Dr. James Avington Miller Jr.

Unchained and Free – My Life Lesson Plan

Unchained and free.
Liberated and alive.
Curious and full of wonder.

That is my lesson objective for the children.

Writing words of truth.
Declaring phrases or empowerment.
Thinking critically.
Creating new and awesome products.

Those are my planned activities for the students.

Making the world ripe for peace.
Fostering justice and equity for all.
Spreading love, learning, and awareness wherever they roam.

That is my home work assignment.

Unchained and free.
That is the title of my life lesson plan.

And what standard am I teaching?
The student will assimilate ways to save humanity.

Will you join me?
Will you engage in liberation?
Will you touch a generation with fierce passion?

If you do,
Your final evaluation score will be beyond innovating.

Together let us set free a generation chained to stupid standards, invalid tests, and abusive segregation.

This poem is dedicated to my friend Dr. James Avington Miller Jr. of The War Report on Public Education and his vision for schools where Positive Youth Development – PYD – is the key to life-long learning.

This is a tribute poem for a great warrior in the fight to save our children – Dr. James Avington Miller Jr. – and to all his radio show listeners and Facebook followers. Today is the second anniversary of his show entitled The War Report on Public Education.

Dark, deceitful, dreadful
The war continues.

Hidden from the public
Children succumb to oblivion.

Masses are found naked
In the valley of corporate reform.

Masses of children
Stripped of their humanity.

Masses of teachers
Rendered voiceless and faceless.

Masses of parents
Left with no option but to escape the dark night
And cover their children with a blanket of compassion
That heals hearts, minds, and little bodies.

And in all the darkness
In the dreadful abandon of humane concern
In the deceit and lies that spew from media and our elected officials

There is a light

There is a voice

There is hope.

Only love can chase away the hate.
Only the light of truth can fight off the darkness.

That little voice is in each one of us
That little voice and that tiny ray of light
Can fight off the usurpers of our future hope.

So today – on the second anniversary of
The War Report on Public Education –
I encourage all of us to keep on fighting the war
To keep on telling the truth
To keep on exposing the lies that warp our understanding

Because

We will find each other one day
And we will unite together
And parents, teachers, professors, politicians, community leaders, pastors, shop owners, even the media will unite

And together we shall bring down
The evil Machiavellian Agenda
And we will win
The war against public education.