A snapshot of my week.
On Monday I was in the lab while a class was watching MLK's I Had A Dream speech. I stayed to listen and was in tears at how the very things he spoke against are so wide spread in America today. The students were supposed to be evaluating the speech for english devices, instead they kept wanting to talk about it's meaning. I cried again.
On Tuesday I was discussing sexuality in class and a student told me that homosexuality is wrong. I stopped the class and asked them if they could recall a time when people were not allowed to own land, go to university, hold political office, or be truly free because of who they are. They immediately talked of apartheid. We discussed how people were being oppressed by the law because of the color of their skin, because of who they were born to be. Now, that sort of discrimination is illegal. I urged them to think of LGBTQ rights people fighting for their right to live their lives, regardless of who they love. People, trying to be people. Just like every other person.
On Wednesday I walked in a classroom to find three swastika's graffitied on the back wall. Before I began my planned lesson, I asked my students if they knew which of the many graffiti drawings were offensive. They pointed to a ninja, a joint, and everything but the answer I was looking for until one student figured it out. I gauged their understanding of Hitler, WW2, knowing they cover it in their curriculum but only if they take the optional history class, before I gave them a short lesson on why it was offensive. I placed emphasis on the over 8 million people, mostly Jewish, who were murdered by the Nazi's. I asked them to have the symbols removed by the time I returned to their class. We spent the rest of class answering the question "what is love?"
On Thursday I had the students tell me whether they agreed or disagreed with the statement "A woman who carries a condom in her purse is a slut." Several boys strongly agreed because they said it meant she was ready for sex anywhere, any time. A majority of the class strongly disagreed, commending the woman for taking care of herself and her health. I didn't need to say a word. Later, a boy proclaimed "girls are like toothbrushes. They should be thrown away and replaced every 3 months." Next, in response to the statement "sex is more important to men than to women" a boy told me sex is painful to women. I told him that if the woman he was having sex with was in pain, he was probably doing something wrong. Sometimes you have to be blunt to get people's attention.
On Friday when I walked in to class, the swastika's were gone. Painted over by students. I thanked them. I read them the transcript of Tea is Consent. It was a good day.
Working with adolescents is energizing because they are at an important cross roads in their life where they are taking the information, values, and ideas about the world that they've always been taught or shown, and starting to challenge them and decide what is true for them. As a teacher who comes from a very different background as my current students, and who is very different from many adults they encounter in their lives, I take my ability to give them alternatives to consider very seriously. After teaching a class on the Gender Unicorn last week I had a student ask me WHERE I got the ideas for all of my crazy lessons. For most of my students, what I teach to them may be the first and only time they hear about consent, healthy relationships, and gender equality from a trusted adult.
Most importantly, I try to instill in my students the concept that every human being is equal. Every person, no matter their appearance or identity or preferences, is a person. A person who deserves respect, equal rights, and kindness. Every day the news reeks of dehumanization, all over the world. This morning I woke up to news of white supremacists and nazi's marching on a university campus that could have very well been my own. I can not change the minds of 20 and 30 year old white men who I've never met, but I can go to work on Monday and do my best to stay present and open with my students. Knowing that even if I only influence one of my students to be less sexist, less homophobic, less transphobic, less racist, it could make a real difference. Teaching it to adolescents helps me figure out how to talk about it with adults. It allows me to ask questions, to understand the root of the beliefs, to mold effective discussions. I still have a lot to learn in terms of decolonizing the classroom, but I'm doing what I can with what I know.
We all have influence. Where can you dedicate yourself to change? How can you help move us towards an equitable, just, and kind society?
