Today is my first official day of Winter Break, yet I am far from relaxed. Even more daunting than the stack of assignments and final projects I need to grade is the idea of making a plan to help my students to be productive and successful upon returning in January. Somehow, we managed to make it through that final week, which is usually pretty stressful for students and teachers alike. And in an accelerated credit recovery program such as ours, even one day of wasted time could mean a serious set back for students’ trajectory of graduating and moving on with their lives. Yet despite this fact, there are still those who have not seemed to fully grasp this concept, making little to no effort to attend classes and complete final projects. What is to be done for these students? It is always around finals time that I begin to question what the role of the teacher is. Where do we draw the line between teacher support and teacher dependency? How do we hold students accountable for their responsibilities, while at the same time accommodating the often oppressive circumstances that they face? At what point does the culpability of failure transfer from the teacher to the student? Some say never. . . And that may be the problem.
I am a strong believer in the idea that blaming the victim is only a way of excusing oneself from acknowledging and addressing the oppressive systems which underlie all social inequalities. I also believe that schools should exist for the purpose of combating these systems by equipping students with the knowledge, skills, and resources necessary for survival. I suppose it is when schools do not provide these things (which, unfortunately, is more often than not) that failure results. However, one could make the argument that a number of individuals have thrived, despite the oppressive conditions that they faced, due to their personal motivation and work ethic. According to this line of reasoning: people decide to be successful, regardless of the hand they have been dealt. Pull yourself up by your boot straps. Stop waiting for a hand out. Determine your own destiny…
As much as I would love to believe that I made it to and through college and all the way to graduate school all by the merits of my hard work and tenacity, I know that this simply is not true. I must acknowledge the fact that I was afforded a number of privileges, which led to these opportunities becoming available to me. However, it was my hard work and tenacity that allowed me to take full advantage of these opportunities as they arose. And this is my point: “At-risk” students in high-poverty, high violence, and under resourced areas are at a disadvantage as is, and teachers do them a disservice by not challenging them to develop the personal skills and work ethic that will be necessary for success, regardless of the presence or absence of privilege.
What students need to understand is that they exist in a society in which their people have historically been subordinated, making it even more critical for them to adopt the self-advocacy, self-accountability, and self-discipline that will be required of them when those opportunities do come their way. So this will be one of my goals as a teacher. As much as I care about my students’ personal and social well-being, I will not allow them to be enveloped in a world of excuses in which they continue to absolve all personal responsibility for actions and inactions that they have the power to control. Simply put, it is unacceptable for a 20 year old to be consistently unable to keep up with their own belongings (pens, paper, assignments), to be unable to remember to set an alarm to get to school on time, or to be unable to control their behavior long enough to allow for the learning of themselves and others. Of course there are some circumstances that cause these seemingly simple tasks to be a challenge (financial issues, family obligations, and behavioral/mental disabilities, accordingly) but I am referring to those for whom these special circumstances do not apply. I will continue to be as understanding and accommodating as possible, but I can only do so much bending before I break… Then no one wins.
No comments:
Post a Comment