Anything Can Be

 

Listen, Child

“Listen to the mustn’ts, child. Listen to the don’ts. Listen to the shouldn’ts, the impossibles, the won’ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me…Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.”

Shel Silverstein

          When they were little, one of my children’s favorite books was Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein. We read books aloud every night and it was often on the stack to be read. With all the talk of banning books in school libraries, I think of Silverstein's semi-subversive voice telling children to listen to the adults in their lives, but then follow their own hearts. To listen to the nay-sayers and litigators of rules, know what the don’ts and shouldn’ts are, and then make their own decisions about what to believe. Isn’t that what they do anyway?

In my worldview, banning books makes no sense at all except as a distraction from the very real problems in our public schools. I read all the books on the banned list as a child and teen, and more besides, and I was neither corrupted nor traumatized by them. In fact, banning a book probably makes it much more desirable than it would have been.

          Stephen King advised kids who go to schools that ban books to run not walk to the nearest public library and check out all the books on the banned list, because that’s what they need to read. I agree. The best gift one can give to a young person is a book that will add to their knowledge base; hopefully one that impacts them at the heart and gut as well as the head. Childhood is all about expanding knowledge, growing a body of information and experience, increasing vocabulary, and instilling curiosity to learn more and more. If we don’t do that, we have failed our children.

          Every child now has a iPad, a small computer that allows them to look up information on-line. But what most of them do with it is watch videos or play video games. When they become adults, they have difficulty making the leap to printed words on a page—which, thankfully, are still required for college courses. I know from the students I have taught, and from the interviewees for jobs friends tell me about, that young people are graduating from high school who cannot read with comprehension. Who cannot write a complete sentence or fill out a form without spelling and grammatical errors. I think we have once again gotten so caught up in the glitter of technology that we have neglected the basics.

          There is a teacher shortage, so some states are relaxing qualifications for people who want to teach but do not have the educational requirements. In other words, they are lowering the bar. Also, we are simply upside down when college football players can earn millions of dollars by selling their image and likeness, but starting salaries for teachers is less than $40,000/yr. That’s a travesty—I can’t tell you how sad that makes me.

          I hope we wake up. I still believe that “anything can happen, child. Anything can be.” In a nation as rich as America, we can’t afford to fail our children—not if we want an educated workforce in the future.

                                                  In the Spirit,

                                                  Jane