Schools Leave Teaching Wall Street to Parents

Photo Credit: Associated Press

               “I know people are sleeping over at a park.” Said 7-year-old Cloe Davis who is a second grader at Little Red School House in the West Village. “But I don’t know why,” she added. All evidence shows that lower schools have left the education of the Occupation on Wall Street to the parents. [maybe be more clear- what is a lower school? Also, that is a strong statement, to say that all evidence shows that schools have left it to parents, can you back it up?]

               Schools have been vague about teaching the Wall Street protest to children. It is a debate as to whether the protest should be discussed at all in schools. But there are many alternative sources to aid parents in their attempt to explain what it means.

               

               On October 10^th all of the lower schools in Manhattan were off to celebrate the day Columbus is said to have discovered the Americas. However, a group of PTA parents from the Four Central Park East II Elementary School brought their children made to Zuccotti Park, in an event they named ‘Un-Columbus Day’ according to alternet.org. According to [try not to avoid repeating phrases] the Occupation’s website, October 14^th marked another family day in order to educate children. [check the grammar on this sentence. I am also confused as to what this Un-Columbus Day event had to do with the OWS protests]

               It is not clear whether schools are teaching the protest, though one teacher in Zuccotti park held up a sign last night that read ‘Inform, not Reform.’ There are safety and political reasons why teachers are not allowed to bring their children down to Wall Street. Though there were many teachers with their own children on 'Un-Columbus Day.' [This starts to feel wishy-washy. It's not clear whether they're providing OWS information to students, so how can we assume that parents have assumed the responsibility? Also, try to specify if the kids are students of the teacher, or the teacher's actual kids..]

         Others believe that, especially for Lower School, [what is Lower School?] the protest should not be dealt with in the classroom. “It’s hard for them to understand.” Said Marie, a Secretary at Spruce Street School an elementary school on Spruce Street located near City Hall. A representative of Brooklyn Friends School of Downtown Brooklyn said she wasn't sure, but added, "I'm sure that some classes might be doing something on the protest."

               Sarah Casselle the President of the PTA committee of P.S. 89 insisted that children are not learning or talking about it if they are not directly faced with it every day. [That sentence is confusing. How can the principal be sure that children aren't talking about it? What do you mean by "being faced" with it]  P.S. 89 is located Warren Street on the Lower West side of Manhattan, several blocks away from the park. According to Casselle, it is for this reason that her son is not asking about it. Casselle said, “P.S. 89 is quite a few blocks away and several physical barriers away from the protest.” She added, “my son doesn’t come home discussing the protest with his friends.”

            According to Casselle, the protest is not in school policy and should be left for home discussion with parents. She added that her son looks through newspapers and is informed by that as well.

Though many schools do not advertise discussions of the Occupation, parents are being encouraged to educate their children through bringing their own children to protest locations, or with with alternative sources on the web such as videos on youtube.com. [I understand that the piece is about parents taking on responsibility, but the evidence to back that up seems to be inconclusive compared to your opening declaration that "all evidence" points to at-home discussions only.] The young adult writer Lemony Snicket, best known for her Series of Unfortunate Events book recently published a book that attempts to describe the protest to children entitled The Lump of Coal, according to the Washington Post. [I see the relevance of the Lemony Snicket book, but I don't think it's a strong ending to a piece that isn't directly related. Maybe the piece could have ended on a quote to sum everything up as cleanly as possible]