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WEEK of March 31, 2008
@BFS! archives

Middle Schoolers Take on the World with Letters for Change

by Jeffrey Stanley

“Would you like to sign a letter to help stop sweatshop labor?” asked 8th grader Jack Lazar to those entering 375 Pearl Street on a frigid January morning. He and other BFS students in Ed Herzman and Fanny Sosenke’s advisory had set up a table with posters and brochures in the lobby along with a stack of the letters, envelopes, brochures and two posters. They invited parents, faculty and students to learn about sweatshop labor and to sign a letter to the head of Evitex, a clothing manufacturer in Bangladesh under contract to H&M and Walmart.

“The workers make only 14 to 16 cents an hour,” said Sonja Sepkowitz, urging an onlooker to check out the posters. Her classmates, Natalie Zuckerman and Lachlan Newcomb, invited passersby to take a brochure and sign a letter.

The one-day campaign, two months in the making, was part of Letters for Change, an ongoing community service project in which students focus on various problems both local and international, learn something about its complexities, and then write letters intended to foster change.

The students had done their homework. The brochure and posters contained specific information about Evitex, from the 12-hour shift to a sewing operator’s typical wage of $394 per year. Workers have no right to unionize, no health insurance, and can be beaten for not meeting quotas.

“Now I know why H&M prices are so cheap,” said one surprised teacher as she signed the letter.

Another teacher asked if U.S. companies should move their business elsewhere. “We don’t want them to leave, we just want the workers to be able to live,” answered Jacob Figueroa. “They should be treated better and paid better.”

The students’ desire to expose sweatshops and child labor in the clothing industry came about after they took a field trip to the Lower East Side Tenement Museum. During their visit they saw a short film on the history of sweatshop labor. “After that, the students voted from many potential Letters for Change social actions and chose sweatshops,” said Fanny. “Once we chose it, we divided ourselves into four committees.” One group designed the brochure, another made the posters, another composed the letter, and the rest planned how the students staffing the table throughout the day should approach passersby and answer questions.

“It’s a powerful thing,” said Fanny. “This project involved not only writing a letter but creating a brochure; there’s a public speaking component and research, too. It involved a lot of learning for them.”

The idea for Letters for Change originated with music teacher Piper Macleod, who worked with displaced students from New Orleans’ ninth ward at a charter school created in Houston, Texas for Katrina evacuees. “On the way home I was brainstorming about how we could do something at our own school to change the world, something cross-divisional that we could all get together and work on,” said Piper.

She took her letter writing idea to Community Service Director Carla Precht, who put it into action as a community service option. “The students and faculty have embraced Letters for Change because it gives students a voice in how they feel about subjects important to them,” said Carla. “It gives them one important tool to bring about change.” Middle Schoolers have been free to identify their own areas of concern, then research and discuss the complexities of the issue, including who is responsible and who might be able to do something about it. “Students have written to politicians to change laws or policy, corporate executives to change their company’s practice, and the press to cover issues not normally covered,” said Carla. She added that the Letters for Change initiative is a good example of “home-grown community service.”

All 7th grade and 8th grade advisories launched Letters for Change this school year. Marie Christine Perry and Molly Winter’s advisees worked on health care reform, while Michael Kabot and Neil Ginsberg’s group advocated for more bike lanes and a pollution-free Brooklyn. Tina Piccolo and Peter Prince’s advisees focused on global warming. They researched and created posters explaining alternative energy sources and the consequences of global warming. Another poster took a timely look at the current presidential candidates’ stances on the environment.

Because global warming is largely the result of burning fossil fuels, Tina and her advisees focused particularly on the auto industry. “GM, Ford and Daimler are the worst,” she said. Eighth grader Jacob Ginsberg took the lead in composing the letter to be sent to the CEOs of the Big Three, asking that they develop more environmentally friendly vehicles, and the advisors copied handouts on the “greenest and meanest cars as well as the best and worst automakers” said Tina. “The kids wanted to inform parents and perhaps influence their next car purchase,” she explained, pointing to a concrete effect this project can have at the local level. “They have a voice and can be proactive even with a topic as immense as global warming.”

What do the students take away from the project? “I hope they learn how to present a topic that they are invested in to the public and learn how to convince other people to see their side of the issue,” answered Peter Price. He also hopes they see that community service isn’t only useful, “It can be fun.”

Carla sees another benefit to the program. She believes that holding letter writing campaigns in the Pearl Street lobby gives younger students a chance to see older students in action, students whom they look up to as role models. “As Gandhi said, you must be the change you want to see in the world.”

Below: The Brooklyn Friends School community’s letters for change initiative even elicited a reply from President George Bush.