CYCLE THREE: SHOULD THE CURRICULUM ADDRESS CONTROVERCIAL ISSUES?
This
particular cycle topic has proven most difficult, and thus less conducive to witticisms
and the like. To me, this is not a
question that I can answer as a graduate student, a professional educator or a
coach. It is one that I have to address
as a parent as well.
First
of all, since questions like this are often political in nature when addressed
in the public strata, I should qualify myself as a political thinker. I teach government, politics and law for a
living. I grew up as the son of a
Republican small business owner and a free-thinking Democrat housewife who went
door-to-door for Jack Kennedy. Yes, they
have a loving and stable marriage, thank you.
I was raised in an amalgam of both ends of the political spectrum and
the blending that occurred in a two-parent home. Thus, I am what some would call a “populist”
though that is hardly an accurate label…I’m not a fan of labels for the record. To define terms, generally I am fiscally
liberal and socially conservative. Even
then, I am not consistently one or the other within those two sets of ideas. I believe in traditional “family” values, but
also believe that what happens within your life isn’t my concern, and I have no
business commenting or opinionating about it.
I have several homosexual friends, and have never given their sexual
orientation/preference any thought, because I firmly believe that being judgmental
is not a “family” value. Likewise, I am
a man of faith who refuses to bludgeon others with what I believe.
Like
I say when asked, “Who the hell am I?”
Ok,
so I’m a highly tolerant person who keeps his beliefs and values to himself
unless asked, out of humility and respect for the unique nature of
humanity. Then why is this topic such a
challenge for me as an educator?
Because
I am a parent, and I will not be sending my daughter off to school to be
parented, raised or reared. That’s not
the purpose
of public schools, and over the ten years that I have been a public
educator, I have come to despise that behavior in my peers. My job is to teach government and politics,
not my agenda or politics or faith or creed.
Like
I say when asked, “Who the hell am I?”
I
have a colleague who does much of what bothers me so much. During class discussions about politics or
religion, she tells students who disagree with her that they are wrong, going
so far as to require that they redirect their opinion, or remain silent…during
a scored discussion. Eisner states “Critics
of schooling point out, however, that rather than cultivate initiative, schools
foster compliant behavior. One of the first things a student learns-and the
lesson is taught throughout his or her school career-is to provide the teacher
with what the teacher wants or expects.”
It
is reasonable to expect compliant behavior
in public schools in order to assure the safety and security of our
charges. Does that mean that it is
reasonable to expect complaint thought? One of the things that I constantly have to
remind law students is that the law does not govern though for a reason. Our founders installed a form of government
and system of laws designed to ensure individual freedoms, with none more
important than liberty: the right to think and believe as one chooses. I remind my highly-diverse A.P. Government
class every year that a bigot has the right to believe whatever he or she chooses, and you have the right to believe
that he/she is a piece of trash. Neither
of you has the right to do anything
with those beliefs that would infringe upon the right of the other. Period.
The law intervenes when thought becomes action.
So
this begs a question: do schools need to
teach one side of a controversial social issue to protect their charges? In other words, is it the school’s job to
decide what is correct or incorrect for their students to believe? Or, is it the job to ensure that, no matter
what the personal beliefs of their students are, nobody is treated in an
unacceptable manor by their peers? I,
for one, do not try to change what my kids believe in. It’s a danger of teaching government: you a
have a ready audience to indoctrinate if you wish to, and that isn’t my
job. I do, however, believe that it is
my job to maintain a safe (physically and intellectually) environment where
respect is not an option. Like I tell my
kids all of the time: “I don’t care in the least whether you agree with anyone
in here, but you will respect them as they, and as I, respect you.” I just can’t bring myself to move beyond that
as part of a curriculum. I work for the
State, and I can’t find a Benchmark or GLCE for “morality” or “values”.
I
provide my own counterpoint here, by the way.
I
work in an urban school, with young men with absent fathers, and I actively teach
them things like:
·
“Right and wrong”
·
“Manhood”
·
“Honor”
·
“Faith”
·
“Respect for women”
·
“EMPATHY”
Yes,
I know what you will say…”Coach, you blankity-blank hypocrite, you are doing
exactly what you can’t stand in others”.
Yup,
and I admit it too. I’m not going to
stand by and allow the same cycle of ignorance, violence, and vile behavior
continue in my community because little boys are procreating and making more
little boys. I’m not going to allow the gang to raise these little
boys. I’m not going to allow any more little boys to grow up and accidentally
shoot other little boys like we’ve
seen of late in Detroit. Sorry, not
going to happen. Am I re-parenting, or
likely parenting in the first place, other people’s kids? Yes.
Is that my job as a public school teacher? No. If
my community has a problem with what I am doing, and believe me, I am quite
public about it, there is always a recourse.
Fire
me.
That
still hasn’t happened yet, and for a reason that maybe applies here. I don’t teach that as part of my course
curriculum. I make the extra effort,
spend the extra time, burn the extra calories to teach these things on my own
to as many young men as I can, but not during instructional time.
So
I suppose that all of this leads me to a simple answer to the cycle question:
SHOULD THE CURRICULUM ADDRESS CONTROVERCIAL
ISSUES?
I
don’t know. I’d like to say “no”,
because parents should. Except I live
and work in a community that has a significant absence of parents. So if not the schools, then whom?
Resources:
This
article offers an interesting take on the notion of schools parenting
kids. I’m not suggesting that I agree or
disagree, only that I found it to be interesting.
This
is just a reminder that the beginning of the battle for the streets of our
cities begins at home. But what if home
is the problem?
Hi Jim,
ReplyDeleteThis was a compelling, very personal post. I was walking on egg shells, as I usually am, when I read such tense writing. For my own taste, I prefer that tension to be carried out, lived out, acknowledged, rather than tidied away in easy answers. You totally lived up to that, in my view. Again, this is compelling writing about issues that teachers face every day.
I'll start off by saying the link to the article about the parent whose child's school got overly involved was equally fascinating. Just a recommendation here--when you have a link that is that good, don't bury it at the end of your post. Bring it into dialogue with your own views, your own stories, and let the two texts work together. Reading that text, I started to totally come around to your point of view (the story really hooked me).
Anyway, I appreciate what you are saying here, and I just really love that you acknowledge the contradictions you live with. Schools and teachers can't avoid teaching values, but they have to avoid doing it in certain ways. Your own personal resolution--draw a line between thought and action--is a nice rule of thumb. Theoretically, for me at least, thought is a type of action, and such thoughts can damage both the person thinking them and the person being thought about.
I would never tell a child they can't think a certain way, but I feel it's my charge as a teacher to get them to consider different points of view, if for no other reason that to make their own views more explicit and more well reasoned. (Ed Schools obviously get into trouble when they take up a certain ideological line--I share the disdain toward the conformity approach but I sympathize with the dilemma of teaching values).
I wonder how you draw the line, or if the line ever gets messy? To me, kids are always looking at teachers, and building their own identities as they engage the adults in their lives. We are always modeling values and morality, as adults, whether we like it or not. But I still agree--that doesn't give us license to preach.
In fact, preaching never works. You want a child (an adult, a pet--really, any living creature) to do something--break out a speech in favor of it and watch them do the opposite. Seems to me most teachers worth their salt are keenly aware of that. You walk that line very nicely here.
Thanks so much for your post.
Kyle