DEPT. OF EDUCATION
DON'T LAUGH
by Lauren Collins
Issue of 2005-07-04
Posted 2005-06-27

LINK

The problem of antisocial behavior among the young has become so prevalent in Britain that a Blair official recently proposed forcing miscreants to wear bright-orange jumpsuits. New York City, on the other hand, seems to prefer, in these post-Giuliani years, to be an avatar of positive reinforcement: the esteem-affirming Athens to London's hard-nosed Sparta. Over the course of the next year, the Department of Education will introduce into all of its elementary and middle schools "Operation Respect: Don't Laugh at Me," an intensive curriculum in character development. The program, which is the brainchild and heart's desire of Peter Yarrow, of Peter, Paul & Mary, aims to combat bullying by emphasizing the moral lessons of folk music.

"Don't Laugh at Me" (or dlam) was born when Yarrow-a veteran of the civil-rights, gender-equality, nucleardisarmament, peace, and Amtrak-subsidization movements-heard a country ballad of that name at the Kerrville Folk Festival, in the summer of 1999. Moved to tears by its swelling harmonies and first-person testaments to the effects of ridicule-"I'm a little boy with glasses, the one they call a geek / A little girl who never smiles 'cause I've got braces on my teeth"-he decided to incorporate the tune into Peter, Paul & Mary's repertoire. At a gig with the National Association of Elementary School Principals, the group played the song. "The principals gave a tremendous response to it, and said, 'We need this in our schools,' " Chic Dambach, Operation Respect's president and C.E.O., said the other day. "And Peter, being the activist and the organizer that he is, said, 'You won't just have a song but a whole program.' " dlam is now used in at least twelve thousand American schools and camps.

A couple of Tuesdays ago, at a fusty Department of Education building in Brooklyn, Lynne Hurdle-Price and Mark Weiss, conflict-resolution experts, led a dlam training session for about two dozen middle-school teachers, whom they divided into five groups. "I want you all to share a time in your career as an educator where someone did or said something that made you feel like you were not cared for or respected," Hurdle-Price said. Each teacher spent three minutes sharing. "Now do the opposite." Hurdle-Price distributed paper and Magic Markers. She asked each group to draw an outline of a human figure, inscribing negative behaviors ("put-downs") on the outside and positive behaviors ("put-ups") on the inside, close to the heart. Each group then presented its finished product, a Caring Being, which, according to the dlam teacher's guide, would help the participants to "explore creating agreements around behaviors."

"This is Mr. Smith," one teacher said, holding up an illustration of a man with a porkpie hat and a handful of flowers.

Weiss unfurled a poster of a human outline embellished with Chinese characters and said, "This is Caring Being in Cantonese."

On to dlam's outreach video. The tape included accounts of book-slamming, sandwich-spitting, and shin-kicking, as well as footage of a rendition of "Don't Laugh at Me" that Yarrow had performed at the United Nations. "A ridicule-free world," a soothing voice intoned. "It's possible, but only with everyone's help." (dlam's efforts at enrichment may also extend to Peter, Paul & Mary's back catalogue. Page 22 of the teacher's guide instructs: "Tell students that this version of the song 'Don't Laugh at Me' is sung by Peter, Paul & Mary. If you have not already done so, tell them a little bit about the group. . . . In the early 1960s, Peter, Paul & Mary were the #1 recording group in the country." )

Next up was "The Big Betrayal Conflict Script," a skit about two friends, Terry and Sasha, who get into a fight at a basketball game. The exercise emphasized using "I messages," as opposed to those that begin with "you" and, therefore, can put their targets on the defensive. (dlam also recommends having students simulate the sound of a rainstorm and discuss a story called "The Maligned Wolf.")

"Just make sure they're sticking to the formula," Hurdle-Price advised. "I often get students who say, 'I feel that you are stupid.' "

Later, the class broke for lunch. A very tall woman in a hunter-green suit lingered. Her name was Anelien Venter. An education specialist from Cape Province, South Africa, Venter had discovered Operation Respect on the Internet and had come to the United States to spend two months studying it. She had already taken it upon herself to translate many of the program's materials into Afrikaans, tweaking certain cultural details. "I have Terry and Sasha, for instance, fighting at a rugby match instead of a basketball game," she said. She reached into a tote bag and pulled out a binder with a clear plastic cover: "Projek Respek Werkswinkel."

Dont Laugh At Me

LINK for Parents

History

Operation Respect was founded in September, 2000 by Peter Yarrow of the legendary folk trio, Peter, Paul and Mary, to promote the infusion of character education and social and emotional learning principles into school curricula. Toward this end, Operation Respect created and disseminates the "Don't Laugh at Me" (DLAM) Program. The centerpiece of the program is the song, "Don't Laugh at Me," sung by Peter, Paul and Mary.

Overwhelmingly enthusiastic responses to the song from educational groups such as the National Association of Elementary School Principals, inspired Peter Yarrow to seek the collaboration of Linda Lantieri, Founding Director of the Resolving Conflict Creatively Program (RCCP), of Educators for Social Responsibility, to help build a character education program around the song.

The DLAM program harnesses the transformational power of music to help children make a heart connection and become receptive to the lessons offered through the activities in the accompanying curriculum. This same connection inspires educators to take up this cause, which, for Peter, is the 21st Century culmination of the movements that Peter, Paul and Mary have supported for so many years through mobilization and inspiration generated through the power of their music.

Message from Peter Yarrow

It was a mere four years ago that I first heard "Don't Laugh at Me" at the Kerrville Folk Festival. My daughter, Bethany, who, like my son, Christopher, had virtually grown up with the music of this remarkable festival, walked me over to the Threadgill Theatre for a sunrise performance that would change my life.

Bethany had informed me that the preceding night a remarkable event had taken place at the campfires. Notwithstanding the ironclad convention of having each song followed by the next person in the circle, the near impossible had occurred; unanimously, the circle asked Steve Seskin to sing "Don't Laugh at Me" a second time! History had been made and the word spread rapidly.

There we sat, my beloved daughter, a singer-songwriter in her own right, with her hand in mine, tears running down our cheeks, listening to a song that told our hearts' stories, recalling events that we had personally experienced or witnessed in the lives of others.

Since I have lived a life of social and political advocacy through music, one in which I had seen songs like "Blowin In the Wind," "If I Had a Hammer," and "We Shall Overcome" become anthems that moved generations and helped solidify their commitment to efforts like the Civil Rights Movement and the Peace Movement, I knew I had just discovered a song that could become an anthem of a movement to help children find their common sensitivity to the painful effects of disrespect, intolerance, ridicule, and bullying.

"Don't Laugh at Me" was written by Steve Seskin and Allen Shamblin.

Please click here to read Peter Yarrow's biography

DLAM Resources

Namby-pamby nation
Michelle Malkin, TownHall.com
June 29, 2005

Link

White House senior adviser Karl Rove caused a firestorm last week after observing that liberals favor "therapy and understanding" to fight terrorism in a post-Sept. 11 world.

Rove spoke the truth. But he barely scratched the surface.

The left-wing Kumbaya crowd is quietly grooming a generation of pushovers in the public schools. At a time of war, when young Americans should be educated about this nation's resilience and steely resolve, educators are indoctrinating students with saccharine-sticky lessons on "non-violent conflict resolution" and "promoting constructive dialogues."

Peaceniks are covering our kids from head to toe in emotional bubble wrap. They are creating a nation of namby-pambies.

The latest example of Hand-Holding 101 comes from the New York City public schools. According to Lauren Collins of The New Yorker magazine, the school system is introducing a new curriculum called "Operation Respect: Don't Laugh at Me" into all of its elementary and middle schools. The program is now used in at least 12,000 schools and camps across the country.

Ostensibly, the program helps kids deal with petty meanness and name-calling from insensitive classmates. Not by instructing them in self-defense, mind you, but by inflating their self-esteem. The organization's stated mission is "to transform schools, camps and organizations focused on children and youth, into more compassionate, safe and respectful environments." Instead of "put downs," teachers encourage "put ups." The Operation Respect website depicts well-adjusted children holding up signs with ego-affirming messages: "Ridicule Free Zone," "No Dissing Here," "U Matter," and "Peace Place."

Among the mindless training exercises teachers undergo is the "Caring Being" session. Collins quotes a conflict-resolution expert in Brooklyn leading middle-school educators through the lesson: "I want you all to share a time in your career as an educator where someone did or said something that made you feel like you were not cared for or respected. . . . Now do the opposite." After drawing figures encompassing their negative and positive experiences, teachers shared their finished products, "Caring Beings," which would be used to "explore creating agreements around behaviors."

Blecchh.

Teaching students to respect one another is all well and good. But a closer look at the program's founder and its sponsors shows that beneath all the fuzzy-wuzzy, touchy-feely jargon is a clear pacifist agenda.

"Operation Respect" was founded by radical lefty Peter Yarrow of the folk group Peter, Paul & Mary -- last seen in April publicly apologizing to Vietnam. During last year's presidential campaign, you may recall that Yarrow traveled and performed with his old friend and anti-war mate John Kerry, who pretended to smoke a joint while Yarrow sang the ostensible children's ditty "Puff the Magic Dragon."

No wonder they favor "Ridicule Free Zones."

The teaching materials for "Operation Respect" were created under the direction of Linda Lantieri, founder of something called the "Educators for Social Responsibility's Resolving Conflict Creatively Program." Educators for Social Responsibility promotes pedagogical material from the likes of the militant "War Resisters League" to "understand" war and peddles lessons on (hyped) anti-Muslim discrimination in America to "understand" the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Additional guidance for the lessons came from the left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center. The program lays the groundwork for children to take a "peace pledge" and commit to non-violent conflict resolution to solve problems.

Translation: Therapy and understanding over vigorous self-defense.

In their brilliant book "One Nation Under Therapy," Christina Hoff Sommers and Sally Satel diagnosed the public school's pacifist pathology dead on:

"American children badly need moral clarity. But our education establishment is too uneasy about the idea of moral judgment to meet this elementary need. Feelings of helplessness and disorientation are thoroughly, even compulsively, canvassed, elicited, discussed, and promoted; by contrast, feelings of moral indignation and condemnation are deflected and downplayed. This leaves children defenseless, clueless and unprepared to meet real and grave threats to their own and the nation's future."

Just what we need to combat throat-slitting, suicide plane-flying Islamists: young eunuchs swaying to moldy old folk music while their "Peace Place" signs flap in the wind.

Michelle Malkin is a syndicated columnist and maintains her weblog at michellemalkin.com

One Nation Under Therapy Review on townHall.com:
"Drawing on established science, and common sense, Sommers and Satel roundly reject the presumption of fragility, and the notion that an emotionally anguished public requires a vast array of therapists, self-esteem educators, grief counselors, workshoppers, and traumatologists to lead it through the trials of everyday life. They refute the assumption that vulnerability, rather than strength, is the key to good character, and challenge the dogma of self-revelation. They expose the folly of replacing ethical judgement with psychological and medical diagnosis, save for instances where individuals are severely mentally ill. They contend, in short, that human beings -- including children -- are best regarded as self-reliant, resilient, psychically sound moral agent responsible for their behavior, and that believing otherwise is destructive to individuals and society alike.

One Nation Under Therapy reveals:

How "therapism" and the burgeoning trauma industry have come to pervade our lives -- in children's classrooms, the workplace, churches, courtrooms, the media, even the military

How therapism promotes self-obsession, self-pity, dependency, and a belief that one is not responsible for one's actions

The Myth of the Fragile Child: how the therapeutic regime pathologizes healthy young people as stressed-out, homework-burdened, hypercompetitive, and depressed or suicidal. How the remedial measures it aggressively promotes for nonexistent vulnerabilities not only waste students' time, but impede their academic and moral development

The alarming extent to which our nation's classrooms have been invaded by programs and exercises that encourage children to talk at length about their private feelings and thoughts

How, at the heart of therapism, is the revolutionary idea that psychology can and should take the place of ethics and religion

Refuted: the idea that uninhibited emotional openness is essential to mental health. Evidence that, on the contrary, reticence and suppression of feelings can be healthy and adaptive

Why most victims of loss or tragedy do not benefit from therapeutic intervention. How trauma and grief counselors have "erred massively" in this direction

The myth that continuous monitoring of one's feelings is healthful and liberating -- and why it is not only false but dangerous

How excessive introspection and self-disclosure can lead to severe depression

Why healthy children are most in need of guidance on how to be civil and ethical -- not how to be self-obsessed

The absurd lengths many educators are going to today to protect children from stress and competition -- such as the National Education Association's new version of schoolyard tag "where nobody is ever 'out'"

How "nonjudgmentalism" has become a cardinal virtue -- while concepts of right and wrong, good and evil, have come to be regarded as anachronistic and intolerant

The cult of "self-esteem": how a growing body of evidence suggests there is no connection between self-esteem and achievement -- while unmerited self-esteem is associated with antisocial behavior, even criminality

How the notion of sin has been replaced by the concept of mental illness -- encouraging crime, drug and alcoholic abuse, and other vices

How Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) has evolved from an affliction of war veterans to one affecting nearly everyone who has experienced a setback or troubling incident

"The triumph of the therapeutic": How the assumption that emotional disclosure is always valuable, and that most people are incapable of dealing with adversity without professional help, has slipped its moorings in clinical psychology and drifted into all corners of American life

"An important book that should be widely read. Their analysis of the baneful consequences of narcissism and self-absorption is a powerful critique." -- Diane Ravitch, author of The Language Police
"A gauntlet-throwing assessment of the culture of therapy . . . certain to spark reflection and conversation." -- Kirkus Reviews"

Lindalyn's Journal
By Lindalyn Kakadelis
July 08, 2005

LINK

It should surprise no one that the latest educational fad making waves across the country is just another repackaged, touchy-feely program designed to bolster self-esteem. This is what we have come to expect from our public schools. Elevating the self-esteem of students has become hallowed − and all too-familiar − ground for public educators.

So, what is it this time? During the coming year, all elementary and middle schools in New York City will adopt a program called "Operation Respect: Don't Laugh at Me" (DLAM). Founded in September, 2000 by Peter Yarrow of folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary, DLAM is a program designed to heighten sensitivity to bullying, disrespect, and ridicule among schoolchildren. Yarrow, who pleaded guilty in 1970 to taking "immoral and improper liberties" with a 14-year-old girl, wants to teach our children how to "make a heart connection" to his music, thereby learning to respect one another. Am I the only one here who sees the irony in this man teaching our children about respect?

New York is not the launch site for this movement − DLAM is already practiced in more than 12,000 schools and camps around the country. But according to Lauren Collins of New Yorker magazine, the Department of Education there has already begun training middle school teachers in their Brooklyn offices. Conflict resolution experts led teachers in exercises, creating a "Caring Being," or human figure drawn with negative behaviors ("put-downs") on the outside, and positive behaviors ("put-ups") on the inside, close to the heart. Teachers participated in sharing activities, ostensibly purging painful memories of times when they too felt disrespected.

Don't get me wrong. I support a zero tolerance policy toward teasing, bullying, and disrespect in schools. My strategy, however, is to enforce the Golden Rule − "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Yes, schools must keep order, but they must also mete out consequences − punishing misbehavior and disrespect − and following words with action.

DLAM is not in North Carolina yet, but be on the lookout. In the meantime, we still must slog through a similar version of political correctness that has infected schools (and our country) everywhere. Last year, North Carolina's State Board of Education adopted a policy against harassment, bullying, and discrimination. No problem, except for the fact that there are already both federal and state laws against this kind of thing, as well as multiple local policies prohibiting discrimination and harassment: Mecklenburg County alone has 41 references to policies discussing harassment and discrimination. Clearly, adding more rules is not the answer.

Violence − the height of disrespect from one human being to another − is a persistent and very real problem in many of our schools. Does anyone really think that having students watch a video about a "ridicule-free world" or croon along to Peter, Paul and Mary ballads will fix the pervasive and entrenched disrespect we see among students?

I'd venture to say it's time for a little tough love: following the sound rules we already have on the books with some serious consequences and enforcement. But let's not put teachers in the role of camp counselors or therapists. Teachers aren't in school to soothe egos; they are there to teach students. And schools need to get over the feeling that it's somehow "wrong" to distinguish between right and wrong. Whatever our problems, one thing is clear: the answer, my friends, isn't blowin' in the wind.

To learn more about the latest education news, visit the Alliance online at www.nceducationalliance.org. Check out the "Headlines" section of our home page, updated daily with articles from every major newspaper in the state. At the Alliance, we are committed to keeping you informed and empowered as we join together to improve education for the children of North Carolina.