Horace Mann was a Massachusetts Unitarian of the 19th Century. He grew up quite poor on a farm in Franklin, but achieved great things in life. He was a pioneer in universal public education and believed it was the best means for creating a good and just society. In 1837, Mann became the first Secretary to the Massa-chusetts Board of Education and worked his whole life to promote quality public education in the state. He claimed, "Education then, beyond all the other devices of human origin, is the great equalizer of the conditions of man, the balance-wheel of the social machinery."

He also believed, "A human being is not attaining his true heights until he is educated." Mann did all he could to improve teacher preparation by supporting the formation of normal schools. He believed that "A teacher who is attempting to teach without inspiring the pupil with a desire to learn is hammering on a cold iron."

A meditation, Honoring Children, by the Rev. Linda Olson Peebles.

Sitting on the ground, with the huge universe of sky and space all around, may we let our eyes be open to the miracle of life in every person whom we see.
May our hearts and minds not be number or unaware or unconcerned.
The vibrancy of life is all around.
The power of love and nurture is ours to bring into being,
to help ourselves and every child we meet.
Who we are and how we are with one another matters.
May we bring blessing and witness to
the sacredness of our being human. Amen.

I come from a family of teachers. My mother went to Boston Teachers' College... although back in the 1920's when she attended it was Boston Normal School. Mom taught first and second grades for a few years at the Asa Gray School in a poor African-American neighborhood in Boston's South End. Then she married and so was required by an archaic state law to retire from teaching as a married woman. My parents stressed not only the value of education for their own children, but the value of education for every child. I learned that teaching was a very honorable profession.

My older sister, Mimi, has been a professor of computer science for 36 years at The College of Staten Island. My husband went to Bridgewater State College and taught math and science for four years at Weymouth High School.

None of the communities my family served were affluent. Many of the students they taught at these schools came from poor or working class backgrounds. My mother taught the grandsons and granddaughters of a generation which had known slavery, either directly or indirectly. My sister and husband taught the sons and daughters of immigrants. For all of these students, education was a great equalizer, a way of getting a foothold in American society and a way up the economic and social ladder.

I know I'm speaking to a congregation which believes in the value of education for all our children. Among you are teachers who work with low-income and minority students and students whose mother tongue isn't English. You are social workers who are responsible for guiding poor and struggling families. And you serve institutions of higher learning, which seek to promote the best possible training for teachers. In your everyday work, you strive to apply our UU principle of the inherent worth and dignity of every person, including the children and youth in our society.

So I may be overstepping my bounds here, talking about an area where you may know more than me. But I'd like to go out on a limb and say something about how our society loves and values our children... all our children. Does it care about how our children are fed and housed? Does it care about their health care? Does it care about the safety of the physical environment they're born into and grow up in? Does it care about the quality of the education they receive?

I see hopeful signs that society on the whole does care. I think that when it comes to our children, love... or perhaps you might prefer compassion ... is really is a big part of the answer. It's where we start, a necessary and basic ingredient... before the facts are raised, before the arguments begin. Our focus should be on the individual child and what he or she needs to develop their greatest human potential - in the words of Horace Mann, to "attain [their] true heights."

I am hopeful for I see evidence of awakening love and compassion in the public's response to SCHIP, the state children's health insurance program for uninsured children. We saw how the public and many politicians disagreed with the president's veto of the expansion of SCHIP funding bill which would cover an addition 4 million children. Sadly, despite this, Congress failed to override the veto. But the public is awake and aroused.

Love is evident in the support of greater funding for public education in a bill now before Congress. And in the reform of the No Child Left Behind legislation, which is up for renewal by the end of this year. The public is beginning to realize how far behind other developed countries we are in educating our youth for quality, high level jobs. I think most thinking people support raising standards for student performance and teacher accountability. This was the theory behind No Child Left Behind.

But we also know that the intent of this act, to raise educational standards, was sabotaged not just by lack of funding, but unrealistic testing requirements... so-called "high stakes" testing. Because the focus is on numbers, schools that have many underperforming students are penalized for their low test scores. School with the more marginal and struggling students aren't supported, but punished with less funding and potential loss of accreditation. Furthermore, the focus of these high stake tests is the least inspiring, most mechanical part of education... reading and math skills.

There are negative impacts everywhere, but it's more hidden in wealthier communities. We know that the students in Newton and Mattapoisett will always do well on the MCAS tests. These children and their schools have the resources. The results of the NCLB are more obvious in many poorer neighborhoods: higher dropout rates, higher rates of drug and alcohol addiction among our youth, higher joblessness and crime.

In a speech before the National Education Association, Barack Obama said, "When you've got a bill called No Child Left Behind, you can't leave the money behind ... And unfortunately that's what's been done. The reason we have consistently had underperformance among our children is because too many of us think it is acceptable for them not to achieve. And we have to have a mindset where we say to ourselves, every single child can learn if they're given the resources and the opportunities. And right now that's not happening."

In a speech before that same organization, Hillary Clinton also called for reform of No Child Left Behind: "We need a new approach. One that is balanced-that puts learning, not memorizing and testing, front and center in American education again... Our children are getting good at filling in those little bubbles," she said. "But how much creativity is being left behind? How much passion for learning is being left behind?"

By now even those who aren't teachers or parents of school children are familiar with the Massachusetts standardized tests known as MCAS. Much of the MCAS preparation is memorization of unrelated facts. Too much time each school day is spent on preparing for these tests because the stakes for each school district are indeed too high.

We know how teaching to the test has killed the joy in many a classroom. How deadly this is to the vision of Horace Mann. As Mann said, "A teacher who is attempting to teach without inspiring the pupil with a desire to learn is hammering on a cold iron." And what teacher who is forced to teach in this manner can be inspiring? How are children expected to attain their highest heights through such dull education?

We know teachers aren't teaching critical thinking or problem-solving any more, skills and talents that are so necessary for the future. Nor are they encouraging creativity or imagination. There's no time for that. It's disturbing to hear how the important and exciting subjects like history and science are cut back. And how others subjects, like art and music, and extracurricular activities like sports, are eliminated altogether in some school districts due to lack of funds... and lack of enough time in the school day. These are the subjects that often inspire students and keep them in school. These are what speak to the human soul.

Rebekah Richardson of the UU organization Promise the Children put it this way: "One could make the argument that NCLB has exposed the inequities in education particularly for urban children, English language learners and those with special needs. This point is well taken and as an educator, I would agree with the need to level the playing field for all children regardless geography, language barriers, or handicaps. This is, after all, public education...for all children. However, while NCLB has managed to expose the inequities, the mandates for dealing with the inequities have proved disastrous for these populations."

I talked to Barry's wife, Kristie Sanders, yesterday. She is a middle school teacher in Taunton. She told me of one student who has fallen behind in her MCAS test preparation. This poor young girl must attend tutoring sessions for her reading skills and thus misses activities like physical education and art. Now wouldn't you begin to hate reading if you were that girl? And wouldn't you be tempted to drop out of school at 16 if this pattern continued?

In the Taunton school system, there other consequences of No Child Left Behind. Because of the funding crunch, fewer teachers are being hired and the average classroom size has grown to 31. Home economics has been cut out. Computers need updating.

Kristie is not in favor of totally abolishing No Child Left Behind. It did succeed in bringing more attention to standards in education, particularly for minority students, English-learning and special needs students. However Kristie, like many teachers and the teacher's unions, is in favor of drastically reforming it. In her experience, the emphasis is more negative than positive. It points fingers of blame, especially at teachers, and does not build partnerships between teachers, parents and the community. Instead these parties are being pulled apart when they should be working together toward common sense and reasonable solutions. Every child deserves a good education to reach their fullest potential. But No Child Left Behind as it stands isn't the way.

I don't know what my mother would think if she were alive today. But I guess that she would be shocked at how education has gone backwards. In some ways it resembles the education of the 1920's when she was first a teacher. In the 20's, rote memorization without true understanding was the proscribed teaching method. It was a time before modern child psychology and theories of progressive education. I know my mother was frustrated by the lack of resources for her poor black students in Boston's South End back then. I think she would be angry at the current situation. But I hope she would also be encouraged by the desire of many people to change education in this state and country. I know I am.

May we love and respect our children ... all our children, of every race, ethnic background, class and ability. May we, in this society of wealth and abundance, work to enhance the God-given potential of every child.

In the words of Linda Olson Peebles: "The power of love and nurture is ours to bring into being,
to help ourselves and every child we meet.
Who we are and how we are with one another matters.
May we bring blessing and witness to
the sacredness of our being human. Amen."