Politics Are Always At Play In Our Classrooms
On the Wednesday after Election Day 2016, I told myself to maintain my composure. For three weeks, I heard my mostly South and Central American students excoriate the President-Elect for his racist, sexist, xenophobic, Islamophobic comments over the last year. My students call out malicious behaviors quicker than many in mainstream media. Outlets like CNN and MSNBC choose more benign qualifiers like “controversial” and “inappropriate.” Now, I had to walk into my students’ classrooms and gauge a collective vibe.
These students, mostly stirred, had a hard time concentrating on math. There was no comfort in my routines and rituals that day, just a lesson plan and some numbers that I barely remembered.
Lately, many articles from educators for “unity” for the president-elect suggest that educators shouldn’t instill fear into children. (NB: Clinton’s popular vote lead continues to grow past 1.6M … and counting.) In their minds, these liberal-minded teachers are indoctrinating our children with trepidation over a president who called for unity. Liberal parents irrationally stir fears into their children for no good reason. The underlying assumption is also that true social justice is one in which every child aces standardized tests, and they have the content knowledge to meet and surpass Politics Are Always At Play In Our Classrooms | The Jose Vilson:
