News-Info-Alerts

Re: A Real-Life Civics Lesson

From: POW-MIA InterNetwork

Date: May 24, 2003

"A real-life civics Lesson
By Mark Berger / News Staff Writer

HOPEDALE -- Instead of reading about history, Adele Stock's senior English class made it yesterday.

Classmates watched Courtney Breese raise the new POW/MIA flag at the police station yesterday morning.

Breese's Advanced Placement English literature and composition research paper on prisoners of war and soldiers missing in action discovered Hopedale hasn't followed a federal law mandating POW/MIA flags be flown during certain holidays.

Breese told Detective Richard Mank, the school resource officer, how Hopedale didn't have a flag. Mank purchased one from a New York flag company.

"I'm glad that we were able to recognize those (servicemen) from the past," Breese said after the short ceremony. "I think Memorial Day is perfect for this. A lot of alumni and members of the community are either just coming back from Iraq or are still serving overseas."

Her seven classmates attended the flag raising and helped secure the flag. Shaylan Campbell, Jennifer Jarvis, Shannon MacDonald, Kristi Matsumoto, Rachel Newman, Gina Richards and Katherine Valorie made sure Breese had the information available to get the process going.

"Courtney wrote the paper (and) we looked up the law on the Internet," said Valorie.

Added Campbell, "The teachers listened to us and the Police Department listened to us."

This was good news for Stock, who was unsure how her class would react to reading about war. The class read "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien that featured details about the Vietnam War. Stock thought the material would be too intense for them. She was pleasantly surprised to learn otherwise.

"I was somewhat apprehensive especially with this class of all girls about teaching this novel," she said. "It took on a life of its own. The girls immersed themselves in the story's characters and became interested in the Vietnam era."

Mank said the students are able to teach as well as learn.

"It shows we can learn from the kids," he said. "Some kids may hem and haw about doing a research project, but here's something that they didn't know, and that I didn't know."

More importantly, it gave Stock's students the chance to put their classroom study to use.

"The question of the POW/MIA flag became a very practical learning experience because they questioned the law and why it wasn't enforced, then solved the problem," she said.

Mank said Breese deserves credit for bringing this issue to her class and to him. "Action was taken to correct a mistake," he said.

For Breese and her class, the project was a positive way to help the community address a need.

"It was a good way to end our study on the Vietnam War," said Breese.


Federal law mandates flying of the POW/MIA flag on the following days:

Armed Forces Day, May 16

Memorial Day, last Monday in May

Flag Day, June 14

Independence Day, July 4

POW/MIA Day, third Friday of September

Veterans Day, Nov. 11

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