One of the true pleasures of writing is that occasionally people contact you because they really enjoyed something you wrote. Recently, Jay Apking, the founder of Great American Child, reached out to me and told me he liked my piece titled “7 things our founders believed about public education.”
Turned out, he’d started a theatre company called The Janus Project in Cincinnati (my hometown) and we even knew some of the same people. What really interested me about Jay, though, was this connection we have around education and learning and what it takes to become a better person. Jay started Great American Child as a present for his 14-year-old niece based on his teaching experience with kids. The project turned into a series of books for kids.
I asked Jay if he’d answer a few questions so others could learn about Great American Child.
1. What is Great American Child and what’s the goal?
Great American Child is a company founded on the belief that all children deserve the tools to succeed in life. Our books are written for children of each grade (K-12) to use as a set of standards to give each child a greater sense of self, to understand that he or she has value and that the world needs each child to be at his or her best, and more importantly, that every child is in control of how far they will go in life.
The short-term goal is to level the playing field for all of our children regardless of the life into which they were born. I believe that every child is a world of possibility with an unlimited ceiling. The problem is that we all start on different floors. I would like us all to start on the same floor and create more of a meritocracy. If we cannot do that, we are operating our own modern-day caste system.
The long-term goal is to elevate society by building healthier, wiser, more creative and disciplined children. I cannot say it any better than Frederick Douglass who stated, “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.”
Every part of our books are dedicated to this belief.
2. How do the books work?
The books are grade-specific and cover all of the general information we want them to learn that year. This includes standards on character, goal-setting, nutrition and exercise, art, music and poetry, chores, finance, great American role models, and a slew of little things that are important for them to know at each age.
There is also a journal in the back for them to learn how they currently exist in each area and to put a plan together to improve.
Each book also contains an activity called the “Four Paths” in which we have children discover how well-rounded they are at each age. These paths are Warrior (health and wellness), Creator (culture and imagination), Scholar (wisdom and a love of learning), and Leader (grit and discipline). We show them where they excel and where they need improvement. We then teach them that in order to be great at anything in life, they need to be strong in all of these areas.
Then each year we add another layer. For example, when they are very young we teach them how to simply save money. By the time they graduate high school, we have taught them how to invest wisely and avoid debt. When they are beginning school, we teach them which foods are better to eat for learning and which to avoid. By the time they graduate, we have taught them how to cook complicated meals and maybe to even grow their own vegetables. It is a step-by-step process in which we layer the teaching over 13 years—not all at once.
And we think of the books as the entry point into the greater discussion of the daily pursuit of living a better life. We will have blogs, videos, and daily reminders that will go out to them to keep them on track.
3. What was your inspiration?
The short answer is my niece. I was trying to be a good uncle and give her something meaningful for her 14th birthday so I sat down and began to write Everything You Need to Know About Being 14. It just so happened I was teaching theatre in three schools—an elementary, middle and high school—in the Cincinnati area at the time. As I wrote her birthday book I realized I was writing about the issues I was seeing with all of the children I was teaching, and I was teaching children from all socioeconomic backgrounds. I could tell by simple observation who was going to turn out okay and who was not and I could see the skills they all lacked. So I expanded the books to grades K-12 because I felt they could be a great process for children. Teach them a little about these life skills and build on it each year so when they become adults, they are better able to take on college, career, and life.
It was when I had my own daughter that I was truly inspired to publish the books. I wanted the books to serve as a reminder to myself that I needed to practice what I preach (I’m still working on that).
4. Your books focus on this notion of character. Why do you believe this is important?
Character is a large focus, but I have come to understand with children and parents that we all define character in different ways. I think of this past election when there were daily “discussions” about character and we were clearly divided on who had it. That is why we try to focus as much on Emotional Intelligence as character. I think that is a more specific term we can all agree on, as it deals with mental toughness, perseverance, open-mindedness, and compassion. I think all of these factors neutralize oppression which is important to the anti-bullying campaign in the educational system.
5. What challenges do you see in our educational system?
Well, that’s a hard question because in many ways I feel the system does what it can and would probably work better if the children were learning these life skills at home. I just don’t think that is the case these days. Schools don’t have the time or the structure to teach life skills.
But I will say that I would love to have the whole system evaluated to look at implementing these skills. We need our children to exercise every day, to eat better in order to learn better, and we need them to be exposed to the arts. We know scientifically that exercise, nutrition, and culture are huge in creating higher brain function. Why would we not want these in schools if the goal is for their achievement test scores to go up?
So, I guess I’m saying is that the system is not set up for children to succeed in life. It’s more for the children to succeed on paper.
6. I know you have a background in theatre. How does this relate to Great American Child?
First and foremost I feel that culture is huge part of being an intelligent and complete child and with theatre being part of the arts. I love how theatre combines writing, art, music, dance, and many different forms of each.
Theatre also teaches children three great individual skills:
- Movement—you need a strong and controlled body to do what is needed for character.
- Voice—you need a powerful voice to be heard.
- Imagination—you need a creative mind to live inside other characters.
You also need to learn respect and teamwork when working in a cast, or a show will collapse. What career would it not benefit a person to have a strong body, voice, imagination, and understanding of working in groups? Very few children will become professional actors, but the skills they learn in theatre will serve them many ways in life.
But as to the books, it was doing children’s theatre on tour at the Barter in Virginia that gave me my first real experience working with children. It took me many places, including Russia, and I met children of widely varied backgrounds. I was in my mid-20s at the time and little did I know it was theatre that was planting the seeds which led to these books.
7. How does Great American Child help parents?
We have parenting books for each level of schooling to help them in the process.
There are two goals with parents:
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The first is we want to at least give them a minimum set of standards to hold their children accountable at home. If you are struggling as a parent, at least you could refer to the book and tell your child, “here is where we need you to be.”
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The second, and what I cling to myself, is that their books contain journals and goals for parents as individuals. We challenge the parents to live a life of greatness as well and that it’s okay to focus on yourself every now and then. We give them to knowledge and the permission to be their best so their children will have them as role models.
8. What one question should I be asking that I’m not, and what’s your response?
How does Great American Child address the bullying problem schools and society are so concerned with now?
I applaud schools for tackling the bullying problem, but I feel it will not end by just telling kids not to be mean and having their friends tell on them if they are. It will end when we teach these kids to set goals and go after them. What I saw when teaching is that bullies have no goals, no hope really. A person that lacks goals will remain in ignorance and fear—the two traits I see most in bullies. We simply teach children to better themselves in all areas of life. If they are doing this, they will a) not have the time or the justification to be a bully and b) be too focused to allow a bully to affect them.
There will always be bullies. It’s simple human nature in us as children to be afraid of what we don’t understand. The problem is when we don’t grow out of that. Being educated in a well-rounded way will help them grow beyond that fear and ignorance. That’s what we try to do and it is our hope it will work.
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Jay Apking is a father, husband, actor, writer, director, and athletic trainer living in Knoxville, Tennessee. He has been working with children for the past 20 years starting with a children’s theatre tour out of the Barter Theatre in Abingdon, VA. He later began his own theatre company called The Janus Project in Cincinnati, Ohio and taught and directed children in elementary, middle and high schools across the region. He has been a playwright and story writer for over 15 years and continues to teach children in theatre and in life to this day. If you are interested in Great American Child, you can sign up to support the movement at greatamericanchild.com.