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No Can Do!
A Mom's Defiance Against School Craft Projects By Karin Kasdin
I am proud to report that last week, with not much to lose because the year is grinding to a close, I finally took a stand. I marched myself into the third grade classroom and firmly told the perkiest, most enthusiastic dream of a third grade teacher you could ever pray that your children would merit, that Zack would not be turning a coffee can into Helen Keller for his final book report project. The class had been instructed to read a biography and then decorate a coffee can to look like the subject of the book. I was blissfully unaware of the coffee can part until after Zack had completed the 200 pages of Helen Keller's life.
I suppose I could have been funny and disrespectful by handing in nothing and telling Zack to report that nothing is exactly what Helen Keller was able to see, but I chose the higher ground. I refused to submit Zack, myself or Helen Keller to this debasement. To be sure, my Folger's would not have been complimentary to any of us and it would have been downright offensive to the late Ms. Keller. Instead, Zack copied a drawing of Helen out of the book.
Last week was Open School week in our neighborhood, when parents are encouraged to drop by their kids' classrooms to observe how their prodigies' education is coming along. The coffee cans were lined up on the window ledge. I have to say they were a fitting tribute to the honorees. Lou Gehrig in a Yankees cap and big grin was perched next to Laura Ingalls Wilder with her mane of auburn ringlets, resplendent in a beautifully sewn calico dress. Einstein had the requisite hairdo, and the Michael Jordan can also served as a basketball hoop. A two-dimensional Helen Keller was taped to the window above them.
Helen would not have been embarrassed to be different. She did not let her disability stand in her way of leading a full life. Last week, neither did I