During most of the years I taught elementary students (1962-2001), we had a class meeting right after lunch.  We sat (criss-cross-applesauce) in a circle on a big carpet or, if it was nice, out on the lawn.  Class meetings were a sacrosanct part of our day.  Any topic (unless it was deemed “family business” in which case it was not up for discussion) could be brought up – and, in the course of those thirty-nine years I can’t think of many things that weren’t talked over.

We had our class meetings at that time of the day because lunch recess was often a time problems erupted.  Not that we only discussed disagreements.  It was a time to talk about almost anything on your mind.  The teacher(s) — for some of the years I team-taught in a double-sized classroom — acted as facilitators only; we didn’t choose topics or offer solutions, but we did foster the idea of ‘classroom family’ and ‘community’.

Class Meeting, Ocean Park School, circa 1992

Over the years, I was constantly amazed at the way in which kids were able to monitor and modify their own behavior.  The very best years were those (in both California and here in Ocean Beach School District) during which I taught in multi-graded situations.  The ‘youngers’ – usually first-graders, but sometimes kindergarteners, too – looked up to the ‘elders’ who were usually second or third-graders and the ‘elders’ felt the responsibility of setting a good example.  And, of course, since most kids stayed with me from first through third, we all developed an interdependence that was the basic underpinning of our learning and teaching.

As I watch the current political news – the name calling, the innuendoes, the back-and-forth carping – I want to call ‘everyone’ back to (not ‘on’) the carpet for a class meeting.  Maybe one-meeting-a-day for the next seven months.  It’s time for the players to look one another in the eye and answer some ‘why’ and ‘how’ questions.   Time to get right back to the “sticks and stones my break my bones” level of things.  Time to re-learn how to play nicely. Time to meet first, second, and third grade expectations.

Carpet at the Ready

And, as for the media?  Maybe the playground should be off-limits to them for a while.  And maybe they need a few class meetings of their own. Perhaps the facilitator could suggest that one of their topics be the purpose and responsibilities of Edmund Burke’s fourth estate.

If primary students can understand the concepts involved in words like “appropriate” and “consequences” and “taking responsibility.” is it really too much to expect our nation’s ‘leaders’ to come up to that level?   If so, we are indeed doomed to live in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies world until we self-destruct.  I don’t think there is anyone ‘out there’ poised to come to our rescue.

Yep!  I call for a class meeting.  We can use the carpet right here at our house in Oysterville.  Any day this week would be fine,   (As Nyel often tells me, I do have a rich fantasy life,)