MBM students help make a difference
Last fall, the eighth-grade PSSA (Pennsylvania Standardized Student Assessment) preparation class at Margaret Bell Miller Middle School studied the lives of seven middle school children from seven countries around the world (Afghanistan, Benin, Brazil, India, Japan, Kenya, and Romania). Last fall, the eighth-grade PSSA (Pennsylvania Standardized Student Assessment) preparation class at Margaret Bell Miller Middle School studied the lives of seven middle school children from seven countries around the world (Afghanistan, Benin, Brazil, India, Japan, Kenya, and Romania).
Not all of these students were able to attend or stay in school. Just getting to school could be very difficult. No transportation, no school supplies, no girls allowed, dangerous gangs, family responsibilities and lack of teachers are some of the challenges facing too many children today.
“Back to School,” a Wide Angle production, documented the struggles and often the disappointments of these seven children. The MBM class’s teacher, Mrs. Diane Lindley, used curriculum titled “Lost Futures: the Problem of Child Labor,” produced by the American Federation of Teachers; and the SCREAM (Supporting Children’s Rights through Education, the Arts and the Media) curriculum produced by the International Labor Organization. These organizations provide classroom curriculums that meet the National Standards of Education.
There are more children out of school in Africa than there are children in school in the United States. Seventy percent of out-of-school children are in Asia and Africa. MBM students soon gained a new appreciation for the public school system in the USA.
School supplies can be a key to education. MBM students wanted to help a child have an opportunity for an education. Beth Lindley at ICCLE (International Center for Child Labor Education) contacted a school in Columbia, South America and with the help of that school’s principal, school supplies arrived safely and were distributed to children who had been recently removed from an oppressive child labor situation.
It took almost three months for the supplies from the MBM students to arrive at the South American school. Recently, the MBM students received a heartfelt “Gracias” (meaning “thank you” in Spanish) from students at the South American school.
The students involved in the project should be commended for helping to make a difference in the life of a child.