Tolerance resonates with students after museum visit
By Kathryn Reed
Life-changing. That is how students describe their visit to the Museum of Tolerance in Southern California.
For the second year, Tisha Seims took her seventh-grade language arts students from South Tahoe Middle School to the museum.
It wasn’t just the students who came away changed. Seims said she got more out of the museum this year.
Maria Nvarro, l-r, Jazmine Aragon, Armando Reyes and Cristian Reyes
“The whole responsibility piece really stood out for me this time,†Seims said. “The thing I took from it was owning up to your own choices – not having mom or teachers make your choices.â€
Before the 21 students headed south earlier this month Seims taught them about Anne Frank, the Holocaust, the Civil Rights movement and tolerance in general.
After the trip, there was a bit of decompression to go over everything they had seen, read and heard.
“Before (we went) I was not the nicest person,†student Cristian Reyes said. “Now I’m not judging people by how they look.â€
One of the lasting impressions for Reyes was a picture of what looked like snow covering the ground. He learned it was really ashes from the gas chambers in Nazi Germany.
Jazmine Aragon said it was hard to learn about the Germans tossing newborns they didn’t want from hospital windows.
Armando Reyes remembers learning about Jews having to dig their own graves at the concentration camps.
Much of the Museum of Tolerance centers on the Holocaust, but it also touches on bullying, homosexuality and tolerating all people.
Reyes reflected on the segment in the museum about what happens if you drink and drive – the impact it has on others, not just the person behind the wheel.
Seeing the word “responsibility†in an array of language stuck with Aragon and Maria Navarro. It was that sense of no matter who you are, where you live or the language you speak, you are responsible for your actions, your choices.
Aragon said the lesson she took from the museum was to be “positive and not make fun of people.â€
Another lesson from the museum was how homosexuals are discriminated against and how individuals have been killed solely for their sexual orientation.
Although the students all learned about tolerance and need to be more compassionate, they said hatred and racism are not issues at STMS.
We all wish for the day that our kids are just that, kids. When they are young, they play and work together well. As they get older, that somehow changes. Those changes are displayed in our schools and in our community. All adults need to help our youth understand that our differences are to be celebrated and appreciated. Schools need our support in providing programs such as the Museum of Tolerance, Teen Truth, and Challenge Day. Our community needs to be active in securing and supporting these events to ensure we have safe and peaceful learning communities.
Wait a minute, who paid for this? If the School paid for it, couldn’t the lessons be learned through other less costly means?
It was paid by the students (their parents more likely), and a ton of fund raising.
Kathryn Reed, LTN publisher
Well with all the crying about lack of funds coming from the Schools, that would be an question for us taxpayers when we read about “field trips” for relatively irrelevant educational basics.
Nice to have the students know how to read, write and math before going on “field trips.” Kae: aggree is not a word.
Having been to the Museum of Tolerance with teachers in the past I know how profound an experience it can be. There’s no way this could have been replicated at a school site. The Museum’s program is strong, well thought out, planned, documented and evaluated. I strongly feel that it was well worth the expense and how perfect that the kids had this experience at this time in their lives – it will definitely change them for the better and our community as a whole will benefit. Most adults could benefit from the same experience. Field trips such as this are NOT a frivolous use of money. Congratulations to the teachers and parents who made it happen and to the Administration for supporting them.
Well since they’re laying off teachers, cutting school programs, increasing class size you would think fund raising and school spending would go to the basics first. It’s a matter of priorities… as for tolerance, one field trip to a museum is not going to much change people’s beliefs about tolerance.
You have got to be kidding me people. Children cannot learn everything out of a textbook, they need to have interactive experience that allow them to see things for themselves…up close and personal. You should be praising the faculty and staff for allowing this opportunity to happen for the kids. They are very fortunate to have raised the funds for the trip to get them out of the normal learning environment and see physical examples of the things they learn about in the classroom. Also, did you read the article???? One of the kids said that the experience changed how she will treat people. Lesson learned A+. Maybe you all could learn from a seventh grader, and open your minds.
I am the supervising teacher for this field trip. In response to Mark’s comments about funding, the entire field trip was paid for by fundraising by the students and myself. No money came from our school, our district, or parents. The only money coming from taxpayers was in support of our fundraisers. The students worked really hard and this field trip was a huge success. All of our students who participated are well on their way to becoming strong, resilient, tolerant citizens of this community. I strongly recommend the Museum of Tolerance to anyone wishing to learn how to turn hate into hope!
Looks like someone on here would have benefited from this trip also. This seems like a very enriching experience for the children and worth every cent their parents and their fundraising spent.
Tolerance is not instilled by one field trip. It is usually instilled by the family and life experiences. If one grows up in an intolerant family it rubs off on the kid. If one grows up with a diverse set of people, they learn tolerance of those people. Nice that they fund raised for this trip, they should continue to fund raise to support the other programs that they ask the taxpayer to support. Heather, isn’t it hypocritical of you to call me intolerant because I have a differing viewpoint? Maybe YOU should visit the museum.
Mark, I have read your posts in the past and I find it interesting that you are calling someone hypocritical when most of your posts are intolerant of other people’s opinions.
Dave, what posts are you talking about? And why are you scrutinizing my posts?
Mark, you are a troll.
In case you do not understand: In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room or blog, with the primary intent of provoking other users into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.
Be gone, troll.
The story is about tolerance. Name calling in the school yard is bullying. Name calling online is the same thing. Move on. Talk about the substance of the stories, your ideas and things that are constructive. Attacking one another doesn’t help the accuser or the accused. If you must attack, then attack ideas — but not the people because they have a certain idea or belief.
Kathryn Reed, LTN publisher