Scaring Our Kids Into Action: The Power of Fear To Produce Compassion

  “Now what?”

 It is pretty safe to say that students in elementary and middle school today seldom get the opportunity to actually do anything about what they learn.  Sometimes schools provide occasional opportunities such as community service, but that often gets focused on the task and fails to connect with the emotion of those in need. At least in the long run.
 
If you have never been truly starving or been separated from all you know, how can you really understand being a lost boy of the Sudan?

     To make an attempt to connect with more than just hunger, but social and emotional rejection, discrimination, and the fear of death itself, our school students reenact the harsh reality of the Underground Railroad. In conjunction with their study of the Civil War, fifth graders set aside an entire day to experience an atmosphere of forced labor, slave masters, heroic escapes, the Grim Reaper, sacrificial rescues and, hopefully, the exhilaration of freedom in Canada. 

     Now just reading about this, some parents are immediately fearful that such an event might “upset” their child or make them afraid.  Well, the answer is that, “Yes, it might.”  A roller coaster or a video game or a horror house at Halloween might as well.  Unlike those kinds of experiences, we create a purposeful fear that can sometimes awaken a student to compassion, empathy, love for those in distress, and, hopefully, a bit of what true freedom feels like.

     Lisa Smith from Jack and Jill of America approached us a few years ago, curious and perhaps a bit skeptical as to how we managed this event appropriately.  Accepting our immediate invitation to spend the day and observe, their response was completely positive, especially after hearing these closing comments of students as they reflected at the end of the day:


     “Working around the school was so tiring, and it was only for 3 hours.  Real slaves had to work for years!”

     “Our safe houses were pretty easy to find, but slaves had to find their own path and take chances… they must have been lost sometimes!”

     “I was so scared and running to freedom for us was about 30 minutes.  I couldn’t imagine doing this like a runaway slave for months!”

     “How could slave owners really think slavery was a ‘positive good’?”

     “God made the Big Dipper to mark the North, pointing them to freedom with his creation.”

     “I hope our country never has slavery again.  I can’t believe this happened in America. Was this really part of our true history?”

     Unfortunately, slavery was a part of our history, and forms of it continue today across the world.  Though some are in denial, it exists today in our own Atlanta communities through child sex slavery.

     But, regardless of what one school or even all schools may enact to inspire students to preserve freedom, this will only be as effective as what we all value and teach in our homes.  Do we hold to the dignity of the person of all races, nationalities, economic levels, born and unborn?  Is our own home a “safe house” for people who are oppressed?  Is it scary to think we might lose our freedom as Americans, enough to do anything about it?  Do we really care enough to at least pray for those who are persecuted daily through the world?

     A simple school day experience of an Underground Railroad won’t in itself produce a heart of compassion, but, perhaps, it’s a step in the direction of students saying, “Now what?” rather than “So what?” 

   Bobby Scott, headmaster of Perimeter School in Johns Creek, Georgia, and director of the ChildLight Schools Association, has over 30 years of educational experience.   He is a co-author of When Children Love to Learn (Crossway Books), a Charlotte Mason education book for school educators. Bobby has been the headmaster of Perimeter School in Johns Creek, GA (a 500+ student school of grades K-8) for 26 years. Since 2004, he has annually led teacher training teams to the Punchmi Christian Academy in Karanse, Tanzania, East Africa, as well as been an adjunct instructor at the Joshua Teacher Training College, also in Tanzania. He holds a Master of Education in Counseling and a Master of Education in School Administration. He and his wife, Valerie, have a son and two daughters.