As the ball begins to drop...

As you can tell from my profile, I am a teacher in an elementary school. Doing my part to expand their minds to take into account the world around them, I asked them the title question of this blog. Of course, I did not do this during a time that would have interrupted regular instruction, but when they had a little bit of "down time" to think and reflect. You won't be surprised by some of the answers, but a few opened my eyes to how aware of the world they actually are.

Hear are a few of their responses:


"I think that what is wrong with the world is the polution." Boy, age 11

"They are too many crimials and palusion." Boy, age 11

"There is a lot of things wrong with this world. There is criminals, thieves, bad people. There is drugs, alcohol. The people who have been in Iraq way to long. No peace, bombs, guns, and weapons. People getting killed every day. Kids dieing from stupid people. Smokers poluting our air making others die. Theres chewing tobacco, kids fighting, and overdocing medicine. To many people killing others." Girl, age 10

"I think every country in the world should be free." Boy, 11

"Crime, Drugs, Pollution." Boy, age 10

"Something that is wrong with the world is people don't like people just because they don't look the same. We have racists. We are all the same." Girl, age 10

"There is too many people doing the wrong thing." Girl, age 11

"There are many things wrong with the world, and I am going to tell you. People are doing their own thing and most of them are bad like people getting raped, drugs, drinking, guns, people killing people, and the people in Iraq have been their way to long. People think they are bad and think that their are no rules. A lot of people have gotten hurt, and even getting killed. Some people look up to others and they aren't setting a good example and the people who are looking up are eventually going to be like that. I wish I could stand up and say something but I am only ten. I mean what happened to the world being nice, kind, and calm." Girl, age 10

"The people in it!!" Girl, age 10

As we start the New Year, let's try to make our worlds better so that our World can be affected for the young ones looking on(Please check out the book, Radical Leap, for more thought on this topic). Instincts play a role in intelligence, but we can agree that the majority of what we know is learned. Hopefully, we can provide examples for these little eyes that are worth following. Happy New Year!

Food for Thought:

"To put the world right in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must first put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must first cultivate our personal life; we must first set our hearts right."

Confucius

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world."

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
a.k.a. Mahatma (Sanskrit words maha meaning Great and atma meaning soul) Gandhi