I think a more important question than should the curriculum
address controversial issues is how curriculum should address controversial
issues. While it might make some teachers or parents more comfortable to avoid
certain issues, it leaves important gaps in student’s education, and can affirm
negative views on the topic by labeling them as taboo. As adults, Joel Burns
reminds us that “it is never acceptable for us to be the cause of any child to
feel unloved or worthless.” I think most teachers would take this statement as
a given, but sometimes the way we overlook issues in our curriculum or even
within the classroom contributes (even if it’s unintentionally) to a child
feeling less loved or worthy. Creating opportunities for dialogue about touchy
issues and having clear expectations about what is and isn’t appropriate
language to express can go a long way towards showing struggling kids that they
do matter and deserve to be treated
with respect.
Curriculum has gone a long way to correct oversights of this type
with issues like women’s and civil rights, but is still lacking in other areas,
and in some cases seems to even be taking a turn in the opposite direction. The
“Don’t Say Gay” bill, now called the “Classroom Protection Act” is back in
Tennessee. The bill would forbid discussing “anything inconsistent with natural
reproduction” in grades K-8. Honestly I don’t know how this can be completely
avoided. Students with same-sex parents wouldn’t be able to talk about their
families in the classroom in the way other children do. Instead of teachers
finding ways to make students feel comfortable discussing diversity, it takes
this away completely.
Tammi Shulz, a parent opposed to lessons in tolerance as a part of
school curriculum, claims, “I just don’t think it’s great to talk about homosexuality
with five year olds,” and many parents echo her concern that children shouldn’t
be exposed to such issues at such young ages. Something that Mary Cowhey reminds
readers in her essay on “Creating a gay-and lesbian-friendly classroom” is that
“We are not talking about ‘sexuality’ when we discuss gay and lesbian issues
any more than we are discussing sexuality when we read Cinderella or any other
story with all heterosexual characters.” While some parents still may not feel
comfortable with their children discussing these issues at an early age, they
can’t keep them in a bubble, and chances are good that at some point their
child will meet a student who has a non-traditional family. Parents generally
treat their children to share, to play nicely with their classmates, to treat
others as they’d like to be treated, and they should want their children to
learn to extend those values to all of their classmates, regardless of their
background. This means having “controversial” discussions with young kids.
One of the big ways (unrelated to curriculum) that teachers fail
students is by failing to react to homophobic name-calling. Leonore Gordon
claims that “if adults criticize other forms of name-calling but ignore antigay
remarks, children are quick to conclude that homophobia is acceptable,” much in
the same way that when we fail to recognize something in our curriculum
children are likely to conclude that it is unimportant or unacceptable. This is
an area that I am struggling with this year. I have a class of mostly ninth
grade boys who see it as their mission in life to taunt each other more than
the others. I have tried to be clear with them that it’s unacceptable, but it’s
so constant with them, their first reaction after anyone says anything is to
ridicule him, that if I stopped to address every single comment I would never
get anything else taught. I guess it comes down to how important it is that I
teach these boys to respect each other, but this area has me frustrated this
year. They are all friends, and don’t see why it’s not okay for them to talk to
each other like that, it’s like it’s all a big joke to them (and to their
parents.)
My school, like others, made a push to promote anti-bullying and
spread awareness about doing the right thing and standing up for people who are
being bullied. All of the 9th graders participated in a Rachel’sChallenge event, and we showed videos and had discussions in homeroom, but none
of that seems to have made a difference with these kids. I guess it’s an
example of disjointed curriculum attempt that’s not integrated into student’s
lives so they don’t take hold of it.
Another area I had never considered is talking about HIV/ AIDS at
school. I’m almost to the end of my master’s with a focus on multicultural
education and had never read anything on this topic. It fits well with homosexuality,
because again the issue many parents are afraid of is talking about sex, and
the (unfounded) fear that talking about it will somehow make kids more likely
do it. The Silin article brings up problems with The New York State AIDS
Instructional Guide, which breaks down talking about HIV/AIDS in the classroom,
starting with how it isn’t transmitted in 4-6 grades, and not talking about how
it is transmitted until 7-8 grades.
This could be confusing, for kids, but talking about how it’s transmitted means
talking about sex, and I can understand why parents aren’t comfortable with
their 9-12 year-olds talking about that outside the home.
I remember when my little sister’s 4th grade class read The
Giver, and my mom was uncomfortable with some of the references in the book. I
can only imagine how she would have reacted to my 4th grade sister
learning about the transmission of AIDS at school. Some parents (my mom being
one of them) want their kids to hear about things from them; parents like Tammi
Shulz are worried that the views expressed at school might not line up with the
values the family wants to impart on the child. I think both parents and
teachers have to recognize, that with the reality of our current time things
have changed, and what we consider to be an age of innocence might need to
change to protect kids in the long run. If teachers handle topics with
discretion and parents stay involved and continue the dialogue at home we can
benefit from controversy in the curriculum, remembering, as Silin put it, that “not
all knowledge is about control.”
3 comments:
Lisa
That's awful, the Classroom Protection Act in Tennessee. It doesn't protect anyone, it only marginalizes anyone with anyone different in their families, or is different themselves. Imagine, not being able to talk about your parents, but all the other kids can. I would do anything I could to get out of school, then. And it's not like the kids wouldn't know who wasn't talking. Kids are quick to pick up on these things, like you said - they would all know who didn't talk about their parents, and that something obviously wasn't right. It doesn't protect; it makes homosexuals and anyone connected with them second class citizens. I hope that bill doesn't pass, or even better, it's found to be unconstitutional.
You are so very correct in that stories like "And Tango Makes Three" or "Cinderella" do not talk about sexuality, but rather are stories about different ways it is okay to live. If the only stories young children are exposed to are ones with heterosexual parents, then they will think that is the only "okay" way to live. But what parents don't realize, is that whether or not schools and teachers discuss homosexuality with kids, kids still talk about it among themselves. If the schools don't step in and lead the conversation in an appropriate matter, kids are left to figure things out for themselves, and they often do not talk about it in an appropriate way.
That is a hard quandary you're in, with your ninth grade boys. They do seem to be that age when everything gets made fun of, and none of them seem to get that it's not okay. But there's likely one or two among them who don't think it's a game, and when you step in to stop it, you're telling that kid that he's okay, and doesn't need to be made fun of. It's probably not possible to figure out who those kids are; it's a self-preservation thing to not act different at that age. What if you had harsher consequences for the name calling? Is that something you can do? It does make it more difficult when not even the parents seem to realize how serious the situation is.
With AIDS/HIV, you don't necessarily have to talk about sex when you're talking about how it's transmitted. If you tell the little kids that it's transmitted through blood, but not by touching or coughing, then that is making it clearer to them why they can play with kids whose parents have HIV/AIDS, but also why they should avoid touching anyone else's blood. That avoids talking about sex, but still gives young children the information they need to know.
Now you have me wanting to re-read The Giver! Something else to add to my "when I'm done with school" reading pile. I read it around 4th grade, and I don't remember anything your mom would have had an issue with. Granted, kids tend not to notice a lot of things that really freak parents out.
All in all, I think your most important point is that parents need to stay involved and continue the dialogue at home. This is something that is not usually done with most kids, on any subject, but it is so important. When you learn and think about things in multiple environments, you have better transfer and retention, and talking about issues at home tells the kids that they really are important. And then, parents can make sure their kids are getting the messages they want them to have, rather than just complaining about what the school is able to teach. Ashley
Lisa,
I believe that the first sentence of your post is great. “I think a more important question than should the curriculum address controversial issues is how curriculum should address controversial issues.” As I was reading through this cycle’s material, I kept thinking to myself yes curriculum should address controversial issues but the way we as teachers present this material will be the key. It is so true that avoiding controversial issues today will in fact leave gaps in student’s education and could result in misunderstandings or misconceptions for our students. Teachers today do need to address these issues. Like Silin stated, “School is a safe place to make sense of complex and confusing realities.” (Silin, 248). Therefore teachers need to create environments in which human differences are discussed and valued. (Silin, 252). This goes along with what you stated in that we need to create opportunities for dialogue and share what is and is not appropriate. We would like to believe that parents would sit down and have these same discussions with their families but this will not be the case for all students.
At the same time, we have some parents that are very opposed to teaching tolerance, like you discussed. These parents would like to keep their child’s innocents or maybe would rather discuss some of the more opposing issues at home. I can understand this but what these parents may not understand is that their child may have questions regarding a current issue at a younger age than when parents are ready to discuss some of the more controversial issues. For example, a five year old may ask, why does Johnny have two Dad’s? This is a very logical question for many five year olds. I teach kindergarten and these students are VERY aware of who lives with their classmates, how their family is designed, and so on. Now it is not appropriate for a five year old to learn all about the integrate details of homosexuality but we can confirm that there are many ways families can be formed. Parents can share the description of family and show that two dad’s can still be parents, can still guide and help make decisions, and for little five year olds, a parent can say two dad’s can still read bed time stories, make dinner, wash clothes, and play with you. This just shows we do need to get down to our students levels and be able to have open discussion about the more controversial issues. We, as teachers, need to know our audience because we would share things a bit differently if it was kindergartners than if it was seventh graders. Think about it, we do this with all subject areas, so why not with the more controversial issues as well.
Just to touch upon your thoughts about bullying. I do believe this is a huge issue in all schools right now. Everywhere schools are making a push toward spreading awareness about bullying and promote anti-bullying, like you mentioned your district is doing. I think that for some kids they have a hard time really understanding what bullying means and how it affects them. Even though we share skits, stories, and videos with our students, they still have a hard time seeing it for themselves. Especially when the group is a close-nit group of friends and they do see it as just a joke. It will probably be a joke, until someone really gets hurt. However, I do think you addressing it is important because those boys may be acting tough in front of their peers but the rude and crude comments, that appear to be jokes, could really be weighing on some kids. I think all schools are still working on this issue, so do not feel like it is just your class.
Overall, I really found your response to be interesting and I really liked how you made the point that it is HOW should curriculum address these controversial issues. How do we get parents on board? How do we get parents to see that the issues are affecting their kids? How do we teach the students, while still protecting their innocence? HOW?!
~Caitlin
Hi Lisa,
Thanks for your work here. Great post, so wonderfully written, that brought about some nice interaction with your classmates. Well done!
First off, your ninth graders. I don't have any easy answers, but I would say: don't give up. I remember being that age, and the things my friends would do, and by extension, me. Lots of aggressive behavior: stabbing with pencils, throwing spit balls and spit, name-calling. That is really not me. I found it so disturbing. But I really didn't know how to tell my friends (and honestly, they were good kids, they were friends) how to stop it. I didn't want to put that relationship in danger (it was middle school after all!). If someone would have asked, I would have said: no big deal. But in reality, it kinda was. So while you can't stop a problem like that over night, and you probably can't rely on the parents to do anything, you can keep talking to them about it, and keep stressing your opposition.
Your post brings up a wealth of good points. Most important to me is your wonderful use of the Silin quote to point out we have a responsibility to help kids sort out the issues in their life. In my own research, I have found that to be the most transformative thing a teacher can do: help kids sort through their problems. Likewise, the most damaging thing we can do is walk away. Often, it's the kids who are the instigators, the bullies, who need that help just as much as the victims. Punishing them and walking away doesn't solve the problem. Getting underneath the surface to figure out what is wrong. That requires a lot of trust though.
I wonder if you have further thoughts on why sex is so hard for us to talk about. Granted, most of the time we might want to deal with these issues, actual sex (whether for pleasure or reproduction) is not really what we want to talk about. It's only tangentially there, as you correctly note. But it is there? Where do kids think they came from?
As most teachers know, forbidding something, making something taboo, only increases its allure. The more we can be frank about what adult relationships are like, the good and the bad, the more I can see us preparing kids to have healthy relationships of their own.
The question of "how" rather than "if." I agree with you. My own notion is that teachers need to be solid models for their students, solid examples of what it means to care and be respectful. That's really hard to do, because we don't give teachers much space to express emotions in the classroom. All of that frustration and anger we feel can come out in weird ways.
Maybe what we need is an implicit curriculum that makes it ok to feel a fuller range of emotions in classroom. Sometimes I think we expect teachers to suppress so much it's not wonder that kids start acting emotionally damaged as well!
Thanks for your work!
Kyle
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