There`s a special reflection that millions of Americans go through on the holiday that celebrates the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr.
For some, it`s a time to remember the stormy days of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. For others, it`s a feeling of nostalgia whenever a speech by the slain leader is broadcast or reprinted.
But to a large portion of the young American population, the national holiday celebrated on Monday is simply a time to stay home from school and watch cartoons.
Though reaping the benefits of King`s crusade for civil rights, which ultimately led to his assassination in 1968, millions of children and teenagers know of King through history books, putting him in the same category as George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Christopher Columbus.
In fact, mention the name Martin Luther King to a kindergartner, and they probably won`t know much about him, beyond the obvious.
”He died,” said one 6-year-old kindergarten boy at Collins School in Schaumburg.
Some students, however, may have a broader, if simplistic, view of King`s struggle for equal rights and his fight to end racial segregation through non- violent protests.
”He helped changed some laws. He helped black people to go to the same school and they get to pick anywhere they wanted to go on the bus and stuff like that,” said a 1st grader at Collins.
Teachers, meanwhile, are faced with the task of creating an image of a man, whose lifework was to make peace for people of all colors, to children who routinely don`t have an awareness of colors beyond crayons.
”You talk about any American hero, whether it`s George Washington or Martin Luther King, it`s all history to them,” said Rich Ammentorp, social studies coordinator for Schaumburg Community School District 54.
For 5 and 6 year olds, ”mainly what we try to hit upon is that he was a great man who strived for equality among all people, regardless of who they were,” said Bob Koehnke, principal of Rupley School in Elk Grove Village.
Educators say it is more important, and easier to understand, if the message of friendship and unity are stressed to youth rather than the racial struggles that occurred when King was alive.
”I think that`s where you find the kindergarten teachers especially using the words `friends` and `being nice to people,` ” said Rosalie Haubner, assistant principal of Collins.
Koehnke said there is always discussion in the classrooms about certain holidays, and that usually means reading books, writing reports and holding assemblies on the subject.
Ammentorp said King is part of the social studies curriculum for elementary and high school students in the Shaumburg district. Throughout the school year, teachers use a number of books, films and videotapes on King`s life. High school students have at their disposal video discs and news documentaries that bring alive some of King`s moving speeches, including his classic ”I Have a Dream” speech, he said.
Some elementary schools in Shaumburg show a movie re-enacting a young Martin Luther King experiencing a brush with racism, according to Ammentorp. The movie allows kids to identify, not with a crusader of civil rights, but with a kid just like themselves, he said.
”It tries to put into perspective how things were at one time, that when kids played together, sometimes it was difficult for a white child to play with a black child,” Ammentorp said.
Some educators are using more creative ways to teach little ones about segregation and discrimination. One teacher at Collins separated kids into two groups, one with blue eyes and one with brown eyes. She then stopped talking to the brown-eyed children, giving attention only to the blue-eyed group.
”The blue-eyed people are sort of like the white people, and the dark-eyed people are the black people,” said a 6-year-old 1st-grade girl.
Though efforts in recent years to make King`s birthday a national holiday were constantly in the news, some older youths still have only a basic knowledge of King`s struggles and victories.
”It`s amazing that many of the kids can`t tell you anything about King. And they`re high school kids,” said Rev. Jimmie Daniels, of Hoffman Estates, president of the Northwest Chapter of Operation PUSH.
”When you ask some of the kids, black kids especially, they think it`s just another day off from school, like for George Washington or Abraham Lincoln.”
Daniels, who routinely speaks to elementary and high school children in Chicago and the northwest suburbs, said he has come across teenagers who had never seen a picture of King and assumed he was white. That underscores the need to integrate African-American history into social studies teachings throughout the school system, he said.
”They knew about Dr. King`s `I Have a Dream` speech, but what Dr. King stood for goes much deeper than that . . . it`s more in-depth,” Daniels said.
