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Hartford High Schoolers Reach Out to President With Concerns for the Future

Chion Wolf
/
WNPR
Madyson Frame in the WNPR studios.

"Can't you teach us to be more than Jay-Z and LeBron? Teach us how to untie this noose, teach us change, to change the curriculum." 

Those are the words of Madyson Frame, a senior at the Journalism and Media Academy Magnet School in Hartford. She wrote a poem and read it in a one-minute video to the future president, for a project called Dear POTUS.

In the video, she talks about the importance of history and how schools need to change how they teach it.

"I had my first black U.S. history teacher in ninth grade," Frame told WNPR. "And that was kind of a shock to me, because all my life, I'd always have these white history teachers. And when Black History Month came around, we'd spend a week, when it's a whole month."

Her poem uses some strong words, and she admitted that it turns some people off.

"It's just a matter of how you've grown up," she said. "If you're not open to hearing somebody else's opinion about a topic such as education in the urban school system, then that's okay with me, it's not supposed to be targeted to everyone. But I want as many people to hear it and understand it."

Credit Screenshot Learning Lab
Jhan Spears is one of several JMA seniors who created videos called, Dear POTUS.

Jhan Spears is also a senior at JMA. Her video touched on similar themes, but focused on the Black Lives Matter movement, and how it's often misunderstood.

Here's some of what she says in her video:

"Saying all lives matter marginalizes the concern of African Americans by grouping the Black Lives Matter movement into a larger All Lives Matter movement. It implies that all Americans have the same experience, but in reality, African Americans are much more troubled."

When asked what the future president could do to fix such a complicated problem, Spears said it all boils down to education. 

"My life also matters, so I'm just pretty much saying my education matters just as much as the next person's," she said. "So, I really want that education, like, I'm striving for it."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYIyN-6z93Q

Frame was quick to add that school isn't the only place to learn.

"I tell a lot of my peers this: if you feel like you're not getting a good education that you are getting at school, educate yourself," she said.

Both Frame and Spears plan to continue their advocacy in college. 

The students in this story both participate in the Learning Lab, which is a collaboration between Hartford Public Schools and CPBN.

David finds and tells stories about education and learning for WNPR radio and its website. He also teaches journalism and media literacy to high school students, and he starts the year with the lesson: “Conflicts of interest: Real or perceived? Both matter.” He thinks he has a sense of humor, and he also finds writing in the third person awkward, but he does it anyway.

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