In the early years of No Child Left Behind I worked with Deborah Meier http://www.deborahmeier.com/ at the Mission Hill School in Roxbury, MA. Debbie was the founder and principal. I was a teacher – but a student as well. Deb is good at starting schools that are interesting places for students and for teachers. Deb was then, and is now, a visionary leader, educator and activist. She helped me form my beliefs about teaching, learning and life. She taught me that when working for change within the system, it is easier to beg for forgiveness than to ask for permission. She was one of the first to open my eyes to the current threats on imaginative play. Over the years, NCLB has pushed many kids indoors to their desks for meaningless rote instruction. Here is an excerpt from a front page Mission Hill School newsletter which Debbie wrote in defense of play on April 2, 2003:
Play is good for learning how to trust oneself – which is part of learning how and when to trust the world. Repetition, doing things over and over is essential for learning; but only happens enough when it’s also fun – playful. Play is essential for developing one’s imagination – thinking outside the box is at the heart of play. And empathy – stepping into the shoes of others – is central to both childhood and adult pretend play. In fact, one can see all the Habits of Mind when watching young children at play.
At Mission Hill we will not give up play; and not just for the little ones. The spirit of play is central to good learning at all ages – in and out of school. Play and work are not polar opposites – they go hand in hand. Good workmanship thrives in a setting in which children’s standards grow out of their own initiative; their own task setting; in short, from play. It takes those same four qualities underlined above to produce a masterpiece. We don’t intend to let the pressure for early test success destroy what counts in the long run. It’s good for your kids, for our school, for America, and maybe even the whole wide world.
Last night I had the privilege and pleasure of helping to honor the very first Deborah W. Meier Hero in Education award presented by FairTest http://www.fairtest.org/at the Urban Academy at the Julia Richman Edcation Complex in New York City. This time, the award went to Debbie herself. Thank you, Debbie, for touching so many lives in such a powerful way. And thanks, in particular, for bringing out my inner troublemaker.