Serendipity35

Are you familiar with Catherine Ryan Hyde's book Pay It Forward or perhaps the movie version? It has been 9 years since I read the novel. It was the start of my last year teaching in K-12. I was teaching seventh grade, and it reminded me of the kind of class projects that had kept me interested in the classroom for 25 years.

The novel comes out of the "Think Globally, Act Locally" philosophy and gives us Trevor McKinney, a seventh grader who catches a spark from an extra-credit assignment in his Social Studies class. The teacher asks them to "Think of an idea for world change, and put it into action." Trevor's idea is beautifully simple. Do a good deed for three people, and in exchange, ask each of them to "pay it forward" to three more. Nine people get helped and then they have to do 27 good deeds and then...

Trevor's first attempts don't seem to work and he actually gives up on his project, but his acts of kindness continue on their own and a movement begins to spread. (Read a a synopsis)

The expression "pay it forward" describes the concept of third party beneficiaries: a creditor offers the debtor the option of "paying" the debt forward (rather than back to the creditor) by lending it to a third person. These debts and payments can be monetary or in the case of the novel, good deeds. In sociology, this concept is called "generalized reciprocity" or "generalized exchange".

It's not new. The concept was described by Benjamin Franklin in 1784, and the actual term "pay it forward" was used by Robert A. Heinlein in his book Between Planets in 1951. Heinlein preached and practiced this philosophy and the Heinlein Society is a humanitarian organization founded in his name that continues the idea.

Hyde's novel has been referenced in books for educators looking to add civic responsibility into their classroom. Two to check out are Building Moral Intelligence: The Seven Essential Virtues that Teach Kids to Do the Right Thing and The Complete Guide to Service Learning: Proven, Practical Ways to Engage Students in Civic Responsibility, Academic Curriculum, & Social Action.

In the spirit of all this, you may want to engage and encourage your students to apply for a Pay It Forward Foundation Mini-Grants.

They are given to one-time-only, service-oriented activities that young people would like to perform to benefit their school, neighborhood, or greater community. Projects must contain a “pay it forward focus, which is based on the concept of having one person do a favor for others, who in turn do favors for others, and so on, so the results grow exponentially.

They are not major grants - the maximum award is $500 - but the best projects probably won't require much money. K-12 students are eligible and applications are now being accepted fall semester of 2008/09 up to the deadline of September 15. You'll have to be ready to harness that early September enthusiasm to get a project together for this round. They begin taking applications for the spring semester starting on January 1, 2009.

The novel Pay It Forward was a good read and I enjoyed the film version too. The book might fit into a high school classroom though the story seems perfect for a middle school reader. It's a book written for an adult audience and I didn't feel it was appropriate for my seventh graders - though the concept and excerpts were perfect for them.

I have heard the novel compared to the classic Frank Capra film It's a Wonderful Life. The book and that film are both often perceived as kind of corny, but they have a real dark side. One person can make a difference, but it doesn't end sickness, pain, or death.

The Pay It Forward Foundation has created two excerpts that are suitable for classrooms: a 20 page one for middle school students and another (6 pages) for younger children. Teachers have the permission of the publisher to download and distribute copies to their students for use in the classroom.