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Pollution? Racism? War?
Randy Moss’ touchdown celebrations?
After Deb Klaeser’s fifth-grade class at Hintgen Elementary read Leon Tillage’s book about growing up as a black American in the 1950s and ’60s and marching in civil rights protests, Klaeser asked them to write about what they’d be willing to stand up for.
Some wrote about stopping war. Many wrote about pollution. One boy thinks the federal No Child Left Behind mandate is unfair because it makes kids with disabilities take tests above their abilities.
Miranda Greeno, 10, is so concerned about global warming she is building a Web site, using skills she learned during a summer class at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. She wants to organize her friends and family this summer to pick up trash along the Mississippi River.
The lesson even spawned a spinoff project that led the kids to discover www.freerice.com, a Web site where users take a vocabulary quiz. For every word they get right, the organization donates 20 grains of rice to people in impoverished nations.
The class started a campaign to get all the fourth- and fifth- graders to spend 10 to 15 minutes taking the quiz during their computer labs. In the first week, Hintgen students generated 243,808 grains of rice, which Klaeser’s students figured is the equivalent of 9.5 bags or 95 servings.
Not all the issues are so serious.
Jack Pretasky would like to put an end to frivolous lawsuits, so kids can play at each other’s houses without anybody worrying about getting sued. The 10-year-old said he and his friend wanted to play on the snowbanks in front of the school, but the principal told them they couldn’t because they could get hurt and the school would be liable.
Samantha Klingelhofer, 11, wants to stop bullfighting, because she generally opposes cruelty to animals.
Matt Wemette thinks it’s time for the New England Patriots’ receiver Randy Moss to stop showing off every time he scores a touchdown. The 11-year-old Packers fan thinks Moss should be fined and benched.
“He’s been driving me up a wall,” he said.
Chris Hubbuch can be reached at (608) 791-8217 or chris.hubbuch@lee.net.
