Current Issues and the Importance of Support for our Students

As you all know, some very important human rights issues have been in the media lately involving Ferguson and the New York City incidents where white cops failed to be indicted in the deaths of two unarmed black men.

So, to keep my focus solely on the theme of education, one thing that has been completely frustrating to me in the past few weeks is how little we are educating our students about these incidents. Specifically for me, as a University student, I have watched my professors' dance around the subject. I understand that it would lead to a very heated discussion, with viewpoints on both sides of the argument, but I sat through a politics class focused on civil rights without once mentioning the lack of civil rights in the country today. I had a professor describe a history book as being "about the racism that used to occur back in the day in our country". To me, I see all of these teachable moments where we could have discussed why the jury made their decision, how that decision was able to stand, what politics are involved, and the fact that racism is extremely existent in our society today. If I am feeling frustrated about these issues in my schooling, I can only imagine how school aged children are feeling.

Now, I understand that delving so deep into these issues in an Elementary or Middle School classroom is probably not the most smart thing to do, but I do know that there are many students who are afraid right now and don't understand what is going on. This needs to be treated as an important issue in schools right now and educators need to provide support for their students.

How? Well, a group of Middle School teachers and staff in Ferguson decided to help their students through writing. I think this was a brilliant idea, our students of every race and gender need to be able to express their feelings about what is going on in the world around them. They are not blind, they see the news, they hear their families and the people on the street. As educators, it is our job to be there for our students, to listen to them and provide support. As human beings, it is our job to try to change the circumstances that many of our black and minority students and fellow human beings have to face every single day.