Preschool peaceniks in the making
Michelle Malkin is in her usual state of righteous indignation today (and she does it so well). She's uncovered a guide to "developing community-building, deep thinking, and partnership to change the world for the better," written by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). The title is, "That's Not Fair! A Teacher's Guide to Activism with Young Children." I'm sure the title is supposed to reflect the automatic reaction of preschoolers to authority, but I think it reflects the feelings of the authors of the Guide when confronted with the realities of the world:
On page 106 of the guide, co-author Ann Pelo details an activism project she initiated at a Seattle preschool after her students spotted a Blue Angels rehearsal overhead as they played in a local park. "Those are Navy airplanes," Pelo lectured the toddlers. "They're built for war, but right now, there is no war, so the pilots learn how to do fancy tricks in their planes." The kids returned to playing, but Pelo wouldn't let it rest. The next day she pushes the children to "communicate their feelings about the Blue Angels."
Pelo proudly describes her precociously politicized students' handiwork: "They drew pictures of planes with Xs through them: 'This is a crossed-off bombing plane.' They drew bomb factories labeled: 'No.' ..."If you blow up our city, we won't be happy about it. And our whole city will be destroyed. And if you blow up my favorite library, I won't be happy because there are some good books there that I haven't read yet."
...it's obvious this cathartic exercise was less for the children and more for the ax-grinding Pelo, who readily admits that she "didn't ask for parents' input about their letter-writing - she didn't genuinely want it. She felt passionately that they had done the right thing, and she wasn't interested in hearing otherwise."
One of the promotors of the Guide is the Early Childhood Equity Alliance (ECEA) ; their website states clearly that they oppose the war on Iraq:
War also causes serious emotional harm to children, both to those who lose family members, and to those who only witness the terror second-hand. As the still relevant saying from the 60's aptly puts it: "War is not healthy for children and other living things!"
As Michelle so neatly puts it:
And allowing Saddam Hussein to gas Kurds, imprison children who refused to join the Baath Party, torture their dissident fathers, and use pregnant women to shield his soldiers, is?
Hey, the ECEA lost me at the point of claiming the 60's were still relevant - that tells you just about everything you need to know about that organization. I guess they think "it's not fair" that the rest of us have moved on to the 21st-century, and we'd like our kids to understand how things really are now.