When the scary subject of race is finally broached, kids want to talk and talk. It's very satisfying.
Ruby BridgesRead
There are all kinds of monuments to adults - usually dead and usually white. But we don't often lift up the extraordinary work of children.
Interpretation
The quote highlights the lack of recognition given to children's achievements compared to adults'.
Ruby Bridges emphasizes that society tends to commemorate the contributions of adults, often focusing on those from specific demographics, while neglecting the remarkable and impactful efforts of children. This perspective calls for a broader appreciation of the achievements of young individuals who often contribute significantly to progress and change.
In practice
In a speech about youth leadership, one might say, 'As Ruby Bridges once noted, we often overlook the extraordinary work of children, reminding us to honor their contributions as much as we do for adults.'
When the scary subject of race is finally broached, kids want to talk and talk. It's very satisfying.
I felt like there was something I needed to do - speaking to kids and sharing my story with them and helping them understand racism has no place in the minds and hearts of children.
Schools should be diverse if we are to get past racial differences.
I've seen schools in Detroit where the windows are broken, where there's no heat, and children are sitting with their coats on in class in the middle of a snowstorm. I've also seen schools in California with Olympic-sized swimming pools and cafeterias like five-star restaurants.
Throughout my life, my prayers have actively sustained me - held me up, carried me through.
My message is really that racism has no place in the hearts and minds of our children.
I believe that education is the fundamental method of social progress and reform.
The main difference in the effectiveness of teaching comes from the thoughts the teacher has had during the entire time of his or her existence and brings into the classroom. A teacher concerned with developing humans affects the students quite differently from a teacher who never thinks about such things.
Some women have a weakness for shoes... I can go barefoot if necessary. I have a weakness for books.
It took 10 months for me to learn to tie a lace; I must have howled with rage and frustration. But one day I could tie my laces. That no one can take from you. I profoundly distrust the pedagogy of ease.
Jacqueline Woodson's books are such a gift to parents and children for their poignant subtlety and lyricism and their willingness to let a reader dwell in the pangs of realization that we sometimes try to protect our children from.
It should be your care, therefore, and mine, to elevate the minds of our children and exalt their courage; to accelerate and animate their industry and activity; to excite in them an habitual contempt of meanness, abhorrence of injustice and inhumanity, and an ambition to excel in every capacity, faculty, and virtue. If we suffer their minds to grovel and creep in infancy, they will grovel all their lives.
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