Where is the school?

The school that empowers our children to create the better world that we have decided to eschew?
The school that fosters curious, lifelong learners?
The school that invites skepticism and expects students to point out inconsistencies between the things we say and the things we do?
The school that embraces Christian values, and Muslim values, and Hindu values, and Jewish values: that taking care of one another is really the only job we have on this earth?
The school that celebrates the differences among us, so we may broaden our experiences and understanding through our interaction with one another?
The school that instills the idea that care, compassion, and gratitude are not signs of weakness?
The school that embodies the ideals of freedom and equality that our country constantly espouses but never seems to realize?

Where is the school that cultivates curiosity?
Where is the school that creates critical thinkers?
Problem solvers?
Innovators?

Where is the school that encourages students to color outside the lines?
Where is the school that teaches red is not better than blue, and neither is better than rainbow?
That fear promotes inaction, and hope inspires us to create a better world?

Where is the school that admits that “career ready” only prepares students for a small fraction of the things they’ll be doing with their adult lives?
The school that teaches students that they have a responsibility to their community?
That civic engagement is a natural and necessary response to the wealth of resources provided to us?
That questioning leaders and holding them accountable is a responsibility we cannot delegate?

Where is the school that challenges students to choose to solve the problems their parents have chosen to ignore?

Where is the school that recognizes that body autonomy is a basic human right?
And freedom of religion and expression are sacred, but do not include the right to oppress others?
And that you are not better than others simply because of your gender or your appearance or the privilege you were born with?

Where is the school that teaches students that wealth accumulation is not the goal of life?
That acquiring more things doesn’t mean you “win”?
That accessibility to legal assistance and medical care and affordable food and housing are basic needs that everyone is entitled to, expecially in the most prosperous country on the planet?
That getting ahead always means someone is being left behind?

Where is the school that explains how science answers questions and grows knowledge?
That established experts and social media memes don’t carry the same credibility?
That asking how you know is just as important as asking what you know?
That technology often creates more problems than it solves?

This is my song, O God of all the nations
A song of peace, for lands afar and mine
This is my home, the country where my heart is
Here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine
But other hearts in other lands are beating
With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine

My country’s skies are bluer than the ocean
And sunlight beams on cloverleaf and pine
But other lands have sunlight, too, and clover
And skies are everywhere as blue as mine
O hear my song, thou God of all the nations
A song of peace for their land and for mine

Where is the school that makes our world a better place?

I want my children to go to that school.
I want all children to go to that school.

Song quote: Song of Peace (Finlandia), by Lloyd Stone