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From: Linda Pavonetti <pavonett>
Date: Sun, 4 Oct 1998 09:57:37 -0400
toward the
comes
action and
heard--or
I have been listening with great excitement to the conversations for several months, but Dick's comment has inspired me to jump in. I heard a report on the way to the office this morning that four boys from my quiet, idyllic, "safe" suburban enclave had been arrested for bring a handgun to school. Not even a year ago, a young teen, in this same quiet, idyllic, "safe" suburban enclave came home and shot his sister to death. His mom is a teacher in a parochial school, his dad is a police officer, the family life was "typical." What is causing these children to act out in such violent ways?
I read _Megaboy_ within days of the Arkansas shooting--and I could not put it down until I finished it. It is a timely book, but even more, it succinctly proposes the same thoughts Patricia Hersch puts forth in _A Tribe Apart_. Our children are crying out, in the only ways that seem to work, for attention. I've often heard that children will find the best ways to get their parents' attention-? it though good grades or acting out. Unfortunately, more of our youth seem to be acting out.
Is there a way, through talking with kids--or better yet listening to them talk-?out books that focus on their perceived powerlessness? In my position as a person who teaches children's literature to teachers and young people who hope to be teachers, I try to bring books like
_Megaboy_ to everyone's attention. But sadly, the political climate is so repressive in this country that teachers are more and more reluctant to read the _Megaboy_-type books in their classrooms.
I applaud the brave authors and editors who provide young people with books that challenge them to think and talk--at least among themselves. I only wish we could make the parents and schoolboard members listen.
Linda
Linda M. Pavonetti
Oakland University
Department of Reading and Language Arts
Rochester, MI 48309D94
e-mail: pavonett at oakland.edu
phone: 24870F83
fax: 24870C67
Received on Sun 04 Oct 1998 08:57:37 AM CDT
Date: Sun, 4 Oct 1998 09:57:37 -0400
toward the
comes
action and
heard--or
I have been listening with great excitement to the conversations for several months, but Dick's comment has inspired me to jump in. I heard a report on the way to the office this morning that four boys from my quiet, idyllic, "safe" suburban enclave had been arrested for bring a handgun to school. Not even a year ago, a young teen, in this same quiet, idyllic, "safe" suburban enclave came home and shot his sister to death. His mom is a teacher in a parochial school, his dad is a police officer, the family life was "typical." What is causing these children to act out in such violent ways?
I read _Megaboy_ within days of the Arkansas shooting--and I could not put it down until I finished it. It is a timely book, but even more, it succinctly proposes the same thoughts Patricia Hersch puts forth in _A Tribe Apart_. Our children are crying out, in the only ways that seem to work, for attention. I've often heard that children will find the best ways to get their parents' attention-? it though good grades or acting out. Unfortunately, more of our youth seem to be acting out.
Is there a way, through talking with kids--or better yet listening to them talk-?out books that focus on their perceived powerlessness? In my position as a person who teaches children's literature to teachers and young people who hope to be teachers, I try to bring books like
_Megaboy_ to everyone's attention. But sadly, the political climate is so repressive in this country that teachers are more and more reluctant to read the _Megaboy_-type books in their classrooms.
I applaud the brave authors and editors who provide young people with books that challenge them to think and talk--at least among themselves. I only wish we could make the parents and schoolboard members listen.
Linda
Linda M. Pavonetti
Oakland University
Department of Reading and Language Arts
Rochester, MI 48309D94
e-mail: pavonett at oakland.edu
phone: 24870F83
fax: 24870C67
Received on Sun 04 Oct 1998 08:57:37 AM CDT
