Catholic social teaching can be child's play

Idea exchange
February 2002

Catholic social teaching can be child's play
They melt in your mouth, not in your hand and they're one of the best ways to teach sixth graders about social justice. Colorful M&M candies are one of Tom Turner's many props when he takes his "That's Not Fair" program into classrooms.

Here's how the M&M game goes: Turner distributes playing cards to each of the 25 students in the class. Ten receive a face card, while the remaining 15 get a numbered card. To each student who has a numbered card, Turner gives two M&Ms. The face-card kids, whom he terms "royalty," get a whole bag of the candies.

Then he tantalizes the group with 10 envelopes that contain gift certificates at fast food chains, video rental stores, and music stores. The deal: each envelope "costs" 18 M&Ms. When the kids with only two start to grumble, he explains that they can try to get the "royalty" to share their M&Ms, but they must get down on their knees to ask. The M&M rich are free to do as they like.

"Typically, nine out of 10 kids with the bag of M&Ms get prizes, and that's the end of the game," says Turner, executive director of the Bishop Sullivan Center in Kansas City, Missouri, a Catholic social service agency.

When Turner asks if the students think the rules are fair, they respond with a resounding, "No!" He then explains that our church teaches about two ways to help the "M&M poor"—"We can either share our M&Ms, or we can work to change rules that are unfair."

With kid-friendly language and similarly creative games, the "That's Not Fair" program is designed to help middle-school students learn about church social justice teaching. "We teach them that charity is when you give someone assistance, but that justice is changing unfair rules," says Turner. "I think a lot of adults don't understand the difference either."

Turner created the program two years ago after urging Catholic educators at an in-service day to spend more time on Catholic social teaching. "I held up the U.S. bishops' document [Sharing Catholic Social Teaching: Challenges and Direction] and said, 'See, it's not just me. The bishops want you to teach about this.'"

The principal of St. Patrick's School requested his help, and with the assistance of sixth-grade teacher Patty Haney, the program was born. "We just made it up as we went along," says Turner, who visited Haney's sixth-grade classroom once a week with creative games and exercises designed to convey the main principles of Catholic social teaching.

But there's more to the program than just classroom instruction. The students visit social service agencies and actually meet the recipients of the agency's aid. At the Bishop Sullivan Center, they rubbed elbows with people who rely on the center's food pantry, emergency assistance, job placement services, and after-school tutoring.

The students also get hands-on advocacy experience. "We want them to put what they've learned into practice," Turner says. That first year he organized a trip to the Missouri state capitol in Jefferson City, where the students gave a group of legislators a "poor man's Power Point presentation" with 10 handmade posters explaining their support of a proposed earned income tax credit for working families. They also delivered over 500 cards signed by voters that they had acquired while practicing their presentation at their home parishes.

This year students involved in the program—which has spread to 18 schools in the diocese—are lobbying for funding of an educational program to promote adoption of special-needs children. "The touchiest part is picking the issue," explains Turner, who suggests choosing something from the state Catholic Conference agenda. "The idea isn't to pick what's hot or what's winnable, but what will best educate the kids."

Although Turner followed that initial class of sixth graders into seventh grade, he now spends most of his time teaching others how to replicate the program. He and Haney co-authored a 130-page teacher's manual, which can be purchased for $35. He also has done workshops around the country and is planning a conference for teachers June 6 - 7 in Palm Beach, Florida. For more information, he can be contacted by email at tturner@crn.org or by calling the Sullivan Center at (816) 231-0984.—Heidi Schlumpf

For more information on Catholic social teaching:
Busy Christian's Guide to Catholic social teaching
Food for Though from the Office of Social Justice—St. Paul/Minneapolis

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