School Activity with Guns
Don't get me wrong, I'm find with this activity. But how hypocritical of our schools. Hearing to the parents talk about how this play acting doesn't led to violence makes me wonder why a kid gets suspended for a pop tart.
Hundreds of 5th graders pull off re-enactment of historic battle
http://www.9news.com/news/article/33...istoric-battle
LAKEWOOD - Some days, history is made. Some days, history is lived. Some days, history is unforgettable.
"What we're doing is teaching kids history in a way that they'll remember," said Darrell Osburn, president of a nonprofit called You Can Live History. "They'll love it and that's a positive thing."
After months of study, training, and preparation, students from schools around Colorado re-enact the Battle of Saratoga which started September 19, 1777. Historians say this is a turning point in the Revolutionary War because it showed the French that the Americans could win the war.
"This is more powerful than telling them something," Osburn said.
He is part coordinator, part movie producer, part babysitter for the 400 5th graders converging on Bear Creek Lake Park in Lakewood. They dress up, arm themselves with play muskets, cannons, bayonets and swords and take sides.
Sam Stahl and Joel Luciano are usually good friends at Hackberry Hill Elementary in Arvada. But, this day, Sam is an American and Joel is British and they are mortal enemies.
"We actually feel like soldiers because we're actually doing the battle," Sam said.
Joel says learning about history in class is tough.
"Things that I do tend to stick more than things I just hear about," Joel said.
Their teacher Tressa Riley believes the experience will make this learning experience unforgettable.
"They want to be a part of it and learn more about it," Riley said. "Learning it from a textbook can be boring at times."
That is, of course, if Osburn can get the 5th graders to listen.
"It's a cross between tightly organized and totally chaotic," Osburn said.
Not only is he trying to teach them a lesson, he has a camera crew trying to turn it into a movie that the kids can watch and learn from later. He tries to pull off the battle exactly as it happened.
"A British charge, an American volley, an American charge, the British fall back. If that's what the story says, that's what we have them do," Osburn said.
The students use muskets and cannons that shoot flour to simulate smoke. The bayonets and swords are plastic. But, it is still putting a gun in the hands of a kid who shoots it at another kid who then plays dead.
Sam and Joel's parents are okay with that.
"They're guns that they don't see every day. They don't see them on TV," said Mary Stahl, Sam's mother. "It's a completely different thing and they understand they are playacting."
Cheri Luciano believes the realism actually has a good effect on her son, Joel.
"I think it's good that they give them a little taste of reality," said Luciano, Joel's mother. "I don't think it's necessarily something that would lead to violence."
Riley says this exercise teaches kids the about the historical role of guns and does not encourage school shootings.
"Those people were out for the wrong reason," Riley said. "The people that were in the Battle for Saratoga and all the battles of the American Revolution, they are fighting for what they believe was right and freedom."
Osburn and his nonprofit have doing re-enactments like this with kids since 1991. He says more than 100,000 students have been through his program and not one of them have become seriously violent at school.
"We do have our critics, but they are all people who don't know anything about what we are doing or how we are doing it," Osburn said. "For people who don't understand our approach and how we're doing this, come and see. Then, I think they would support us."
"It's a good way to learn about the actual way of war and actually have some fun while doing it," Sam said. "This will actually help kids understand the Battle of Saratoga and remember it."
That's what Osburn is counting on.
