WHY DO PEPOLE HOME SCHOOL THEIR CHILDREN?
Read this Harry Chapin lyric and you’ll see why…
Flowers Are Red
The little boy went first day of school
He got some crayons and started to draw
He put colors all over the paper
For colors was what he saw
And the teacher said.. What you doin’ young man
I’m paintin’ flowers he said
She said… It’s not the time for art young man
And anyway flowers are green and red
There’s a time for everything young man
And a way it should be done
You’ve got to show concern for everyone else
For you’re not the only one
And she said…
Flowers are red young man
Green leaves are green
There’s no need to see flowers any other way
Than the way they always have been seen
But the little boy said…
There are so many colors in the rainbow
So many colors in the morning sun
So many colors in the flower and I see every one
Well the teacher said.. You’re sassy
There’s ways that things should be
And you’ll paint flowers the way they are
So repeat after me…..
And she said…
Flowers are red young man
Green leaves are green
There’s no need to see flowers any other way
Than the way they always have been seen
But the little boy said…
There are so many colors in the rainbow
So many colors in the morning sun
So many colors in the flower and I see every one
The teacher put him in a corner
She said.. It’s for your own good..
And you won’t come out ’til you get it right
And all responding like you should
Well finally he got lonely
Frightened thoughts filled his head
And he went up to the teacher
And this is what he said.. and he said
Flowers are red, green leaves are green
There’s no need to see flowers any other way
Than the way they always have been seen
Time went by like it always does
And they moved to another town
And the little boy went to another school
And this is what he found
The teacher there was smilin’
She said…Painting should be fun
And there are so many colors in a flower
So let’s use every one
But that little boy painted flowers
In neat rows of green and red
And when the teacher asked him why
This is what he said.. and he said
“Flowers are red, green leaves are green
There’s no need to see flowers any other way
Than the way they always have been seen.”
But there still must be a way to have our children say,
“There are so many colors in the rainbow,
So many colors in the morning sun.
So many colors in a flower, and I see every one!”
Who am I ? Who have I been? Who is my Yet To Be?
When I was teaching art in the 1980’s, this song came to my attention. High school students think they know everything there is to know. That’s one of the things that turned me on, showing them how much they left within, yet unexplored. My art classes were continual lessons in Self awareness and Unique expression. Jacqueline Sacs’ art room leveled the playing field, equal opportunity for all levels: Reading level 1 out of 6, Honors or Handicapped.
The day I read this poem the room experienced high emotion: Mine. My face tightened up and the corners of my mouth started to quiver as I tried NOT to cry in front of the entire class. That did NOT work!
There was a table of football players who sat at the back table, on the right side of the art room, near the back door (for a quick exit at the bell). They were there as a requirement, not as a choice.
As I read, my face contorted. “What’s wrong with her face?!”, said one of the players loudly. He was fearful and startled. His friend, the Quarterback said, “she crying you dummy!” A hush fell over the room. I continued to read through my tears.
Afterwards I explained why emotion got the better of me. They were told how they, as little children were subjected to the ideas in Harry Chapin’s poem. Squashed spirits, stifled imaginations, regimented formulas of what was ‘right’ pervaded their ‘education’. By the time they got to high school, they were brain washed.
Please go to the link and watch the great Harry Chapin, from Huntington Long Island, (where I come from)sing FLOWERS ARE RED.
Harry died on the LIE in his Volkswagon Rabbit, the night I went to Eisenhower Park for his concert. He was unusually late for his own show. In an instant, he became the late Harry Chapin. He changed the world with his words and songs.
© Jacqueline Sacs All Rights Reserved