story5485.xml

story5485.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-11

My name is Susan Tucker-Coelho and I have been a music teacher at the George R. Austin Middle School in Lakeville, Massachusetts for 27 years. As years have passed, I have noticed an increased lack of self respect amongst my children along with increased disrespect for those around them. One of my biggest goals as their teacher is to be able to teach children who enter my classroom that they all have a goodness and talent within them. I have taken many workshops to obtain the skills that I have hoped to gain in order to diffuse angry behavior and infuse a sense of self confidence through the activities in my music classroom and choirs. Within myself, however, I really did feel that the children that I saw every day had lost a sense of depth, character, commitment and ambition to overcome difficult obstacles. Too often, I was feeling that the children in my classes simply had little appreciation of all of the great oportunities at their disposal and being rude and totally indifferent was becoming more and more the norm. On the morning of September 11th, several colleagues of mine slipped into my classroom with hints of what was happening. I tried to acess the internet in between classes, only to find that our principal had turned it off for fear of the children finding out this shocking news unexpectedly. During my first free period, two members of my department and I turned on a radio in one of our classrooms and we felt that we truly were witnessing our country being obliterated. Following that, our principal had issued a hand delivered message relaying the facts to us and told us that we were to teach as normally as possible and that she would call the children together at the end of the day to explain to them what had happened. It was so hard to teach. I wanted to cry as I looked at their faces and realized how precious these children were and I also wondered what part, if any, of our country would be left for them. I wondered if these children would even fully grasp the severity of what had happened. The day came to an end. The children listened to our principal explain what had happened. There really was not a lot of reaction. I thought that these chldren probably were most concerned that all of this meant their trip to the mall or their T.V. shows would be cancelled. I felt that their concerns would be only about the latest rap group or if their boyfriend would call that night. The following morning, as I drove past my students at their bus stops, I was amazed. All of the chldren were waving American Flags, had clothing of red white and blue, had pictures of the American Eagle and of the American Flag taped quickly onto thier binders. I felt so proud. The determination on their faces as they exited the buses was enough to make any American proud. That morning, during first period class, our principal asked that we all stop to say the Pledge of Allegiance in honor of the great tragedy. My classroom had no flag. A boy in my room who had been a serious discipline issue all year pulled a small American Flag out ofhis book bag. Richard held up his tiny flag, stood on a chair and said that he was proud to be standing up for his country. We said the Pledge of Allegiance.I praised Richard and the class applauded him when we were done. My worst fears about our future were gone. My doubts about the character of our children were forever changed. I was never so proud. Out there in lazy, apathetic suburbia, we have children filled with more character and dedication than you would ever imagine. The American dream will ALWAYS be alive and well. Our children will rise to the most difficult of challenges with more courage and determination than we ever dreamed. When the chips are down, we know that our next generation will be there and just as strong, if not stronger, than we. God has blessed America!