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In her syndicated newspaper column and radio commentaries of the same title, Janus Adams explores the most critical issue of our time: What
Do We Tell Our Children? Growing up I often heard my grandfather counsel: "Learn to read between the lines." Well, "between the lines" of passion, pride, and politics over 50th anniversary tributes to Brown v. Board of Education, I'm struck by news of the so-called "achievement gap" between students Black and White. "All the As are going to Whites and all the Ds to Blacks" one cable news channel screamed, as though all Black students were failures and all Whites were geniuses. Interestingly enough, no one asked: "Who's framing the test and who's doing the grading?" No report match fairly competitive students' grades in the same class on the same test. The more I heard, the more heated I became in this political climate that has our children under siege. Even our brightest and best are increasing being presumed and labeled "at risk." What to do. How do we strengthen our children from within - emotionally, intellectually, informationally, and spiritually? I wrote a list - 21 Things We Must Tell Our Children. THIS
WEEK Superceding all else, every living soul needs to loved. In the current political climate, with our children too often demonized and regularly branded "failures" as part of the public discourse, it's so easy to think of our children as "problems." How can we demonstrate our love and understanding to help them weather such storms and to succeed on their own terms, no matter the challenges they face. In this, I'm reminded of a letter to the editor written by my mother, a master educator. She was responding to my newspaper column on the exoneration of New York City police officers in the shooting death of Amadou:
Thanks Mom! © Janus Adams 2008
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