A Call to Action

To blog or not to blog is the question I've been batting around in my head for months.  You see, I'm a thinker, a ponderer, if you will, and I am just not very comfortable with putting my innermost thoughts on public display. However, a recent reread of a revered author's book caused me to put aside my trepidations and post.

Thank You, Sarah by Laurie Halse Anderson is a story about one woman who truly embodies the idea that one person can change the people's attitudes with persistence and determination.  On the pages after the story, Laurie Halse Anderson adds what she calls "A Feast of Facts," and she informs us about the history of, not only Thanksgiving, but a "bold, brave, stubborn, and smart lady," Sarah Josepha Buell Hale. In the last paragraph though, Laurie Halse Anderson issues a call to action; she issues a challenge to everyone--adults and children alike--to remember that we all are very influential.  Her challenge: "Pick up your pen. Change your world."

Right now, the world of education is being rocked by staggering budget deficits, and we who are in education are facing a crisis the likes of which we have never seen in our lifetime.  We are facing job loss, increased class sizes, cuts to curricular resources--But what can we do?  As teachers, parents, grandparents, students, citizens, we cannot just sit back and  allow our elected officials to make blind cuts to our national and state educational systems that will decimate education as we know it without a fight. We must inundate them with phone calls, emails, and letters to let them know that we are not going to allow them to make detrimental decisions that will affect America's future without a fight, and then we must work together to find creative ways to solve this crisis that we face in education.

I do not consider myself a political person, but I have been inspired by the story of Sarah Hale; I plan to pick up my pen and change my world.  Will you join me?