The Nuts and Bolts of the NPHS Experience

RESPONDING TO JESSE HAGOPIAN’S STUDENT ATHLETES KNEEL TO LEVEL THE PLAYING FIELD AND CHRYANTHIUS LATHAN’S DEAR WHITE TEACHER

Jesse’s writing on the students’ football team kneeling during the national anthem to protest against the “crisis of police terror in Black communities across the country…” in support of Colin Kaepernick who also knelt down during the national anthem, shows the power of youths in fighting for justice.  The Garfield High School football team and other high schools across the country taking a kneel is a way of making their voices heard as young kids, just as Garfield football player Jelani Howard said, “It really affected people and we showed that kids can actually make a difference in the world.” Also, Kaepernick told the Seattle Times, “We have a younger generation that sees these issues and want to be able to correct them… I think that’s amazing. I think it shows the strength, the character, and the courage of our youth. Ultimately, they’re going to be needed to help make this change.” I think I am in support of his statement in regards to the youths needed to help make a change. I remember as a youth in my Secondary School, my Business Studies teacher always reminds us of the saying that, “We are the future and the leaders of tomorrow”. This is her only way of making us to realize that we can help make the nation a better place.

It is really amazing to see these students give their voice out in their own little way to show that they are also part of the nation and are also affected by the injustice. The only way we can encourage them and make the youths know that they are accepted and are heard, is by telling the story of these youths who were courageous enough to stand for what is right, just as Jesse said in her final statement, “And let us not forget to tell the story of our youth today who, at great personal risk, are fighting to level the playing field by taking a knee in the struggle for Black lives.”

I think that the statement, “fighting to level the playing field…” is just a way of saying that there should be “equality for all regardless of the race, gender, class, social standing, and /or sexual orientation-both in and out of the classroom as well as the community.” As a teacher, I can say that this applies to our classroom. A traditional classroom doesn’t allow for equality among all the students, because the non-English speakers feel marginalized, which makes them to start having a feeling of social injustice. Also, the kids that have special needs, especially the special education students who feel less than other peers because of their difficulty in carrying along or understanding the concept. The only way that can be prevented, is by creating a cultural classroom that accommodates the needs of every students, thereby making the classroom a conducive place for all students to learn.

Chrysanthius Lathan’s “Dear White Teacher”, tells a story of a black teacher who isn’t happy with the white teachers who are always sending the colored students that are acting out to her for timeout or asking her to call the colored parents because they don’t know how to address them. She also expresses her confusion on why her son’s teacher (who is a white man), who teaches on the same floor as her, did not let her know that her son wasn’t acting right in his class until she got a discipline referral. According to her, when she confronted the teacher, he said he doesn’t “want to interrupt (her) teaching or use (her) as a crutch,”

To Lathan, she suspects that the white teachers are been defeated by fear of black and brown students. She affirms her suspicions when she sent an invitation to all the black students that have always been sent to her, to know why they don’t behave well in those classes. Out of all the reasons that the kids gave, I can agree with them on the statement they made that beats me, “You’re not scared of us. We are scared of you, though. Just kidding. I mean, scared in a good way. We’re scared to disappoint you.” This sounds familiar to me because I had a conversation with one of my student who is always acting out in class, and the teacher always wants me to pull the student out to the learning center. The student says to me, “Ms Eze, that teacher is always scared of me and always believes that I can’t act right….. I don’t want to be in her class.” I remember in the last class, Dr. Johnson taught the position that suits a teacher when standing in front of the classroom in order to have control over the class and also a way to get students to listen to you because students knows when a teacher is not confident when standing in class. More so, Lathan’s guidelines on how to converse with parents is a food for thought and I think following that recommendation makes for a good relationship with the parents.

Being in control of your classroom makes a teacher to know more about all their kid, thereby strategizing a way to meet all the needs of the kids in the classroom. This in line, makes the kids feel among irrespective of the race, gender, or sexuality. Jesse’s words that, “student athletes kneel to level the playing field” and Lathan’s words on, “care enough about this student to build and fortify your own special relationship with them” sends a central message on how to build a relationship with your students. In Jesse’s writing, the students are asking for equality in and out of the classroom, and in Lathan’s writing, the students are asking to be cared for.