McLean County Diversity Project

From June 6-12, 2007, 32 students from several middle schools in McLean County, Illinois visited the United Nations in New York, met with two experts at the UN, one on development issues and the other on terrorism, and with Karen Greenburg, a terrorism expert at the Center on Law and Security at New York University. They also visited the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and a Sikh temple in Queens, and several other sites. They were part of a year-long program organized by the Mayor's office in Downs, Illinois, a rural community outside Bloomington-Normal.

 
The program, launched in 2002, introduces middle school students to new cultures and ideas and provides opportunities for students to share their new knowledge and awareness with their peers and the community.   Above: Choices Teaching Fellow, Kelly Keogh, leads the group in discussion of contrasting policy options on immigration in fall 2006.

In fall 2006 the Diversity Project joined with the Choices Program to add an international focus to their work. Over the course of the year students gathered, led by high school teachers Kelly Keogh and John Bierbaum from Normal, to consider a range of international issues. Using resources from the Choices Program, they joined for study and discussion on four core issues, environmental policy, trade, terrorism, and immigration.

 
     

 

Finally, at a community forum in the spring, they considered the overall question of our nation's role in the world using the Choices unit, The U.S. Role in a Changing World.

After working on these issues throughout the year, the students traveled to New York for the culminating event.
Above: Students present one of four visions for the U.S. role in the world at the community forum in March 2007. Following the presentations, students wrestled with the pros and cons, risks and tradeoffs of each and considered their own views on the issue.   See the article below for a description of the community forum.

While in New York, the students participated in two VIP sessions at the United Nations, a discussion with the UN's Development Director and a discussion with the UN's terrorism expert. In addition, they had an opportunity to talk with Karen Greenburg about habeus corpus and her work with the Jose Padilla case. They visited the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island in order to gain new perspectives on immigration. They visited a Sikh temple in Queens where they participated in religious ceremony and then helped prepare an authentic Sikh dinner which was shared with the community. They also learned about the history of the Sikh faith and discussed the importance of not stereotyping people because of their religion or ethnicity. They visited the Ms Foundation for a session on rap music and the use of gender stereotyping that it employs, had brunch at BB King's restaurant where the Harlem Gospel Singers performed for them, and visited the Brooklyn Arts Center for a lesson in folk dancing. They also visited Ground Zero of the World Trade Center.

What follows is an article by Patti Welander in the LeRoy Journal, March 7, 2007. She is reporting on the public forum that took place in Normal in March.

How the United States should respond to terrorism is a topic that has been hotly debated, and a number of local citizens recently had a heated discussion on that topic.

According to some, the U.S. must direct an expanded assault on terrorism. “The only thing that has come close to making a difference is to use force,” said Hannah Lessen. Nathan Moore agreed, adding, “Being more secure means taking out the terrorists. If we eliminate them, we don’t have to worry about them.”

Others agreed, but said that the U.S. needs to involve the United Nations in its efforts. “It’s not our job to keep everyone else free of terrorists,” said MaSeante Lane. “We need to do it together.”

Jacob Estes disagreed with their strategies. “If you kill all the terrorists, you are going to make someone else mad, and that will make more terrorists. When we went to Saudi Arabia to stop Iraq from invading and get them out of Kuwait, that made Osama bin Laden mad and turned him into a terrorist,” said Estes.

Others thought using violence will lead to more violence. “Increasing the war on terror will only increase anti-American sentiment and fuel more terrorism,” said Neeraj Joshi. He believes you have to address the causes of why they become terrorists in the first place.

You might expect such logical and passionate arguments to have come from those in government or political scholars. Instead, Lessen, Moore, and the others are junior high and high school students from area schools.

The students are part of the Diversity Project, a coalition co-founded by Downs Mayor Jeff Schwartz that organizes annual trips for McLean County students. Those trips help the students to learn and share about others of diverse backgrounds, philosophies, and cultures.

In order to prepare for their upcoming trip to New York, the students have been spending their Sunday afternoons studying a variety of topics, including terrorism and immigration. The Sunday study sessions utilize the CHOICES Program, a classroom international studies program developed by Brown University.

The debate on terrorism was a culmination of two weeks of both classroom learning and self-study. In their readings, the students learned about the origins and evolution of terrorism, the Middle East, and U.S. policy towards terrorism.

The classroom sessions have been taught by Brown Teaching Fellow Kelly Keogh, a history teacher at Normal Community High School who has helped author some of the CHOICES programs. In the classroom learning sessions, Keogh taught the students about “Just War” theory and students studied groups in recent history who have used violence to achieve their goals.

Most of the students learned a great deal, including the fact that there are no “easy” answers to questions about what it means to be in imminent danger and when to use force.

The students also learned how to argue for positions that they don’t agree with. Hannah Lessen was one of those who argued enthusiastically for her position. Her mother, Brenda, was in attendance and was surprised at her daughter’s passion. “She really does not agree with that at all,” she commented. In fact, Brenda Lessen said, she was surprised to hear her daughter debating at all, since “Hannah is very shy.”

Schwartz said he enjoys watching the students “grow in their ability to grasp complex issues.” Those issues, said Keogh, are not easy ones to grasp and form concrete opinions on, even for adults.

During their trip to New York, students will have the opportunity to learn even more about world response to terrorism. They will have a private question and answer session with terrorism expert, Karen Greenburg, of the Center on Law and Security at New York University.

The Sunday classes are just one way the thirty-three students are preparing for their trip. They also have other assigned readings and projects to complete.

____________________________________________________________________________

The McLean County Diversity Project was organized and sponsored by Jeff Schwartz, Mayor of Downs, Illinois. The mission of the project is to introduce students to new cultures and ideas; to instill in students an acknowledgement, acceptance and respect of the differences that reside in us all; and to provide the opportunity for students to share their knowledge and awareness with their peers and the community. Their goal is to provide year-round educational opportunities that focus on middle school students, but also extend to the larger community. Beginning in fall 2006, the project has teamed up with the Choices Program under the leadership of Kelly Keogh, a Normal Community High School teacher and Choices Teaching Fellow.

Return to Capitol Forum Adaptations