Bruce

I just read this article in USA Today, and thought this article could benefit all of us.

Once a week a teacher brings in a dog to a class of first graders. She has come up with an idea to tap into children's natural affinity for animals and use it to teach values everyone can agree on.

The teacher said "it's not heavy handed. it's a more subtle way of getting children to understand that you have to treat every living thing, every human being, with respect.

In a lesson last year the children talked about training a dog with praise to reward good behavior. They then took that extra step. They discussed about who in your family needs praise.

Once they grasped the idea that positive reinforcement gets desired results , they start using it with each other all the time.

Then it was said that this idea extended back in time to a quote from St. Thomas Aquinas who said "the way a child treats an animal will predict how he will treat fellow human beings."

In my opinion, I truly believe that if their is one important lesson we all should learn in life, it is to respect each other and to respect all living things. Life is to precious for us to disregard the lesson these first graders have learned from man's best friend.