AV #253 - Five statements that attempt to say: We believe this. We agree on this. Here is our direction.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Second in a series – K-12 education: In what direction are we headed? Do we share common goals?

We sense a vacuum. We see little shared understanding of the aims of public education in Colorado’s polarized climate. We wonder: can we at least agree on something, a few common goals? 

In 2018 the Education Leadership Council (ELC), appointed by Gov. John Hickenlooper, produced “The State of Education.” Its goal: to articulate “a positive, shared vision for Colorado’s education system.” But this 57-page document now gathers dust. Why would anyone want to try again, especially so soon? 

Besides, we all know that the work involved in developing a vision/mission statement can be exasperating. Even fruitless. Words words words. We know, too, that finding consensus among a large constituency can produce a statement that is acceptable to all, but truly meaningful to no one. 

Nevertheless, I respect efforts by the ELC and several organizations to state our central concerns, to try to provide clarity on where K-12 education should be focused. In AV#253 I gather and share a page from six entities, most of them Colorado groups, including the ELC. Some attempt to craft a vision. Others suggest a road map to the future. Maybe they can those who seek such a road map, who believe we need common goals, if we are to go forward – together. (Or at the least, less divided.) 

Geezers too tied to ideas and words from the 1990’s? Time to pass the baton? 

Confession time. I am 73. Veterans of education debates the past 30 years might be too tied to the past (and to an outdated vocabulary) to contribute to “a new vision.” On the pages that follow, I note how little we see of the reform agenda’s guiding principles of the past few decades – accountability, choice, and standards. (I highlight the few occasions.) These three words have become political footballs, even pejoratives. Accountability, some would tell us, is a means to “punish” schools in low-income communities. Choice is mocked as a mechanism to divert funds from neighborhood schools and further the divide between the haves from the have-nots. Standards—well, that’s old hat. Been there. 

Another View is the wrong place to look for the new language and the new ideas to rally around. I am too stubborn or proud to abandon concepts and language that have felt right to me for so long. Furthermore, I would never have called this Another View if I intended to sail with the prevailing winds. On the six pages below, career (4), workforce (3) and economy (3) are mentioned more often than accountability (1) and achievement (1). Readers of my newsletters know how strongly I object to this (mis)direction for K-12 education. Be assured I will continue to try to tack into these heavy winds. 

So yes, it is time for younger folks to articulate where public education should be headed. Their future is at stake, as is their children’s future. Here are five one-page excerpts from efforts to articulate key goals for K-12 education in Colorado.

         1. The State of Education, Gov. Hickenlooper’s Education Leadership Council, 2018

         2. The Future is in our Public Schools - St. Vrain Valley Schools, 2022

         3. Strategic Plan - Roaring Fork Schools, 2019

         4. Building a Better Colorado – K-12 Education, Whitepaper, 2021

         5. 9 Building Blocks for a World Class Education System – National Center for Education & the Economy, 2017

**

1.       The State of Education

 

Developed by: Colorado’s Education Leadership Council - December 2018  (57 pages)

 

   How do we move the state toward a positive, shared vision for Colorado’s education system, with a clear blueprint to guide the work? There is no individual person who can make this happen. There is no governance structure that ties all the different parts of our education system together. That’s why the effort will require Coloradans—students, parents, teachers, policy makers, interest groups, and everyone else—working together to drive alignment, effectiveness, and efficiency that will help Colorado become a leader across the nation.

  …the State of Education initiative is not meant to solve a specific “problem” but, rather, to build a broad-based view of the future system that Coloradans want and work backwards from that ideal to determine how we get there.

The Vision: In Colorado’s world-class education system, all learners are: prepared for a rapidly changing world; civically engaged; physically, socially, and emotionally healthy; competent academic scholars; and ready to contribute productively to the economy.

 … we believe learners of all ages need to achieve proficiency and strive for mastery of skills within five core student competencies.

 Student Competencies:

1.      Academic: proficient in Colorado academic standards, life-long learner

2.      Personal: self-aware, flexible, resilient, adaptive

3.      Entrepreneurial: critical thinker, problem solver, creative, curious

4.      Professional: takes responsibility, leads others, manages tasks and time well

5.      Civic: collaborative, culturally aware, civically engaged, effective communicator

 

10 Principles and Improvement Strategies

 … we identified six learning environment characteristics that best support learners in pursuing these competencies.

 Learning Environment Characteristics: 

1.      Safe and healthy

2.      Equitably resourced

3.      Engaging and relevant

4.      Technology-enabled

5.      Culturally inclusive

6.      Learner-centered

The four key drivers of change will advance our system forward and link directly to the principles that define our picture of a world-class system. 

1.      Responsive Systems and Agile Learners

2.      Community and Family Partnerships

3.      Educators and Leaders

4.      Student Learning and Transitions 

https://www.cde.state.co.us/cdecomm/stateofeducation

2.         The Future Is In Our Public Schools – Envisioning a Stronger

        Public Education System for Colorado and Beyond

WHITEPAPER DEVELOPED BY ST. VRAIN VALLEY SCHOOLS - JUNE 2022  (23 pages)

 

From Executive Summary:

If we all can agree that the purpose of public education is to ensure that every child has the opportunity to succeed so that we can optimize our economy and improve our collective quality of life, we can then create a platform from which to reclaim the narrative of the importance and value of public education, and cultivate greater respect for the teaching profession in order to inspire our future generation of educators. … We must reawaken the public consciousness regarding the importance of public education, and by doing so, reignite the promise of future generations.

 

from A Foundation of Excellence and Accelerated Innovation (p. 18)

Colorado is at a turning point, and has, we believe, a significant opportunity to redefine public education in order to advance the future of our State. We must realize our responsibility to meet our obligation under the state constitution to provide a “thorough and uniform” education system, as the world around us has transformed at a pace far greater than our K-12 systems. The conversation around funding for our schools should be accompanied by a clear, articulate vision in alignment with the fundamentals of an excellent education. The following should constitute the foundation, not the ceiling, in every school district in Colorado:

 • Every student should be able to attend a high-quality, safe school facility, with a positive climate and environment that is conducive to optimal learning and educational success.

 • Every student should have the opportunity to attend a high-quality preschool and full-day kindergarten. 

• Every student should have exposure to scientifically-based reading instruction, and updated, relevant, comprehensive, and rigorous curriculum. 

• Every student should have dedicated and highly-qualified teachers and staff with the time necessary to strategically prepare their lesson plans and to professionally collaborate with their peers.

 • Every student should have opportunities to experience a full schedule of rigorous classes and strong pathways toward the future with options such as Advanced Placement courses, college concurrent enrollment classes, International Baccalaureate programs, instructional focus academies and various career and technical pathways, and access to an extended academic calendar year that increases access to these opportunities. 

• Every student should have access to robust co-curricular activities such as theater, dance, music, art, athletics, and more.

 • Every student should be equipped with cutting-edge, 21st-century technology designed to enhance and broaden their learning and provide excellent opportunities for creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

 • Most importantly, every student should feel physically and emotionally safe at school, supported by counselors, nurses, mental health professionals, and school resource officers. 

St. Vrain Valley Schools - http://stvra.in/whitepaper

3.       Strategic Plan of Roaring Fork Schools (2019-2024) 

(A few districts have created Strategic Plans that are measured and thoughtful. I imagine a wide range of districts across the state could endorse the chief goals of such plans. Consider this one from Roaring Fork Schools. It does not have—I bet most district plans do not have—the partisan flavor in the Strategic Plans from Denver Public Schools and Douglas County School District. The focus here on student outcomes (happily) eliminates adult agendas. Could a statement such as this capture the essential goals for a good many—even a majority—of our 178 districts? Could it be a place to start—to see what we do agree on?) 

 Bold mine

ROARING FORK SCHOOLS

 Mission

Roaring Fork Schools will ensure that every student develops the enduring knowledge, skills, and character to thrive in a changing world.

Results

1.      All students graduate with the knowledge and skills to enroll in post-secondary education without remediation.

2.      All students graduate with the character and life skills to succeed in college, careers, family, and community.

3.      Students meet grade-level benchmarks towards graduation in core subjects.

4.      Students complete high quality projects that challenge them to develop and evidence academic skills and character skills.

 Strategies

1.      Hold high expectations for all.

2.      Guarantee equitable access to grade-level assignments, curriculum, and assessments.

3.      Ensure high quality instruction – supported by coaching, professional development, and data – so that every student gains knowledge and skills to thrive.

4.    Plan for and provide differentiated supports for all students.

5.      Engage students in relevant and authentic learning experiences.

6.      Create an intentional culture of character in which habits of a scholar flourish and all students   feel a strong sense of safety and belonging.

7.      Prioritize and invest in early learning.

8.      Partner with families and community in the education of the whole child.

9.      Invest in talent to develop, retain, and attract great teachers, leaders, and staff in all departments.

10.  Optimize resources to achieve strategic priorities.

https://www.rfsd.k12.co.us/mission-commitments-strategic-plan-00cf10a1

 

4.       Building a Better Colorado

    K-12 Education

Whitepaper - December 2021 (72 pages) 

Why Colorado’s K-12 Education System is important

K-12 education as a COLORADO priority (pages 2-3) 

   Although the funding and programming of K-12 education in Colorado has historically been a LOCAL responsibility, our state government has always had a responsibility to provide access to public K-12 education. As a requirement of statehood, the Union required that Colorado include within its original constitution an assurance that our new state would provide for a thorough and uniform system of free public education.

   Today, we recognize the myriad benefits of a quality K-12 public education system, including:

                  ● Equipping citizens to participate in the sustenance of our civil democracy.

● Providing the future workforce to serve our society’s needs.

● Contributing to each American’s individual quality of life.

 

To the degree that our K-12 education system prepares students to SUCCEED, it largely determines our state’s and nation’s productivity and standard of living. Conversely, to the degree that our education system FAILS to prepare students to succeed, it contributes to some segments of our society falling behind and subsequently contributes to civil unrest and the social problems that inhibit our society’s progress. 

APPENDIX A: Potential Alternative Policy Pathways  (p. 56)

Start with “WHY?”

Every public policy should be motivated by an underlying set of values and represent specific strategies aimed at achieving goals towards the realization of those values. Before we can meaningfully explore such opportunities to improve our education system, we each need to establish why it’s important to us, and what we want from that system. 

1. Why do we think our education system is important?

● Sustaining our civil democracy?

● Improving our INDIVIDUAL quality of life?

● Contributing to our COLLECTIVE quality of life?

● Defining our society’s economic productivity?

Our goals for this year’s statewide conversation were to establish among participants a shared understanding of the current K-12 education policy landscape, and to inform participants of potential strategies for improving Colorado’s K-12 education system and solicit their opinion of the relative merits of each.    

[Eight pages (pages 60-67) were devoted to strategies in three broad areas:]

·        Improving teacher effectiveness

·        Improving student outcomes

·        Improving the equitability of K-12 funding

 “Engaging citizens to create a path to a better Colorado,” Report of 2021 Statewide Conversation Exploring opportunities for improving Colorado's education system, Building a Better Colorado, April 2022,

http://buildingabettercolorado.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/K-12-education-whitepaper-21.12.pdf.

5.       “9 Building Blocks for a World Class Education System”

                                                       National Center on Education and the Economy, 2016  (12 pages) 

   The 9 Building Blocks for a World-Class Education System is a distillation of more than 25 years of research conducted on the world’s best education systems by the National Center on Education and the Economy. Our goal in conducting this research was to identify the strategies those countries used to outperform the United States in the hope that American policymakers could use that research to improve the performance of our own system. The study identified the following nine common characteristics of the best performing education systems in the world. 

1. Provide strong supports for children and their families before students arrive at school.

Countries in which young children who come to school healthy, eager to learn and ready to profit from the instruction tend to be countries in which those children do well in school. 

2. Provide more resources for at-risk students than for others.

Top-performing countries have made explicit decisions to create systems in which all students are educated to standards formerly reserved only for their elites. 

3. Develop world-class, highly coherent instructional systems.  Top-performing countries are constantly benchmarking their standards, curricula and assessments to other leading countries. 

4. Create clear gateways for students through the system, set to global standards, with no dead ends. Instead of issuing a high school diploma -- essentially a certificate of attendance – top performing countries issue qualifications showing what high school courses the holder has taken and the grades earned in those courses.  

5. Assure an abundant supply of highly qualified teachers. Top-performing countries recruit their teachers from the top ranks of high school graduating classes, most in the top third to top quarter. 

6. Redesign schools to be places in which teachers will be treated as professionals, with incentives and support to continuously improve their professional practice and the performance of their students.  Career ladders are created that develop the skills of the current teacher workforce and establish a culture and organization that supports continuous improvement of the school as a whole. 

7. Create an effective system of career and technical education and training. The key to a healthy economy, lower wealth inequity and unemployment, and strong business competitiveness is a healthy, productive, effective system of vocational education and training. 

8. Create a leadership development system that develops leaders at all levels to manage such systems effectively.  Successful systems identify and develop leaders who can get broad agreement on goals for both students and staff, build career ladders, recruit highly capable staff, and create a school culture committed to getting all students to high levels of performance.

9. Institute a governance system that has the authority and legitimacy to develop coherent, powerful policies and is capable of implementing them at scale.  In top-performing systems, there is a place where the buck stops that has responsibility for all policymaking or management functions directly related to education and can be held accountable for the design and functioning of the system as a whole.

2019 - https://ncee.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/9-blocksv100219Print.pd   

2020 – Update - https://ncee.org/blueprint/

Cuban Missile Crisis - 60 years ago this week - Oct. 16-Oct 28 - from my novel, Shelter - A Cold War Memory

From chapter 8 of my novel, Shelter - A Cold War Memory 

Fall 1962. Tom Chapman, the narrator, is in the 7th grade. 

 

"My husband is in those ashes.”

             from Hiroshima, by John Hersey

"... but neither will we shrink from that risk at any time it must be faced."

             from President Kennedy's address to the nation, October 22, 1962

 

CHAPTER EIGHT

 Monday, October 22

            I waited for Cindy outside homeroom Monday morning before we climbed the stairs to first period. Her copy of Hiroshima was in her arms, on top of her notebook and school books.

            "Cindy, I read something about Hiroshima this weekend. Could I borrow your book some time?"

            She looked surprised to see me walking beside her, to have me talking with her.

            "I don't know. Gee, I have this science report next week and I'm using it, you see, and‑," she stopped suddenly to reach inside her blue-rimmed glasses to scratch her left eye. Her rims were even shaped strangely, rising at the top outside corners in a curve, reminding me of pointy little cat ears.

            "I'm sorry," I said, "I thought it was about the war with Japan and all and nuclear bombs."

            "Oh it is," she said, taking her hand away from her eye and looking straight ahead, "but it's also about burns and radiation." We turned the corner at the landing, by the main door, and climbed the next twelve steps. "Here," she resumed, taking Hiroshima from beside her notebook, handing it to me, and ‑ for the first time ‑ looking at me, "take it for a few days. I need it by the weekend, that's all. OK?"

            I told her I didn't want to keep her from doing her report, but she insisted I have it.

            "Thanks," I said, as we entered Room 106.

            "Maybe," she shrugged. I wondered what she meant by this, but she still wouldn't look at me. "It's hard to believe." Her eyes looked sad. "And depressing." She shook her head and turned away to take her seat there in the first row.

            It was the longest conversation we had had in nearly a year.

 

 

            Mr. Reynolds read us only one headline from the Times that morning: 

Capital's Crisis Air Hints

At Development on Cuba;

Kennedy TV Talk is Likely

"A couple of sentences," he went on, "from the article: 'There was an air of crisis in the capital tonight. President Kennedy and the highest Administration officials have been in almost constant conference all weekend, imparting serious agitation and tension to official Washington."'

            This must be why my uncle had missed Saturday's game. Mr. Reynolds encouraged us to watch the President on TV that night if he did speak. But our teacher did not sound excited about any of these developments.

            "It's unlikely anything will happen, however. As a nation we're great at saying things as if we mean them, but damned if we do anything. Speak boldly at times, yes, but carry a quiet little stick. Afraid of our own strength. We play the mild‑mannered gentleman, and do the 'proper thing' ‑ by not acting we show just how weak, and gutless, we really are."

            "Gutless." Was he using the word to describe President Kennedy? It seemed so. I could see Mr. Reynolds using this word, or one like it, with his football team. I heard the guys say he was a good coach, a tough coach. My final game had been on Friday; that Monday afternoon the season ended for all of us as Mr. Reynolds' team, the Lions, played the Bears for first place. I wondered if Mr. Reynolds would accuse his own players of being "gutless." I could almost imagine him barking at me, after a missed tackle, "Chapman, dammit, you're gutless!" Even if it sometimes seemed true. Not in football, I didn't think. In other ways. More important ways.

            I tried to get my mind back on what Mr. Reynolds was saying.

            "‑has now had six weeks to put together a plan on how to deal with Cuba. You hear the Times tell us we might be approaching a crisis. If it's not too late, I suspect that whatever we do will be too mild. Oh, well," and he gave a small shrug, "if he speaks, try to see some of what your President has to say."

            "And don't worry," he added, "about the possibility of me disappearing into the service. Am on alert now, I remind you, but again, it's terribly unlikely we'll be called up."

            I heard Ian whisper something to the boy in front of him ‑ I could almost hear the words myself ‑ and Mr. Reynolds looked their way.

            "Yes, I know you might like to see me disappear for a while, Gilbert. Sorry to disappoint you."

            Ian glowered, at first, but then he seemed embarrassed. He took his hands away from his mouth and put them on his desk, fidgeting, as if he did not know what to do with them, before finally folding them together. He kept his eyes down for much of the rest of the period.

            We listened to Pam and Gary give their reports. Pam spoke about what UNICEF stood for, and what the Children's Fund did; it was a reminder that Halloween was approaching. My plan for that year was to go around the neighborhood with the orange milk carton and trick‑or‑treat for UNICEF, and then bring in the $3 or $4 I usually collected to be sent to India and Africa. But I would not put on a costume. The year before Lynn came up with the idea of the two of us going out as the Kennedys: I was the President, all dressed up, in my Sunday School clothes, with a bow tie and a top hot; she was Jackie, with her hair puffed up, and lots of eye‑shadow and lipstick. It was fun ‑ fun to be greeted by the neighbors, "Oh, Jack and Jackie, what an honor! How nice of you to visit us! Won't you come in!" But I had outgrown costumes now.

             

            I often had half an hour after lunch to go play touch football, before going to French, but that day I walked back into my homeroom ‑ Mrs. Brady was gone, it was her lunch period, too ‑ and read Hiroshima instead. After school I stayed to watch the football game. The Lions won easily. Once home I continued to read Hersey's book. My father called us down when supper was ready, and I turned over the corner of page 38, and realized my stomach did not feel well. I placed the book on top of The Yearling. I was reading about Mr. Tanimoto's efforts to find his family after the bomb, courageously entering the city while everyone else was trying to escape. As he passed hundreds fleeing the city "every one of them," the book said, "seemed to be hurt in some way. The eyebrows of some were burned off and skin hung from their faces and hands. Others, because of pain, held their arms up as if carrying something in both hands. Some were vomiting as they walked. Many were naked or in shreds of clothing...." As I headed downstairs, I recalled Cindy's warning about this book.

 

            We sat down to eat. I usually loved my mother's lamb, but I wasn't hungry. My father spoke to Lynn and to me, "and you, too, Beth, if you want ‑ I'd like you to watch the President at 7:00, so let's hustle a bit."

            "Can't I watch?" Danny said, dropping his fork on his plate, loudly.

            My parents tried to explain to him that he wouldn't understand any of it, that he should try to be quiet and play in his room. We rushed through the rest of dinner. My father went upstairs with Danny, and Lynn assured my mother that we could take care of it, so she left, too. Beth and I put the dishes into the dishwasher and cleaned the pots and pans, and Lynn wiped off the stove and the kitchen table and put the leftovers away. I checked the kitchen clock when we were done: 6:56. I hurried upstairs to my parents' bedroom and sat down in front of my father's bed. My mother was already watching the end of the Huntley‑Brinkley broadcast. Lynn came in and took her place in the blue armchair near my feet, and Beth followed and lay down on my mother's bed.

            My father arrived just as a voice introduced President Kennedy. The TV showed the seal of the President of the United States. Kennedy sat at a desk behind a lectern and two microphones. Behind him were two flags, an American flag on the left, and a dark flag on the right, which I did not recognize.

            The bed behind me creaked as my father lay down.

            "Good evening, my fellow citizens."

            "Turn it up, Tommy, please," my father asked.

            I jumped up and increased the volume.

            "Thanks."

            I sat back down.

            "... the purpose of these bases," the President was saying, "can be none other than to provide a nuclear strike capability against the western hemisphere."

            The camera was closing in on his face. Now we could only see the very top of the two microphones, and just the gray background. I had noticed before how his eyes seemed rather close together; what I saw now, though, was how tired his eyes appeared. Even his voice sounded restrained, unemotional, that first minute or so. He did not talk in his usual spirited way; there was none of the crisp, cool style I had seen in his press conferences. He glanced down at his speech at the beginning of each sentence, then looked up for five or six words, and then back down again.

            "And having now confirmed and completed our evaluation of the evidence and our decision on a course of action," he said, "this government feels obliged to report this new crisis to you in fullest detail."

            He told us there were now, or there would soon be ‑ I couldn't tell from the way he said it ‑ in Cuba, "that imprisoned island," he called it, medium‑range ballistic missiles "capable of carrying a nuclear warhead for a distance of more than 1,000 nautical miles," and “intermediate‑range ballistic missiles capable of striking most of the major cities in the western hemisphere, ranging as far north as Hudson Bay, Canada, and as far south as Lima, Peru."

            With all his bending over to read his words, I saw his tongue more than I normally did. And his lower teeth. Not his upper teeth. There would be no broad smiles, no smiles at all, that evening.

            He went on. "This urgent transformation of Cuba‑," the pronunciation was more like "Cuber" this time, I thought, "‑into an important strategic base ‑ by the presence of these large, long‑range, and clearly offensive weapons of sudden mass destruction ‑ constitutes an explicit threat to the peace and security of all the Americas."

            He quoted several lines from the Soviet government ‑ I liked the way he made it a pattern: "and I quote ... unquote," using their words to show how they had deceived us. His voice grew more assertive, I thought, as he said, "That statement was false." It occurred to me that I should try to say it this way ‑ "quote ... unquote" ‑ when Mr. Reynolds called on me to give my report on Berlin. As in those three or four passages from my uncle: "As David Chapman, assistant to Secretary of State Dean Rusk, says, quote ... unquote." The President quoted Soviet Foreign Minister Gromyko's reassurances to him, commenting that in each case, and here his voice dropped heavily on the last word of the phrase, "That statement was also false."

            I was struck by how clean shaven President Kennedy looked, here at 7 p.m. at night. My father's hair wasn't as dark, but by supper time it often seemed as if he needed another shave. What a good, strong chin the President had, I thought. There was toughness in that chin. I thought of Mickey; Mickey had the thicker neck, but the chin, the wide jaw, they seemed to be the same. The President looked angry, in his way, but he was not about to lose control as Mickey might do, when he exploded. Nor would Kennedy swear at the Russians, the way Uncle David might have done, saying something like, "Those damned bastards!" Still, the President was mad.

            He continued to look down for his next phrase, but his pace quickened, and the words rolled out more smoothly.

            "... and our history, unlike that of the Soviets since the end of World War II, demonstrates that we have no desire to dominate or conquer any other nation or impose our system upon its people. Nevertheless, American citizens have become adjusted to living on the bull's eye of Soviet missiles located inside the U.S.S.R. or in submarines."

            Lynn, four feet away in the armchair, had pulled a Glamour magazine from off my mother's desk and was looking up and down ‑ at the President, and then at the women, the ads, the articles, and then back up again to Kennedy. His phrases grew choppier. The hard edge to his voice grew sharper.

            "But this secret, swift, and extraordinary build‑up of Communist missiles ... this sudden, clandestine decision ... is a deliberately provocative and unjustified change in the status quo which cannot be accepted...."

            The words were difficult to follow, but they seemed to pound away, as if a hand were silently pounding the desk with each point. I had seen him use his hands so often in his speeches and press conferences ‑ showing conviction and energy, as well as calmness and composure. But in this speech, those hands stayed beneath the lectern, out of sight.

            He spoke of the United States being opposed to war, but also being "true to our word." And so action was now necessary. It had already begun, he told us. "And these actions may only be the beginning. We will not prematurely or unnecessarily risk the cost of worldwide nuclear war in which even the fruits of victory would be ashes in our mouth ‑ but," and for these final two phrases he only looked down once, briefly, trying to keep his eyes on the camera, on us, as he spoke, "neither will we shrink from that risk at any time it must be faced."

            "Worldwide nuclear war." "Ashes in our mouth." I wanted him to stop. It made me think for a moment of scenes in Cindy's book. Of the city on fire, almost everywhere. Of terrible burns, of people burned so badly they were bleeding to death. Of the incredible numbers I had come across before dinner: 100,000 dead, and another 100,000 wounded. And all from only one bomb. Atomic bombs. They could not only destroy cities, as I was beginning to understand, they could do so much more....

            And the phrase ‑ "worldwide nuclear war." Where had I read about this? ... Then I remembered ... wasn't there something about this in his Inaugural Address, something I could not understand the year before when I had given my report?

            I wasn't sure I could follow the President even now. Winning, he said, would taste like death ‑ "the fruits of victory ... ashes in our mouth" ‑ but if that was the cost, he also seemed to be saying, we would pay it. Maybe I didn't understand. And he was going fast now. I could not keep up.

            The several steps already taken, he said, included "a strict quarantine on all offensive military equipment to Cuba...."

            "What's that, Dad?" I asked.

            "A blockade," he answered. "Like a road block ‑ at sea."

            The President was on his second step.

            "‑Should these offensive military preparations continue, thus increasing the threat to the hemisphere, further action will be justified. I have directed the Armed Forces to prepare for any eventualities...."

            I thought of Mr. Reynolds at home in Stamford, watching this, too. I wondered if these steps would please him.

            President Kennedy went on to the third step.

            "It shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the western hemisphere," he paused, "as an attack," another pause, "by the Soviet Union on the United States, requiring full retaliatory response," and he paused one more time, "upon the Soviet Union. Fourth."

            But I did not hear fourth, or fifth, or sixth.

            Now it was more clear what he was threatening. The phrase "worldwide nuclear war" made more sense to me now. A "full retaliatory response" was somewhat confusing, and yet the main idea was understandable. My father had taught me the word. "Never retaliate," he had said to me, and to the other pitchers on the Tigers, once, after a game in which two batters were hit, accidentally. "That's not for Little League. Not for kids. Don't you ever try to hit another batter."

            The President was giving his warning: we would pay them back, if they started it. After bombs hit us, lots of bombs would be sent from here to there ‑ to the Soviet Union. It might be the start of World War III. The fighting, the battles, would not be like those I had seen in movies about the Second World War on TV. There would be no submarines seeking the German cruiser, no airplane pilots shooting at each other over the Pacific. Just how it would be different, I would have to find out. I pictured Mr. Tanimoto running by all those people, arms in the air, burned, crying, fleeing from his city....

            "Seventh and finally," the President was saying, and I turned my attention back to his words, "I call upon Chairman Khrushchev to halt and eliminate this clandestine, reckless, and provocative threat to world peace and to stable relations between our two nations. I call upon him further to abandon this course of world domination and to join in an historic effort to end the perilous arms race and transform the history of man. He has an opportunity now to move the world back from the abyss of destruction...."

            What was an "abyss," I wondered? But I didn't want to interrupt again. "We have no wish to war with the Soviet Union, for we are a peaceful people who desire to live in peace with all other people," he said. At the same time he used the terms "the Soviet threat to peace" and "this latest Soviet threat," and warned that the United States would respond to "any hostile move anywhere in the world ... ‑ including in particular the brave people of West Berlin ‑ ... by whatever action is needed." I wondered what Berlin had to do with this, but I liked the phrase, calling those people brave. Uncle David would have agreed.

            He was now saying a few words "to the captive people of Cuba." I could tell he was nearing the end. Lynn was looking at Glamour now with even more concentration, apparently reading an article. As the President went on I reached out my foot to the side of her chair to nudge her, and nodded my head toward the TV. She opened her eyes widely, and glared at me; her lips were tight, but I could almost hear her saying: "mind your own business!" Even so, she turned her eyes back to the screen, and watched the final minute.

            He was speaking with more concern in his voice. "No one can foresee precisely what course it will take or what costs or casualties will be incurred. Many months of sacrifice and self‑discipline lie ahead ‑ months in which both our patience and our will will be tested, months in which many threats and denunciations will keep us aware of our dangers. But the greatest danger of all would be to do nothing."

            He spoke with extra forcefulness here. Yes, I was quite sure Mr. Reynolds would be pleased.

            "... The cost of freedom is always high," Kennedy said, and he held the word "high" for an additional second or two, "but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender," and he paused briefly, before adding, "or submission."

            I turned as Beth cuddled close to my mother, her head resting under my mother's chin, her eyes closed. My mother looked worried. She held Beth more tightly.

            "Our goal is not the victory of might but the vindication of right," he said, approaching the end of his speech, and the camera began to pull back again, and the microphones and the flags reappeared, "not peace at the expense of freedom, but both peace and freedom, here in this hemisphere and, we hope, around the world. God willing, that goal will be achieved."

            He nodded his head, a slight drop to one side, as if - I wasn't sure ‑ it seemed an odd gesture, somehow not quite right.

            "Thank you and good night," he said. I studied his face. He did not seem pleased.

            Sometimes after the President was on TV my father responded to Kennedy's words with a quick reply ‑ "And goodnight to you, too, Jack" ‑ but not this evening.

            "Flip it to 2," my father said, as he lit up a Winston. I did, to Walter Cronkite.

            Beth opened her eyes, and started to leave. So did Lynn, taking Glamour with her. I did not want to stay either.

            "What do you think?" my mother asked.

            I thought she was asking me. I did not know how to put it all together. There was something impressive in the bold, dramatic words. They had been serious, angry, and in a small way, hopeful. But more than anything the President had asked me to begin to imagine the possibility of "a worldwide nuclear war," of more bombs like the one that had destroyed Hiroshima ... falling on Moscow, New York, back and forth. Fallout shelters ‑ for the first time in months I thought about the bomb shelters several neighbors had installed. We would need to hide in one. I imagined that next door the Mills were getting fresh supplies ready, about to take them out to their shelter. Randy would bring lots of Coca‑Cola.

            And I thought of the President's words, of another possibility ‑ of a victory that tasted like "ashes in our mouth."

            "I don't‑," I began.

            "I wouldn't worry," my father said, more loudly, drowning me out. "Khrushchev's not that crazy. Seems to me that he's giving the Russians a clear line." He took a deep drag on his cigarette, and held the smoke in his chest for five or six seconds before exhaling. "I like it," he added, through the smoke. "I think it's on the money. Firm, strong."

            "But frightening, too, isn't it?" my mother added.

            Neither of them said a word to Lynn or Beth as they departed. I got up and moved for the door.

            "So a Russian ship tries to run through the blockade," my mother was saying, "are they going to blow it up? Is he really willing to start ‑ God knows what ‑ over a few missiles inside of Cuba?"

            "Ssshhh," my father demanded, "let's listen." Mr. Cronkite was summarizing the President's main points, and my parents remained quiet as I left the room.

  

            Danny was on the floor, playing on the new hockey set my father had given him the week before for his sixth birthday. He was spinning his players, trying to score with his defensemen from back near his own goal, shooting the marble between the opposing players and his own and on towards the other goal ‑ which had no goalie, I noticed, when I nearly stepped on him, a two-inch masked figure, stick in hand, crouched over, lying there beside Danny's knee.

            "Want to play?" he asked.

            "No thanks," I said, heading for our bookcase, where I thought I had last seen the Life magazine about the President's inauguration.

            What was it he had told us, in that speech? I found the special edition buried under a dozen copies of Sport and Sports Illustrated I had saved over the summer and fall. I turned on my light and sat on my bed and leafed through the photographs for a while before searching for those three passages that had puzzled me so much the previous spring. There they were: 

Man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty ‑ and all forms of human life. 

Both sides (must) begin the quest for peace before the dark powers of destruction unleashed by science engulf all humanity in planned or accidental self‑destruction. 

... two great and powerful groups of nations ... racing to alter that uncertain balance of terror that stays the hand of mankind's final war. 

            They were still hard, but I understood these passages better now. The President had been more direct back then. It seemed to me he had been more truthful as well. They were like a prophecy.

            Like Joseph, it occurred to me. Predicting the future.

            Except that Joseph had figured out how to save lives. How to feed people during the seven years of famine. Seven years of withered corn and thin cows.

            The President was saying we as a country would be willing, in spite of the risk and the cost, to "retaliate."

            I put his speech back into my drawer. I thought of picking up The Yearling, but returned, reluctantly, to Hiroshima.