I be convinced to bring pizza? I saw lots of dumbfounded expressions that led me to believe a steep learning curve was happening at that moment. My lesson, I said, was once you understand the point, getting it right suddenly becomes very important. So I gave them one more chance. With pizza racing through their minds they put their persuasive skills back to work.
The first child to stand up nailed it. “Dear Mr. Taylor: If you bring us pizza and ice cream, I will make sure my parents keep buying your newspaper forever.”
Sold. Now that’s what I call street smarts.
It’s amazing to watch the minds of young people work and develop and grow.
That’s why we have begun printing news perspectives from kids every Monday. In the first installment last week, I read with pleasure the perspectives of several 14 year-old students from West Middle School who wrote about their thoughts on drugs, pollution, global warming, Dick Cheney and patriotism.
They were all superb, but one piece by McCall Willer has stuck with me all week. She said she was disgusted by her classmates who complain about the war in Iraq, but don’t even have the respect to stand up in the morning when they recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
Apparently, one symptom of our politically correct nation is that public-school students no longer have to stand or memorize the pledge as they did when I was in school. That kind of discipline has been litigated out of our schools by activist lawyers who think they’re doing the nation a favor.
Thankfully, it doesn’t go unnoticed by some students.
I hope you enjoy reading tomorrow’s Student Perspectives. You’ll probably learn something, as I inevitably do every time I listen to a child.
