“What the World Needs Now Is Love Sweet Love.” Truer words were never spoken, or, should I say, sung. People are getting more and more polarized and divided in their beliefs, their convictions, and their behaviors. I wish I could help solve the problems that we see surrounding us. It reminds me of the old 1950s horror movie “The Blob”, where a slow-moving jelly-textured blob expanded and grew and absorbed everything in its path. It was one of those ominous forces which people could see coming, but often, they failed to head expert advice, or common sense, and they ended up being swallowed by The Blob. Can nothing stop the dangerous blob that threatens us? Times today seem very dire, indeed.
I do my part for instilling hope in humanity when I work as a preschool teacher, perhaps one of the least respected, lowest paid professional jobs on the market. I firmly believe that I can make a difference and change the world, one classroom at a time. Here’s how.
I live in Gwinnett County, GA, just outside of Atlanta. Gwinnett County is one of the most diverse counties in the country. It attracts people because there are a lot of job opportunities in the metro area and the cost of living is reasonable. Rob and I have been very thankful to live in the wonderful town of Duluth, raising our kids in an environment where they are exposed to a variety of cultures. While things are not perfect, there is a sense of community, and people from all walks of life work together. I work at a small preschool which is part of a Presbyterian church. Our preschool reflects the diversity in our town.
Over the last 15 years, I have taught children whose families come from countries all over the world. Here are some of them: Mexico, Australia, South Korea, China, Thailand, Venezuela, Colombia, UK, France, Italy, Romania, Armenia, Greece, Iran, India, Nepal, Ghana, South Africa, and others. In a classroom of 12 kids, I will have about 8 whose families have immigration stories to tell. Here is what I have learned from working with 4 and 5 year-olds who come from diverse populations—kids are all the same. Four year-olds from every part of the world behave the same as four year-olds from every other part of the world. I understand that the kids I see have all been exposed to the American culture, so that is part of it. But, still, I can tell you that the human nature of each child is the same.
There are several unbending truths that I teach in class: God Loves You, We Love You, and We Are All Friends in class. Folks, the struggle is real. Very few four year-olds come into class already knowing how to be considerate of others; how to control impulses; how to speak up when necessary; how to restrain from blurting out every idea that pops into their heads; how to manage their own belongings; how to listen attentively; how to apply new skills; and how to work as a collective group to accomplish goals. We teach them to be respectful and kind, because We Are All Friends. We teach them to share and take turns, because We Are All Friends. We teach them to let someone else have a chance to talk, because We Are All Friends. We teach them clean up their stuff, because We Are All Friends. The list goes on and on. We let them know that each of them is very important, but no more important than the other children. We work as a group—we vote on the best name to assign to our class tree which we inspect as the seasons change, the name with the most votes wins; we hold the handles on the parachute tent toy, don’t let go, or it messes up for everyone; we walk in line together, if you don’t do it correctly, then everyone has to wait. All this to teach them responsibility—what you do affects the other people in our class, and you need to be considerate of them. It’s not all about you. Even so, the kids have plenty of opportunities to express their individualism and get personal attention. The classroom is a balanced scale, navigating through group dynamics and individual performances.
This is no different than any other classroom in any other city; challenges and opportunities that teachers and students face everywhere. Shout out to teachers around the world! But, the point I’m making is this: these kids, in my class, who have not even started kindergarten, are learning to treat each other with respect, no matter what each of them looks like, no matter what native language they speak, no matter whether their personalities collide, no matter what. They are able adapt to the classroom behavior because of the expectations that we set. And because we have years of experience in taming the beast. These kids behave so similarly, same boldness, same fearfulness, same impulsiveness, same hesitancy, same cluelessness….as every other class full of kids we have encountered over the years. Kids are kids are kids. Which is why I love the diversity in my school and in my town. I learn over, and over again, that the things that we use to divide ourselves into subgroups, whether it be nationalities, political parties, race, ideologies, or whatever, are all man-made entities. Catching these tykes when they are just getting started gives me an opportunity to teach them to see past those divisions. It’s not an overnight transformation, but perhaps a long-term understanding of the value of every human. My classroom of children from many different ethnicities shows me that we can learn to work together as productive citizens of the world, so that everyone can prosper. No ONE person is more important than any other person. We should treat each other as if We Are All Friends. The underlying theme tells these kids that we are all here together and we need to figure out, not only, how to get along, but, also, how to be productive. Ahem….Adults? Anyone listening?
If you don’t remember the words to the song, recorded first by Jackie DeShannon and, then, Dionne Warwick, it goes like this
What the world needs now is love, sweet love
It's the only thing that there's just too little of
What the world needs now is love, sweet love,
No not just for some but for everyone.No, not just for some, oh, but just for every, every, everyone.
- Hal David and Burt Bacharach