READERS WRITE, February 21, 2024

https://www.recorder.com/Letter-to-the-editor-54128720

A recent story about seven middle-school students rushing to the aid of an older woman in need of help exemplifies the lifelong benefits of education imbued with lessons of compassion and community.

Gloria Matlock, founder/director of Twice as Smart, was driving her students to a Musica Franklin class on Franklin Street in Greenfield when she saw an older woman on the sidewalk bent over, her nose bleeding, struggling to stand. Gloria pulled over, telling her students to wait in the car. Before she had gotten out of her car, all the students had rushed over as a group to help the woman. She found them talking to the woman, trying to support her physically, discussing what might have happened to her, and not wanting to leave her side.

An EMT came by just as Gloria was calling an ambulance at the woman’s request. In telling me the story, Gloria described that what she witnessed was more than an act of kindness on the part of her students, it was an act of caring about their community. One of the fundamental lessons she works to impress upon her Twice as Smart students is that “we live in community,” all while she and volunteer tutors are improving their reading, writing and math skills, and encouraging their art and music.

This is the best of humanistic education, educating the whole child — mind, body and soul — that all children need and deserve to grow into their best selves.

Pat Hynes
Montague