Tennessee Students Learn Love, Compassion via the Lowly Paper Clip
by Jim Brown
September 28, 2004
(AgapePress) - A Tennessee middle school has come up with a unique way to teach its mostly white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant students what happens when prejudice goes unchecked.During World War II, Norwegians wore paper clips on their collars as a sign of solidarity with their Jewish neighbors and as a form of silent opposition to the Nazi regime and anti-Semitism. After learning this, students at Whitwell Middle School set out to collect 11 million paper clips -- one for each victim of the Holocaust. English teacher Sandy Roberts, the faculty member working with the students, relates the chain of events since the effort began in 1999.
"By late 2000, probably November or December, we had right at two-million paper clips. [Then] we had article[s] appear in the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, and on NBC Nightly News," the teacher explains. "When I left for spring break in early April of 2001, we had two million paper clips. Seven weeks later, we had 24 million paper clips."
According to Roberts, that incredible response -- which has now grown to a collection of 30 million paper clips -- has prompted students in her school to ask more questions about life in general and develop a greater interest in historic and current events. But there is more, she says.
"The greatest thing we have received are so many letters -- we received over 30,000 letters from survivors, from individuals across the country who were telling us their stories, and [from] families of survivors," she shares. "Just everyday people who would take time out of their busy life to tell my children [they] are doing a great job and offer them words of encouragement."
Roberts says those are the things that taught her children love, compassion, and understanding better than any textbook could ever teach. Miramax is set to release a G-rated documentary on the project, called Paper Clips, in October.
