By Gail Kimball
The African Children’s Choir performance held at North Rowan High School on May 7 for the Academically and Intellectually Gifted seventh-grade students in the Rowan-Salisbury School System was an unbelievable opportunity. This personal exposure to another culture will definitely enrich the lives of the AIG students and enhance their learning process. The learning preparation before the presentation shows creativity on the part of the AIG teachers. A focused variety of poetry, short stories, and novels by African writers was a great opportunity in and of itself.
It is to the credit of the AIG teachers that their students were fortunate to be a part of this exciting, fun, educational and cultural event. But is there any reason that other students in the Rowan-Salisbury School System were not included? The lives of average students, underachievers and special needs students would have been enriched academically and enhanced culturally as well. A similar focused curriculum of poetry, movies and short stories could have included these students who might have benefited the most.
The AIG students are blessed with gifts for which they certainly need and deserve creative challenges. However, their gifts should not be celebrated and rewarded in contrast to the academic and cultural loss of those less gifted. The variety of innate abilities and gifts of all students need creative challenges. This African Children’s Choir could have provided the same personal experience that AIG teacher Ms. Fleming, recognized as “superior” for other students not in the AIG program.
The Choir Tour leader, Sarah Jordan, said, “The hope and joy the children exhibit despite their struggles offers not only inspiration but also perspective.” What a powerful, visually inspirational message for the average struggling student, the overwhelmed underachiever, and the hopeful special needs student. Ms. Jordan continues, “It’s like no matter what they’ve come from … they see hope and go for the future and not be held back by circumstances they’re coming from.”
This unbelievable opportunity for the AIG students to take part of an exciting, fun, educational and cultural program that offered exposure to the inspirational children in the African Children’s Choir should have been shared with as many Rowan-Salisbury Schools students as the auditorium at North Rowan High could hold … and possibly repeated at another site or sites.
Gail Kimball lives in Salisbury.