Cover
story From
classroom to Capitol
By TERESA MALCOLM
NCR Staff Jefferson City, Mo.
The questions the sixth- and
seventh-grade students had prepared for legislators were already blunt, but in
the hands of one 12-year-old, they briefly turned into a grilling as she
confronted a Missouri state senator. He did not support the bill she and her
classmates had come to the capital to push -- a tax credit for the working
poor.
Have you actually met a poor person? Mallory
Bahmani, a seventh grader at St. Patricks School in Kansas City, Mo.,
asked state Sen. Larry Rohrbach.
The students activities were part of a pioneering program
designed to teach children about Catholic social doctrine and how to move
beyond charity to work for change in social structures that keep people in
poverty.
Rohrbach said yes, he had met a poor person. So had Mallory and
her classmates: They had met Kristin and Kurtis, each single parents living in
poverty. The young lobbyists were in their state capital, Jefferson City, Mo.,
Feb. 7 to share Kristins and Kurtis stories and to press lawmakers
to pass the tax credit bill that would help them and other poor families.
You can collect canned goods until you drop, said Tom
Turner, one of the programs creators. If you work for justice, it
has a wider impact.
The three-month lesson plan, called Thats Not Fair! A
Program for Teaching Catholic Social Doctrine to Sixth Grade, was
developed last year at St. Patricks School. In the 2000-2001 school year,
it is being used in 14 schools in the Kansas City area. Turner, director of
Bishop Sullivan Center, a local social service agency, hopes next to take it
nationwide.
Thats Not Fair! had its genesis in the previous
school year, when Turner had been invited to speak to Catholic school
principals about Catholic social justice teachings. There, Turner was met with
a challenge: One principal said, Talk is cheap. Lets see you
guys do something, Turner said. That was Jean Roach, the principal
of St. Patricks. The schools sixth-grade religion teacher, Patricia
Scherrer Haney, was willing to work on it, and she and Turner began a
week-to-week experiment -- putting lessons together usually the night before
the weekly social justice unit, Haney said.
I came to the relationship not knowing anything about the
churchs teaching, and he came to the relationship not knowing anything
about sixth graders, Haney said. Thats why we combined so
well.
With Turners suggestions for the concepts of Catholic social
teaching that needed to be taught -- human dignity, the difference between
charity and justice, solidarity, subsidiarity and a preferential option for the
poor -- the two developed classroom exercises, including games, art projects
and skits, to communicate those teachings. Together they taught the
classes.
The lessons worked so well that Turner and Haney created a
teachers manual, which this year has been used in Catholic schools
throughout the Kansas City area. The manual also includes a teachers
section that includes theological background, biblical references and excerpts
from church documents.
The programs entertainment approach made the difference in
its effectiveness, according to Marla Byrne, who was the outside presenter
collaborating with the sixth-grade teacher to implement the program this year
at St. Thomas More School in Kansas City. Every time Id come,
Id hear, Are we going to play another game? I think sending
the message through these parables was the best way, said Byrne, a
volunteer at Bishop Sullivan Center. They would never have gone for any
kind of lecturing, but it was the games that made the program work.
Aubrey Adams, 11, a St. Thomas More sixth-grader, agreed, saying
that the lessons were fun, and its better than just sitting and
getting a lecture, because its interactive.
But the classroom education is only one element in the
programs four components. The others seek to take the teachings out of
the classroom and into action. On the advice of the Missouri Catholic
Conference, Turner and Haney chose the issue of earned income tax credits for
the working poor, a bill before the Missouri State Legislature, as the
real-life issue to which St. Patricks students would apply their
knowledge of Catholic social doctrine.
The first step outside the classroom takes students to a social
service agency where they meet some poor people and hear their stories. The
objective is to personalize the issue of poverty and dispel stereotypes. Erin
Campbell, 12, said her perceptions had definitely changed.
We had an image of poor people as dirty people, living on
the street with raggedy clothes, she said. But we learned there are
working poor. Some people still look nice when theyre poor, and we have
to go past the looks and try to help them out.
Last year, Erin and her classmates, then in the sixth grade, met
Joyce through the Bishop Sullivan Center. They asked Joyce, a single mother,
what she would do with $1,000 she might get from an income tax credit.
You should have seen her face, Erin said. It just lit up. It
was the saddest thing youve ever seen. I felt so bad for her. She would
buy some furniture, some clothes for her kids, food, toys.
The next step is to bring what the kids are learning to the
attention of the parishs adults. At St. Patricks, the students made
a presentation during Mass the Sunday before their trip to Jefferson City and
after Mass collected signatures in support of the earned income tax credit that
they would present to the state senator and representative for their
district.
Sixth grader Lauren Luerding said she ran out of cards and had to
have people sign on the back while collecting signatures Feb. 4. Her friend
Stephanie Hall added, It felt good that everybody was with us -- that the
church was with us.
The childrens lessons also made an impact on their parents,
who themselves may have been unaware of the churchs social justice
teachings, Haney said. She recalled that at the start of the program, a mother
and father asked her, Are you also going to teach the kids that those
people made those choices -- that they made the choice to do drugs and they
made the choice not to get a job?
Haney said, I explained, You know youre right, a
lot of people do make those choices. But the majority of them dont. Sad
to say, the majority of them were born into that situation, and its hard
to get out of it.
By the Jefferson City trip, I got the nicest note from those
same parents that said, We appreciate everything you and Tom have done
for these kids. Theyve learned so much, and so have we. Not only do
we educate the kids, but the kids in turn educate their parents and our
parish, Haney said.
The programs final component is to take an action for
justice. For two years in a row, the students of St. Patricks have made a
day trip to Missouris capital of Jefferson City to lobby for the earned
income tax credit bill. The bill died in committee last year, but it has been
revived. Last years veterans, now seventh graders, joined St.
Patricks sixth grade class this year to make the effort to push the bill
again.
When the bill failed last year, Haney said, the students
were outwardly disappointed, but they learned real quick that if you want
something youve got to keep fighting for it.
They also learned lessons on how to refine their presentation.
Last year, we just free-falled it, Erin told NCR on the
train to Jefferson City. We went there, we showed them our posters, and
then it was dead. This year we have questions, ideas -- were prepared for
anything.
As the train pulled into Jefferson City Feb. 7, Haney ran through
last-minute reminders on effective lobbying with the students. No hands in
pockets, no slouching, no fidgeting, no leaning on furniture. Use sir
and maam. Smile. And say thank you.
Divided into two groups of about 20 each and joined by adult
supervisors, St. Patricks students then spent the day walking from office
to office in the capitol building, making their presentation to legislators who
happened to be in.
Only three lawmakers agreed to appointments. Its the
culture in capitals, Turner said, to just drop in -- you cant
get set appointments. Catching them in is the trick.
In each office, one student would read a parable the students had
written and illustrated. The story line involved a group of students who made a
plea to a king to share resources with the peasants. Students briefly recounted
the situations of Kristin and Kurtis, the single parents they met at the Bishop
Sullivan Center this year.
They asked the tough kid questions, Turner said,
questions they had prepared. How do you feel knowing there are working poor who
cant pay their bills or buy clothes for their children? Why would you
give money to a business when people dont have enough money for clothes
and food? When we come down here, are we making a difference or are we just
wasting our time?
Legislators assured them that their lobbying efforts were not a
waste of time. Several even encouraged them to take it a step further and
consider a career in politics. By being here, you add an emphasis to a
group of people who really cant be here, said Lt. Gov. Joe Maxwell.
The waitress cant afford to come because it means a days pay.
You add that voice.
Legislators had a few points of their own to make, giving students
lessons in some of the realities of government. For instance, Sen. Ronnie
DePasco, D-Kansas City, a co-sponsor of the bill, told them that there is a
budget shortfall this year, making the tax credit bill difficult to pass in a
state that by law must have a balanced budget.
The students also learned that youre not always
preaching to the choir, Turner said. Rohrbach, the California, Mo.,
Republican state senator whom Mallory Bahmani had so persistently questioned,
remained steadfast in opposing the bill. He had been left momentarily
speechless at Mallorys question, Dont you think poor people
deserve the same stuff as rich people do, because God made everyone
equal? (In terms of having their basic needs met, teacher
Turner clarified for the senator.)
But Rohrbach explained that he believed it was more important to
work for a society where were mobile, where people that are poor
may not always be poor, where theres opportunity.
Rohrbach briefly mentioned that he had once received a tax credit
himself. He did not elaborate on the circumstances. Stephanie had taken note of
this in objecting to his stance. I thought he should agree with the bill,
since a tax credit had helped him, she said on the train back to Kansas
City. Both she and Lauren seemed resigned that their lobbying had not changed
Rohrbachs mind.
In late afternoon, students and adults gathered for Mass at St.
Peter, a Catholic church next to the capitol building. The group was exhausted
and footsore from a day of marching up and down stairs between offices. After
readings that included the story of the Good Samaritan, Turner reminded the
young lobbyists that about this time of day Kristin, a waitress, would be
getting off work. I bet her feet are sore every day about this
time, he said.
The legislators expect paid lobbyists to come talk to them, Turner
said, but they were amazed that not only are you guys not paid, but you
had a bake sale to raise money to come down here. Thats just unheard of
-- that a group would raise money to come down here to speak on behalf of the
poor.
Meanwhile, in 13 other schools in the Kansas City area, classrooms
lined up their own lobbying activities. They planned to push for initiatives
that included fair housing, changes in Medicaid rules and aid for the
elderly.
According to Joan Rosenhauer, special projects coordinator at the
U.S. Catholic Conferences Department of Social Development and World
Peace, its this component that makes the program a valuable response to
the bishops call to share Catholic social teaching. Most schools do
a very good job involving students in direct service activities -- providing
clothing, food, all those responses to immediate needs, she said.
What happens less often in efforts by school and religious education
programs is getting kids involved in shaping public policy.
The three sixth-grade classes at St. Thomas More focused their
attention on raising the federal minimum wage. Before their planned visits to
the local offices of their U.S. Senate and House representatives, they made
presentations during all Masses the weekend of Feb. 18. Raising the
minimum wage can help the poor get a better life, St. Thomas More student
Katie Kellerman, 12, told NCR.
The question has been raised, Turner said, about how much is
sinking in, and how much the kids are just parroting. However, he said,
theyre 12 years old. All teaching at this age, a lot of it is
parroting. Its whatever a 12-year-old can absorb.
Pointing to the questions St. Patricks students had prepared
for the Missouri state legislators, Turner said, Some kids are really
sharp. They get it.
Turner has been working with the U.S. Catholic Conferences
Department of Social Development and World Peace to disseminate the program in
other cities. He and Haney plan to speak about it at the departments Feb.
25-28 Social Ministry Gathering in Washington and at the National Catholic
Education Association meeting in Milwaukee April 17-20. They also plan to
develop a streamlined version of the program for use in parish religion classes
for public school students.
Most teachers are very anxious to share the Catholic social
mission, but they dont have much time, Rosenhauer said. This
makes it so easy for them. They dont have to create lessons, develop all
the ideas. Its all there.
As St. Patricks students reflected on their experience in
Jefferson City, Turner noted how often the word fun came up. Recalling
how students had played ball on the lawn of the capitol building after lobbying
and before Mass, he said, They intuit the balance you need. It
doesnt have to be all work. They made it a fun thing to help
others.
In the written evaluations turned in by St. Patricks sixth
and seventh graders, one student summed up what the program had taught: I
have learned that all people need to live a decent life, and if you help other
people to live a decent life, you are like Jesus in their eyes. Also, God made
everyone equal. So if we are all equal, why are there poor people still? There
are poor people still because not everyone is listening to God, and we should
help them hear.
Teresa Malcolms e-mail address is
tmalcolm@natcath.org
National Catholic Reporter, March 2,
2001
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