By Danielle Walsh
Gather round, parents. No trigger warning here. I even want the haters to read this. And listen with an open mind…
(Summoning my inner Sophia Petrillo)
Picture it St. Mary’s October, 1980. I’m in third grade. Mrs. Whalen, a new teacher and all around fantastic lady, decides to hand out a ditto sheet for history homework. After doing the required sniffing and getting a head high from fresh ditto ink (go ahead, take a deep sniff). You can still smell it, right?), I look down to see two cartoon men, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Regan.
‘Color the pictures. Essay- Ask a a parent who they are voting for in the upcoming election and why.’
Yada yada yada…The End.
Is she seriously yada yada yada-ing the whole story?
Yup. Cause absolutely nothing happened. We did our homework, talked about whether we agreed or disagreed with our parents and that’s it. Okay, maybe we lost a brain cell or two from huffing ditto ink, but who in 1980 didn’t?
Not the most adventurous of tales, but let’s take that same scenario today.
Can you imagine what would happen if Mrs. Whalen sent home that same ditto today at say Nut Swamp? Or Harmony? I do and no yada yada yada would suffice for that tale.
From the coloring in of candidates, to the unmitigated gaul of a teacher to talk about current events in an open and honest way, this would be a real feces storm in today’s Middletown.
I can actually smell the knockoff Chanel on the Laurie* who’d write this in ALL CAPS on FB. Or the insecurity of the Dad who’d run to the Middletown Patch and whine about how his child was being indoctrinated by a ditto. (*I’m tired of poor Karen taking the wrap for everything. Thus, Laurie.)
‘I want her FIRED. Here’s my fancy petition! Sign it if you think she should be fired and teachers shouldn’t push their politics on your kids!
’I’d love to pinpoint the exact moment our teachers went from ‘Heroes’ and valued assets in our community to an occupation so vile and distrusted that people can’t even trust them to have a conversation about….well, any damned thing….. with the children whom we have entrusted their education. No politics, no Covid talk, no vaccine talk, no mask references, no talk of critical race theory, no talk of sexuality outside of a man and woman. No no no no no…..bad teachers, bad. Now sit Ubu sit…Good teacher.
Have you seen the fine print of the mask resolution our BOE just adopted? No teacher or staff member is allowed to talk about the Covid vaccine in any way. They can’t say if they’ve had it. They can’t ask if you have. They can not have any opinion or discussion in class at all, even (and especially) if a student brings it up.
Why is that a problem? I mean, even Mike Mason, President of the MTEA said that he would not take issue with the policy. I get it. It’s not the hill he wants to die on. And there are certainly bigger concerns for teachers these days. But it’s been haunting me since I read it weeks ago and I couldn’t quite articulate it, until now…
Picture it. May 2016. Middletown High School South scholarship awards interviews. I had the privilege of sitting on the committee as a BOE Member and meet extraordinary students.
One question asked was ‘What would you change or add to make your high school experience better?
’And more than one student replied that what High School was missing was a club where students could debate and talk about politics without regurgitating their parents positions. Something apolitical. A place to talk about issues that matter to them.
You can start any kind of club in our schools pretty easily, so you might think that this would be a no-brainer to rectify. But you’d be wrong. I mean, this is still Middletown.
I very distinctly remember the adults in the room looking at each other after the first time it was brought up and the student left the room. We all just sort of giggled uncomfortably. Because we all knew why that would never happen. You need a teacher representative/moderator for any club you start. And no teacher in their right mind would dip a pinky toe into that mine field. And this was long before the politics of Covid.
And it stuck with me. Why? Because last year we made a teacher remove a sign welcoming her students from her classroom because some felt it was political. We made several teachers remove signs in their classrooms supporting the President of the United States. In fact, it’s come to the point where teachers can not tell our children even the most innocuous tale about their personal lives. And I am so friggin tired of it. And yes ‘Friggin’ wasn’t my first word choice here.
We all grew up being told that you don’t discuss religion or politics in polite company. Here’s the thing….Our parents and grandparents were dead wrong on this one, more wrong than when they told us our faces would freeze that way. We were never encouraged to have these conversations. And now look at us. Seriously. LOOK AT US. We aren’t even capable of allowing our children to learn from people who disagree with us. We muzzle the very teachers we have tasked with educating our children. It’s got to stop and it starts with us.
I had a teacher once who believed in Communism.. He talked of utopia and equity. I learned about how he was persecuted and ostracized for his beliefs. I learned his perspective. I am not a communist.
I had a teacher in my Catholic High School who was Jewish. She was my favorite. She would only write god ‘G-d.’ I learned why because we asked. She answered. I am not Jewish today. (Or Catholic really, but you get the point.) and I bet a few Mater Dei alum know exactly who I’m talking about.
I had a teacher who was a Vegan. It wasn’t common in the 80’s. She made me read Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle. I learned so much about nutrition and where my food comes from. I’m not a Vegan. I mean I tried it for 2 weeks cause I was seriously skeeved out by what I learned. But my mom made me her homemade meatballs to break me, and well….I’m weak. I mean I’ve been told I eat too many burgers by a certain BOE member, so this shouldn’t come as a shock.
I’ve had lots and lots of Conservative teachers. I learned from them. I understand why they chose their belief system. I appreciate my views better for knowing theirs. Many, I’ve kept in touch with and respect today. I am not a Conservative.
I want my children’s teachers to teach. And that means engaging with our children. Reaching them. However they can. If that means a teacher wants to talk to my kids about why they did or didn’t get a vaccine or who they voted for, then so be it. My children will be better off for having learned a new perspective. And maybe, just maybe, they will continue to like the teacher, even if their views are different from their parents or their own. That’s how we learn tolerance. That’s how they become better than us.
And seriously, we need them to be so much better than us. I don’t think it’s a secret I am not a fan of #45. My kids walked down the halls of North past the Pro-Trump sign on one of the teacher’s doors often. I knew it was there. He was our president (sorry, I just threw up in my mouth a little). My kids liked that teacher. That’s a good thing. It sparked discussion. I never complained about it. It didn’t do anything but open their eyes to different points of view. Ones that weren’t parroted talking points from me.
That’s what real learning is. Taking in all the data. Evaluating it for yourself and coming to your own conclusions.
My point here really is that I trust Middletown teachers to teach. I want them to challenge my child’s thinking. If there’s any Middletown Teachers reading this….
I trust you with my children.
I want you to talk about what it was like to watch The Challenger explode in Science Class.
I want you to talk about, evaluate, and ask my child to form controversial opinions and defend them in English Writing.
Talk about your personal experiences with politics in Modern History. Why you are a Republican, Democrat, Independent or Monarchist. Whatever you do to keep them engaged and off that god damned phone for 10 minutes. I’m all in.
Go on tangents about what it was like for Great Aunt Helen to cook in 1935 compared to today in Nutrition Class.
When learning about slavery and wars and the worst of us, tell them about your experience as a soldier, an immigrant, a person of color, a guy who grew up here…all of it. Every awful detail (age appropriate of course). Teach them. That’s what you were called to do. And I believe it’s a calling.
I trust you. I wish more of us did. No matter how much I disagree with what you may or may not believe, I value your personal history. It’s a vital component to getting these kids interested and invested in learning.
Any Corporate Consultant would tell you that micromanagement is not an effective tool when dealing with most people over 12. We are losing and will continue to lose fantastic teachers, not because they are tired of the students, but because they are tired of us, the parents. And don’t forget the administrators we complain to who enact these arbitrary limitations on how they can teach. And I don’t blame them. I truly don’t.
Next time that Little Susie tells you about the awful thing Mr. Dem or Mrs. Rep said that you disagree with, why not try talking to them, ask them about what that means to you, why you disagree with it? Silencing/muzzling teachers every single time they show a Carl Azuz video or talk about an ideology you disagree with is just plain stupid. Yup, stupid. And honestly, extremely detrimental to your child’s education, assuming of course, they have any plans of leaving the Middletown Bubble of ‘Everything is Awesome.’
And ya know what else? Little Susie knows you and knows you well. My bet is more times than not, precious Little Susie knows EXACTLY what she is setting in motion when she relays that information to mommy, daddy, grandma, etc.. Don’t give into the drama, my fellow parents. Surprise them. Have a conversation about our differences and maybe include just a sprinkle of how we should treat our teachers with a modicum of respect. Oh and how dealing with difficult and/or different thinking people is a life skill, one that will carry them far in the real world.
Unless a teacher is teaching them that four grams of pineapples is equal to a possum and the earth is flat, then Little Susie needs to learn that causing drama because her math teacher said that ‘love is love’ or her gym teacher’s MAGA hat fell out of his bag makes innocent Little Susie look like she’s stirring feces for no good reason. And feces-stirring is not a good look on anyone…unless of course, you’re a Little Blogger just eating too many burgers….
Thank you Middletown teachers! You’re all heroes to me, everyday.
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