Teachers are being asked to teach kids who have eaten nothing, or sometimes breakfast was sugary pop. How can we justify expense for classrooms and specialist teachers and overlook the most basic thing kids need to thrive - food. Free school meals makes sense from every perspective - morality, health outcomes, education outcomes and building a sense of community kids can believe in.
This classroom is my salvation. When I walk in here my mind is able to function, my stride grows longer and I can be who I really am. This is the place I am able to learn, to explore and be with friends who really understand me. Somehow in this classroom my differences are not only accepted but celebrated. We like being unique, doesn't that make life so much more interesting? Carter has a shock of pink hair, Lance is Mr. Action Man, and I'm a homebody in earthy tones. I think that's how we're supposed to be, right? Like a meadow instead of a neatly trimmed lawn.
Classrooms were once places of fear, it's hard to believe that now. Once they lined the children up and beat them into compliance. The first generation was always the hardest to subdue and after that their parents did most of the job for them. Comply or be beaten, comply or don't get food.
We humans weren't meant to be compliant; we have strong hearts and strong wills. We aren't supposed to blindly follow and be told what to think. We are supposed to use our strong hearts to love and our curious minds to drive us to learn, to seek new answers, to boldly explore. We are nobody's trained monkeys.
Our classrooms are places of love, of learning, or compassion. We enable our children to thrive and have self confidence. We teach them to be respectful to authority but always question and analyze - it is everybody's duty to think. We want our kids to be as difficult to herd as cats, everyone walking to the beat of their own drum with hearts full of love and happiness.
Our classroom is so warm after the wintry chill outside. The teacher must have stayed late last night, yesterday it was all about autumn and now it's the holiday season everywhere I look. I pause, suddenly feeling lighter, a smile spreading over my face like it belongs there. I take my jacket off and place it in the cloakroom, my cheeks rosy. The air has a cinnamon perfume and already the room is mostly full. So many friends in one place, I guess that's why my smile has such staying power today.
Our classroom is where we come to learn how to learn, to ask questions, to be curious. Sure, there's still philosophy, but other than that we build our own projects and follow computer programs at our own pace. There are so many plants in here it's almost like being in a little jungle at times but I love them. The chairs and tables are all ergonomic, comfortable, though often we choose to sit on the floor mats at the low tables, or on the couch. Every room has a learning guide, a teacher, who's job it is to inspire and guide us when we ask for help.
Though the classroom walls are bare the windows are large. Everyone wants a window seat, to sit in the unsubdued light of the morning. Outside the sky is blue except for a few strands of stratus that trail like aeroplane trails. Whoever painted the walls in here must have had an imagination bypass, but then isn't that the education system all over? Fill our minds with facts we can google instead of teaching us how to think, question facts, experiment and explore. It isn't the nineteen hundreds anymore, they aren't preparing us to clock in and out at factories. The teacher walks in looking as inspired as a used tea bag and already I feel a daydream starting, a really good one. This teacher's gonna have to be really interesting if she wants to compete.
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