Yes Pa: Lessons in Character

Imagine being the student in the middle school classroom who is continually thrown out for bad behavior.  Imagine being the student who is capable of doing the work but has no support at home.

About nine years ago, this was my classroom.  I took on the position of alternative education teacher for our middle school.  My class was made up of 12 boys (grades 6-8), a teaching assistant, and myself.  I knew that I had to give those kids a sense of purpose for coming to school. 

The hardest thing to teach my students was that they were worthwhile human beings.  Most did not believe in themselves; they did not see themselves as going anywhere.  They had no goals.  I was searching for activities and materials to help them, when one morning I picked up the local newspaper and read a huge article about the "Motivational Millionaire, Fred Sarkis."

At the end of the article was Fred Sarkis' telephone number.  I called him that day to set up a speaking engagement for my class.  I remember the day he came, dressed in a clown outfit, and wondered how the boys were going to react to this speaker.  They were totally engrossed!  For days afterwards, they referred to his words and lessons.  In fact, even today, when I see these young men out and about, they ask about Fred. 

I now teach 6th grade English at the same middle school.  I have been using Yes Pa for the past seven years in my English classes.  Each spring, over a 6-to 7-week period, we read the book and complete the activities.  We do about one chapter each day.  (See below for a chapter excerpt.)

On a typical day, we go over the vocabulary words for the chapter, read the chapter aloud, and discuss it as we go along.  For each chapter, I developed questions aligned with the NYS Standards for English/Language Arts.  The kids complete the student questions in class and do the "Parent Connections" questions at home with an adult in their family.  The next day, we discuss the parents' answers and do related writing activities. 

I have found that this book enables my students to feel empathy — not only for Fred in the story — but for each other.  As we read, I can actually see them becoming more accepting and caring toward each other.  Thus far, I've read the book towards the end of the school year in hopes of preparing them for final exams and "life beyond sixth grade." I am happy to report that last year, in my class load of 85 students, I did not have a single student fail my English class.  I'm sure that one factor was that the kids took Fred's message of hard work and perseverance to heart!

Joanne Reed is currently a third-grade teacher at Waterloo Elementary School in Waterloo, New York and plans to create a third-grade edition of Yes Pa.

Student Comments

"This is the best book I've ever read."

"We had to do a report on a hero.  I chose Fred Sarkis as mine — he sure fits the definition."

"I learned that a positive attitude and hard work can help you overcome your problems."

"Wow.  That dude had a lot of problems, and he beat them all."

"If Fred can do it, I can do it."

Parent Comments

"Why don't they have more books in school like this? Morals and values instead of all that violence and stuff you can't understand."

"This is a fantastic book.  I picked it up, started reading, and read the whole thing."

"My kid never talked to me before like he has since he started reading Yes PA."

"Yes Pa has become a family affair because my son is reading it, I am reading it, and my father is reading it.  We all talk about it.  It has brought out a lot of family stories."

"I wish someone had taught me these keys to success when I was a kid."

From Yes Pa: A 5-Minute Lesson of a Lifetime
by Fred Sarkis

It was the summer of 1938, and I was 12 years old.  I was serving my fourth year of what seemed like a life sentence as prisoner of my father's vegetable and fruit truck.  Ever since I was 8, my father got me up at 4 a.m.  I had to work a grueling 100 hours a week.  I was drowning in self-pity.  My warden-father and I rarely spoke, and if we did, I still answered most of his questions with, "Yes Pa."

That summer, three 5-minute lessons from my father would change my life forever.  The first lesson occurred during the three week strawberry season.  My father would bring along my 8-year-old brother Joe to help sell fresh strawberries.  My father handed Joe and me two large flats of berries, each holding 3 baskets.  He told me to cover one side of the street, while Joe covered the other. 

After calling on about 30 homes, I came back to the truck to get six more boxes of strawberries.  My father's voice was gruff and angry.  "Fred, where have you been? You must be doing something wrong.  What are you, dumb? Your brother is only 8 years old and you are 12, yet he comes for more strawberries, four baskets to your one.  What are ya doin' wrong?"

I was angry.  "Maybe it's because he has the better side of the street."

"No, Fred, you're doing something wrong.  I'm going to watch you."

I wanted the world to open up and swallow me.  All I ever did was obey him, and now he was going to humiliate me by standing over me to make sure I was selling strawberries the correct way. 

I went to the next house, with my father standing behind me.  I knocked on the door, and when the lady of the house appeared, I said, "You probably don't want to buy any strawberries, do you, ma'am?" I was shaking my head no, and the lady looked puzzled and started shaking her head no, too.  She said, "I guess not today, sonny."

After we got back to the truck my father said, "Fred, we won't go home until we sell all these strawberries.  There's a smart way to sell strawberries and your way.  I'll show you the smart way.  Are you ready to learn?"

"Yes, Pa."

My father took the two flats of berries and walked up to the next house.  He put a big old smile on his tired face and rang the doorbell.  When the lady of the house appeared, he said, "Good evening, ma'am.  These strawberries were picked early this morning on a farm not far from here.  See how fresh they are." He turned the basket so the lady could see that there were no bad berries at the bottom.  With excitement in his voice he said, "You can see there's not one bad berry in the whole quart."

With a Cheshirecat smile on his face, he said, "They are only 10 cents a quart or three quarts for a quarter.  Do you want one or three, ma'am?"

The lady only had a choice between one and three, not yes or no.  To my utter amazement she said, "I'll take three, sir."

He gave the same sales pitch to the next lady, and she also took three.  "Now," he said to me, "Do this from now on and we'll go home a lot sooner."

I practiced and perfected the new skill I had just learned.  I was inherently shy, but I quickly learned the art of selling strawberries the smart way.  I caught up and then surpassed the sales of my little brother, Joe.  This 5-minute lesson from my father had a big impact on the rest of my life.  It changed my attitude from negative to positive.  I immediately stopped being shy and timid.  I became friendlier and happier. 

It's almost as if we have this invisible control panel on the side of our body that controls our attitude and enthusiasm.  You can turn the knob to low, medium, or high.  People can choose to move that knob.  They can change their outlook on life. 

I thought about my problems at school.  Maybe if I had been more positive and outgoing, I would have made more friends.  Maybe I wouldn't have felt so lonely end dejected.  From that day forward, I tried to remember and incorporate my father's life lesson into everything I did or said.  I realized that I was in control of my attitude and enthusiasm.  I could turn my knob as high as I chose. 

Measured Effectiveness of Yes Pa
by Rob Lilllis, Evalumetrics Research

The Yes Pa program elicits enthusiastic feedback from students, parents, and character education professionals.  But Fred Sarkis wanted to know if the program was actually making a measurable change in kids.  He commissioned me, as an outside evaluator from Evalumetrics Research, to design and conduct an outcome study. 

A focus group of teachers who had used the Yes Pa program, school administrators, and academics met to suggest measurable outcomes of Yes Pa.  Together, we decided that the program addresses young people's self-efficacy — their perception of the influence they have over their lives. 

Research finds that accomplishment and healthy lifestyles include the belief that one's life outcomes generally result from effort as opposed to luck or other external factors.  This "internal locus of control" predicts positive youth development and reduced problem behaviors. 

We believe that when students read Yes Pa and watch the video of Fred telling his story, they develop their own self-efficacy.  The Yes Pa curriculum emphasizes the similarities of Fred's childhood to the issues faced by young people today.  For example, Fred talks about being socially rejected and teased because he was different. 

To test the effects of the Yes Pa program, 825 sixth-graders in eight school districts completed the Control Agency Means-Ends Interview (CAMI) prior to the Yes Pa program (pre-test) and following the Yes Pa program (post-test).  A control group of students from the same schools who did not participate in the Yes Pa program also completed the CAMI. 

Students who participated in Yes Pa were six times more likely to show increases in the belief that their successes are directly related to their efforts.  The program had equal impact whether students viewed the video of Fred or met him personally.