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Citizen Stewart Profile picture
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Jan 25 • 5 tweets • 4 min read
We need to do better at catching kids being good.

Here's a story about Michael Todd, a student in Memphis, who had been bullied for his appearance all his life by his new classmates at MLK College Preparatory School.
However, one Monday morning something changed. Not only did his peers' attitudes towards him shift, but he also underwent a transformation himself. Kristopher Graham and Antwain Garrett called him out of class and brought him to his locker.

#KidsBeingKind #SEL #EmpathyForAll
Kristopher remembered that Michael was hesitant; he said, "I think this is going to make you smile. I apologize for laughing at you and I want to give something to you to make it up."

#KidsBeingKind #SEL #EmpathyForAll
Michael then received a gift of shirts, shorts and shoes from the football players--a gesture which moved him deeply. He told USA Today that it was "awesome" and the "best day of my entire life".

#KidsBeingKind #SEL #EmpathyForAll
The video quickly spread online and has been viewed millions of times.

As parents and educators, we all have a role to play in helping students see they should not be bystanders to bullying. Teach them kindness.

#KidsBeingKind #SEL #EmpathyForAll

upworthy.com/high-schooler-…

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More from @citizenstewart

Citizen Stewart Profile picture
Jan 2
Oliver James is one of the most positive and endearing voices on TikTok. His 112,000 followers didn't know his secret until he put it in a video.

In an upbeat, matter-of-fact delivery, he said:

"What's up! I can't read."

[1]
In fact, Oliver's struggle with reading went back to his elementary school days. He was part of a special education class where physical discipline - which he described as "torture" - was an everyday occurrence.

[2]
Sadly, federal civil rights data suggests the practice of physical restraint that Oliver suffered is often used on Black children with disabilities.

Though he has obsessive-compulsive disorder, he wasn't diagnosed as a child.

This is a common story.

[3]
Read 10 tweets
Citizen Stewart Profile picture
Dec 30, 2022
Polls have shown that the public favors school choice, yet this support does not necessarily translate to votes for elected leaders who advocate for it.

Where is the disconnect?

[1] #SchoolChoice
thehill.com/opinion/congre…
Values-based issues – such as the economy, social safety net, reproductive health, climate, and social justice – motivate voters' choices.

But, school choice advocates ignore or discount these "other" issues because they lack answers for the complexities they represent.

[2]
Also, Americans say they're dissatisfied with public education, and they support school choice in theory, the majority of parents are satisfied with THEIR public schools.

These parents are probably more supportive of #PublicSchoolChoice than #PrivateSchoolChoice

[3] Image
Read 4 tweets
Citizen Stewart Profile picture
Aug 15, 2022
Looking at the current anti-woke campaign as if it is a contemporary phenomenon without historic context helps it succeed. It is a campaign dependent on ignorance.

I'm no historian, but here are some reference points from the past that I think link today's issues to the past..
1915: Thomas Dixon, author of the book that became D.W. Griffith's "Birth of A Nation," said his work "was to revolutionize Northern audiences" and to "transform every man into a Southern partisan for life."

This was America's first blockbuster movie.

thirteen.org/wnet/jimcrow/s…
"Birth" used popular media to falsify the Reconstruction era "by presenting blacks as attempting to dominate southern whites and sexually force themselves on white women."

The KKK were heroes saving the south's "white female nobility.

dailyhistory.org/Did_Woodrow_Wi…
Read 22 tweets
Citizen Stewart Profile picture
May 18, 2022
New polling from the Committee for Children shows that Americans have a positive understanding of Social Emotional Learning (SEL).

“Parents and families across the country believe in the importance of teaching social-emotional skills both at home and in our schools"
Among the 54% of parents who believe SEL is being taught at their child’s school, 52% believe that schools should continue teaching SEL (with 29% wanting schools to do more on SEL).
For parents who responded that SEL isn’t being taught at their school or were unsure, 86% would support their child’s school teaching SEL.
Read 6 tweets
Citizen Stewart Profile picture
May 15, 2022
Chartered schools are the only ones in the public school portfolio that require a “high-quality” label to gain support from the establishment. They don’t say “I support high-quality magnet schools” or “magnet schools should have to play by the same rules as” public schools.” Why?
I don’t mind the drive to push charters to be better if the drive is honest, but the push to “reform” charters looks like another ploy to sabotage them. It would look better if the effort also sought improvements to the 90% of schools that aren’t chartered. Starting with magnets.
On that note, a very simple question: do you think magnet schools (or any “public” school) should be able to deny admission to a student because the student is black?

Did you know that magnets can do that?

Have charter haters said anything about these race-based admissions?
Read 4 tweets
Citizen Stewart Profile picture
May 9, 2022
Those who don't know their history....

"In Brooklyn, in the early spring of 1968, Black and Puerto Rican parents organized for better schools for their children."

Their demands were as follows:
1. The right to hire and fire all principals, assistant principals, and teachers. Those who work hard to teach our children are welcome to stay. Those who won’t cooperate — must and will go!
2. Right to control all our own money, in our own bank.

3. That every child in our district gets the same amount of money [as] children in white neighborhoods.
Read 12 tweets

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