I'm attempting to organize my papers, a grueling task, and just found the following letter to the editor which I wrote and was published in the December 12, 1995 Newton TAB.
"This letter is in support of my statement at the PTA meeting, Nov. 14, that what I want for our children as people and citizens is for them to be responsible for their health. I believe we do our children a great disservice by not teaching them about, and through, the medium of the kinesthetic sense. Because we learned to breathe, sit up, crawl, move, and stand without teaching, we didn't know that these were subjects worthy of studying. These bodies we move through are worth of being studied, both from the inside and out. Children should be studying how the human body moves and functions, and discovering their responsibilities in creating and maintaining optimal health. This includes mental health, as well as physical health.
I want our children to become citizens who live together cooperatively, to make the world a better place. It is not enough to prepare our children to go on for further schooling, so that they can get 'good' jobs, and amass more individual wealth.
I want them to be aware not only of themselves, but of those around them; to be able to recognize where there is need, and to feel within themselves the power to have a part in resolving that need. Our children will need to know a sense of personal responsibility, to know their rightful place in a society which they will have the power to affect. They will need to know the effects of their actions, whether in ejecting noxious emissions, or degrading another being, whether human, animal or plant. They will need to know, not only how to be independent, but how to be interdependent.
I believe that we, in our society, have been very selfish. We want no part of someone else's pain. The American dream has been to rise up out of individual poverty, moving up through the economic class system to a position of great wealth and power. Perhaps, it is time to dream a new dream.
My dream is based on the creative movement teachings of Barbara Mettler in Tucson, Arizona. At the entrance to her dance studio, the Tucson Creative Dance Center, built by Frank Lloyd Wright, are the Zuni words, 'We dance not only for ourselves, but for the good of the people.'
Mettler's very first movement problem is, 'Find a space where you have enough room to move, and where everyone has an equal amount of space.' That problem alone could take the next millennium to solve. Imagine the genuine respect for each individual within that configuration.
In our society, we have thus far looked to solve problems only after they have become big. One of the biggest crises facing our government right now is the staggering cost of health care for our elderly and our poor. (This was in 1995!) Our nation's health bill is currently $800 billion. And we still want to fix people with a pill, surgery or even psychotherapy, after they have become ill.
I believe children need to be educated about how to be well. Our holistic health care providers already know how. Through attention to the kinesthetic sense, children can learn to become more aware of their emotions and alternative ways of communicating, including assertiveness skills. Children can learn to manage their stress without reliance upon tobacco, drugs or alcohol. Children can learn to nurture a healthy body image and eliminate eating disorders. By having learning grounded in the body through the medium of dance, children will learn respect and responsibility for their bodies, which are their first homes, and from there can learn more respect and responsibility for their environmental homes.
To the extent that we want to enhance our students' self-esteem we must understand that there is no self without the body. Our bodies are not merely containers in which our minds are stored.
The Newton schools already have an excellent pilot program in health education at Day Middle School. We need a comprehensive health education program for K-12. It is time for our schools to stop contributing to and begin to heal our societal mind/body split."
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