The Grand Jury in St. Louis county has handed down its decision. To no real surprise, they have refused to indict Darren Wilson in the death of Michael Brown. This is another in the long line of police officers who have been exonerated for killing Black and Hispanic youth in this country. It is a travesty. Yet, many teachers see no, or just tangential connection to the lives of their students.
As a member of MORE, the social justice caucus in the UFT , I have watched the issue of what should the role of a teacher's union be in society cause immense strains. The discussions have centered around whether or not instances like Ferguson, or the murder of Eric Garner on Staten Island should be officially addressed by a union. To me, the view that they should not creates a false separation between "school" and "the outside world."
When I started teaching (in 1984) I remember many teachers who said things like "I can only control what happens in my classroom, so that is what I am going to worry about." But all teachers know that some of the biggest impacts on what happens in our classroom are the things that happen outside of it. Some of these may be "small" issues. Jane had an argument with her teacher the period before my class, so she has "attitude" in mine. Tom was hassled by an AP in the hallways because he wasn't moving fast enough between periods, so he is angry when he gets to my door. Some of these may be "larger" issues. Nancy lives in a homeless shelter and doesn't sleep well at night. Timothy's family's food stamps have run out on the 25th of the month and he doesn't have a decent meal between school lunches.
Over the past 30 years I have watched schools in this country become more and more controlled by the police. Today, in my school building, students must pass through a scanner to enter. Now this is not the case in all schools. Stuyvesant, Bronx Science, Brooklyn Tech, Beacon, NYC Lab School are all examples of schools where students are free to enter without having to prove that they are not a danger to others. This is happening around the country, see this report from the Justice Policy Institute. Meanwhile, actions that used to result in parents being called in to schools or a suspension are now considered crimes, with even elementary age students being arrested.
Outside of school, New York is still a city where the official policy is to stop and search young men in neighborhoods that are primarily Black and Latino. These "stop and frisks" result in a disproportionate number of arrests for small amounts of marijuana in those communities.
All of this is to say that ALL of these factors come into our classes. If teachers have the feeling that students are angrier, and less respectful, it is because they are angrier, and they are treated less respectfully outside of school. This fact is not out of our control. We must see that the racism that our students face every day has a detrimental effect on our ability to educate our students. The petty attacks by police, the effect of racist economic policies all take away from our students' ability to perform in schools.
If we are serious about improving the lives of our students we MUST take on these issues. There is no separation between in our classes and outside our classes. We must use all of the tools that we have available, including the one organization that brings teachers together and gives us a voice- our union. If we do not fight to improve all aspects of our students' lives then we have truly let them down.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
The union should be the voice of the members, but should also speak for the entire working class. The racial oppression faced by people of color in this society affects us all negatively, even though white people "enjoy" the "privilege" of rarely being gunned down in the street for no reason.
ReplyDelete