Question of the week - How Do I Explain Terror?

Dear Dr. Bird,

 I have been an elementary school teacher for 10 years.  During that time we have experienced Columbine and 9/11.  My elementary school years were in the late seventies and early eighties.  Our conversations on the playground were about music and dance steps and whether we should all come to school wearing only one glove on our hand (from the Michael Jackson era).  Students are now talking about religions, fears, and acts of terror.  Sometimes I don't know how to bring those issues into the classroom.  I'm afraid I didn't learn how to deal with a lot of these issues when I became a teacher.  Any suggestions?

Sincerely, Changing With the Times

Dear Changing,

You pose a question that I often hear from teachers and parents.  Times are definitely changing and I believe that we (young and old alike) have lost some of our innocence.  For those of us in education we never dreamed decades ago that our training would include weapons, hostage situations, and intense violence prevention.  Like it or not, we cannot deny these realities.

Our greatest enemies however, are not on battlefields or located on some far away axis of evil.  While they are real, we have to stay focused on the day-to-day influences.  Our greatest enemies are  apathy and paranoia.  Children deserve to live a life with innocent pleasure.  These are adult issues but we have to be careful to not inflict paranoia on to our children.  Having said that, I believe that there are two primary issues to keep at the forefront of our education. 

First, the issue of Safety.  We do need procedures, lockdown drills, and a heightened awareness of threats in and out of our schools.  For the most part, schools are doing an outstanding job with this, and they are one of the safest places for our children.  Children should be aware that certain dangers exist, but they also need to be reassured that there are strong adults who work hard to keep them safe.    

2. Second, the issue of Openness.  The most important thing our children may ever learn is to accept human differences.  We have to be careful that our fears, rhetoric, and views do not lead to hatred.  It's easier to look at differences as threats, rather than see them as a source of wisdom.   Children are harassed daily when they don't fit the power mold in their schools, they may be called ugly, poor trash, queer, and geeks.  They may be segregated from the in-crowd for color, religion, sexual orientation, and looks.  The greatest shame is that often we have a society that teaches these prejudices out of its own fears.

As a teacher you have duty to discuss these issues since they are the very issues that give our country its strong foundation.  Give yourself permission to bring these issues to class.  Some may contend that these issues are better left out of school but I do recall a famous speech from my own social studies classes.   It was from a former president - Franklin Delano Roosevelt, as he addressed the 77th congress on January 6, 1941.  He spoke of these same issues over sixty years ago.  He said "...we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.  The first is freedom of speech and expression --everywhere in the world. The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way-- everywhere in the world. The third is freedom from want, which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants --everywhere in the world. The fourth is freedom from fear, which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor --anywhere in the world..."

Perhaps history is the best place to start.