Bright Spots In The Classroom; Thank You Ms. Parks

I had a tough start to my week in the classroom.  I’d love to say that the clouds parted and the angels sang by the time Friday rolled around, but any classroom teacher would see through that in a second.  That’s not to say there weren’t bright spots.

One bright light shone through during a freshmen class discussion about our community as an authority figure in our lives.  We talked about how we are likely to follow what everyone else does to stay out of the social doghouse.  Rosa Parks came up and we discussed how easy it would have been for her to get up and move to avoid getting arrested.  We talked about her act was planned and she knew what she was getting into when she sat down on the bus that day.  I asked what it would take for students to stand up and make that kind of change against the authority of their community when the actions of the community were not just.  Most students were all about change when put in the context of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s.  Unable to leave things alone I brought up a more subtle way the community at my school did some things that could be considered prejudice against a group of people, Homosexuals.  In particular we got into the replacement of the word stupid with “Gay” (this class is so gay).  The class struggled with the idea that maybe these people were discriminated against and that we took part in the discrimination.  After some discussion several of them understood how using a label for a group of people as a negative term could be offensive, maybe even as offensive as any racial slur they dared not utter among friends.  It was a good discussion the kids were thinking and though it was a struggle they were open to the thoughts of other students.  The light was made brighter when a girl whose mother is gay and who made her voice heard during class stopped and said “thank you” after it was all over.  

Here’s to more bright lights… and here’s to Ms. Parks for being the beginning of another civil rights discussion.