Simple Norms to Mend our National Discourse

Yesterday I embarrassed my daughter when I got weepy at her 3rd grade class Immigrant Nation presentation. But it was so moving about everything that is so right about the USA, and everything that is so much under threat. Each child interviewed an immigrant whom they love. Then, they brought each person to class and told their story briefly. Here are just a few of the stories.

• One child’s mother had grown up in India, but, despite the fact that she didn’t do well on a particular test, made it safely to America.
• One child’s grandmother had left Germany during World War II. All her classmates perished when her second grade classroom was bombed. But her family made it, safely to America.
• One child’s aunt had left Israel to study in America. She fell in love and stayed, safely in America.
• One child’s father had fled the war in Viet Nam when he was four; his father drowned as the family escaped. But they made it, safely to America.
• One child’s nanny had left Mexico for America so she could support her parents. When her father died, she couldn’t return for the funeral because of the immigration rules. But two years ago she became a citizen, safely in America. In the nick of time.
• One child had a babysitter who had to leave her own daughters behind in Mexico with her mother so that she could come to America to work, so that her children wouldn’t go hungry. She is in America. But doesn’t feel so safe…and if she’s not safe, none of us are.

All these painful stories in just one little American classroom of 3rd graders. But also a lot of triumph over adversity. All the children in that room were safe. Wouldn’t know that kind of agony.

Except for the babysitter’s children, a world away from their mom. What were we doing to help make them safe? Clearly not enough now. In fact, we are putting them at risk.

And once we do bring all these different people with very different stories together, how do we help them get along rather than recreating the conflicts they’ve fled?

The rules in the classroom are a simple, straightforward articulation of how we make this melting pot work for everyone, how we turn the challenges of diversity into our greatest asset. I sure wish they could be applied to mend our national discourse.

• Collaboration--I work with everyone.
• Communication--I speak and I listen.
• Creativity--Aha! I have an idea!
• Content--I know my stuff.
• Critical Thinking--I make sense of things.
• Confidence--I dare to fail.