When the scary subject of race is finally broached, kids want to talk and talk. It's very satisfying.
Ruby BridgesRead
I felt like there was something I needed to do - speaking to kids and sharing my story with them and helping them understand racism has no place in the minds and hearts of children.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of educating children about racism and the need for open dialogue to foster understanding.
Ruby Bridges expresses her conviction that it is vital to speak to children about racism and share personal stories to help them grasp that such prejudices should not exist in their hearts or minds. By doing so, she highlights the role of education in combating racism from an early age, suggesting that awareness and understanding can lead to a more inclusive and compassionate society.
In practice
In a school assembly discussing the importance of tolerance and acceptance.
When the scary subject of race is finally broached, kids want to talk and talk. It's very satisfying.
Schools should be diverse if we are to get past racial differences.
I've seen schools in Detroit where the windows are broken, where there's no heat, and children are sitting with their coats on in class in the middle of a snowstorm. I've also seen schools in California with Olympic-sized swimming pools and cafeterias like five-star restaurants.
Throughout my life, my prayers have actively sustained me - held me up, carried me through.
My message is really that racism has no place in the hearts and minds of our children.
I remember the first time seeing myself on TV, when my family was watching the documentary 'Eyes on the Prize' for the first time. There were pictures of people going up the school stairs, and Mom said, 'Oh, that's you!' I said, 'I can't believe this. This is important.'
A fondness for reading, which, properly directed, must be an education in itself.
NASA's been one of the most successful public investments in motivating students to do well and achieve all they can achieve, and it's sad that we are turning the program in a direction where it will reduce the amount of motivation it provides to young people.
I guess I understand a public intellectual to be somebody who moves public discourse forward: someone who either says something new or says something that everybody knows to be true but is afraid to express.
My mother helped me understand how not to show off what I knew, but how to use it so that others might benefit.
Education must be increasingly concerned about the fullest development of all children and youth, and it will be the responsibility of the schools to seek learning conditions which will enable each individual to reach the highest level of learning possible.
The reader's ear must adjust down from loud life to the subtle, imaginary sounds of the written word. An ordinary reader picking up a book can't yet hear a thing; it will take half an hour to pick up the writing's modulations, its ups and downs and louds and softs.
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