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| "When you tug on any one thing, you'll find it is hitched to everything else in the universe." - John Muir |
The children are learning about the differences between being passive, aggressive, and assertive. They learned more about some of our worlds great heroes and peacemakers:
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| Rosa Parks |
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| Gandhi |
The children learned to be assertive and not aggressive. They practiced helping others be assertive. The day closed with a "Very Unusual Dinner," which modeled the distribution of wealth in the world. But in this model, the kids had the opportunity to change the world and re-create it as they would ideally envision the world to be. When they entered the dining hall one table was decked out with toys, lavish decorations and fancy chairs, two tables were up with chairs but nothing fancy, and the majority of the tables were on the ground without chairs. Cabins were randomly selected and assigned to the various tables. This brought out a lot of feelings of unfairness and anger. The "haves" were happy at first because of all the fun things they had, including 5 teachers to serve them their pizza dinner. The "have-nots" were very angry with those sitting at tables. The children talked about how it felt to sit on the floor while their friends were getting treated like kings and queens. By the end of dinner the children came up with a plan for building a community based on fairness that the rest of the would would emulate. The students at the head table gave out their toys or "resources", to the tables on the floor, helped pick their tables up and found chairs for them to sit on.
I am always impressed with the students' willingness to take risks here at MOSAIC, whether it be sharing their ideas and emotions in front of the whole camp, trying an activity wholeheartedly or simply sitting next to someone they don't really know. I am watching them grow and change right before my eyes.
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