Social concerns? Just about everything.
Name one social issue of concern and project how schools, schooling, or you as a teacher might be able to help address this issue. What good will it do, what part can you play?
This question stuck out to me immediately as something I feel passionate about and have an answer for. I avoided it at first because I felt like I couldn’t even begin to pick out just one social issue I’m concerned about in schools. The truth is that I’m concerned about all social issues in schools.
Social issue of concern? Racism, classism, ablism, agism, sexism, heterosexism, transphobia, queerphobia, religious intolerance, environmental irresponsibility, the list goes on indefinitely. Half of the words I just typed aren’t even validated by Microsoft. What I’m most concerned with about schools is that people aren’t being taught to think and question assumptions.
It seems to me that many schools allow and even encourage students and faculty to stay comfortably in their own worldviews without wondering why they think the way they do. Often if you ask a high school why they think it’s wrong to be gay, they’ll say something like “it’s gross” or “it’s just not how I was raised.” Also, it’s getting so that students (even in college, which I think is horrific) think that sexism and racism don’t exist and that affirmative action is “racist” against white men.
When this sort of thinking is allowed to go unchecked, nothing will ever change. I do not intend to let this sort of thing go unnoticed in my classroom. When I hear students call things gay, retarded, ghetto, or lame, we are going to have a talk about how and why that usage is destructive and what they can do to counter the injustice that’s currently going on in their schools. I will not change everyone’s mind, and many students will not understand or care about what I’m saying. However, I am certain that an open discussion that provokes students to think about their language, actions, and assumptions will get at least a few students to wake up to the reality of a diverse world.