Whispers of Mystery

Whispers of Mystery
Unknown source. Please e-mail me if you know the artist.

Tuesday, July 14, 2020

It Still Takes a Village to Raise a Kid

It takes a village to raise a kid.

Some kids are abused at home.

Some kids are suicidal.

Don’t pull the village from the kid.

           I’m a teacher, a parent of kids in school, and a liberal, and all I’m reading in the articles or on social media is “Go all on-line!”  And the calls for it are missing what really matters: the Village it takes to raise our kids.  Yes, all of our kids – not just mine and yours, but all of our kids: the abused kids, the suicidal kids, the struggling kids, the special needs kids, the second language kids, the at-risk kids.  It takes a Village to raise them.  And for many of them, that Village is at school.

             We don’t have to do full school at school.  We can do hybrid.  That’s what I’m pushing for – some time in person, face to face (F2F), to make that personal connection, for students to see on our faces our compassion, our belief in them, and our in person skills to help them succeed.

             I hope we can think beyond the virus and instead of asking our kids to be “resilient,” become as wisely as we can the resilient Village our kids need us to be.  Yes, we’ll wear masks.  Yes, we’ll distance ourselves.  And, yes, we need Small Class Sizes!

             I’ve seen too much first-hand among my students, my own kids, and their friends to not speak out for the Village.  Thankfully, I don’t know whether I’ve successfully prevented any suicides among any of my students, because none of the ones showing signs who I helped made that drastic choice.  But I do know I’ve helped the mental health of quite a few of them, as many have thanked me for it.  One in five college students contemplates suicide, and the numbers for high schoolers is about the same.  I’ve studied the signs to look for, I’ve seen them, and I’ve taken steps to help students get the help they need.

             Could I support needed mental mental health if I taught all on-line?  Perhaps, but not as well.

             Could I teach as effectively all on-line?  No.  Definitely not.

             Could I reach at risk students as effectively all on-line?  No, of course not.

             Might some of my colleagues be much more effective than me if they are all on-line?  Absolutely.  Some of them are excellent all on-line.  I am not.  I’m strict with high standards.  My students need to see my face, with my compassion, with my belief in them, with me physically rooting them on, and with me inspiring them to heights they didn’t think they could achieve.

             I teach college writing mostly for incoming freshmen who are going into the math and sciences.  They don’t like writing and they don’t think they can do it.  But when they see my face rooting them on, they do.  They succeed.

            If I’m all on-line, I could not garner that kind of success.

             I want to see my students succeed – as students and as young people in all the emotional turmoil of adolescence.  By studying the human brain, neurologists have discovered that adolescence doesn’t end until age 25.  What do neurologists and psychologists say adolescents need?  Social interaction – a lot of it.  Clearly, they cannot have nearly the social interaction they need during this pandemic, but we can support both their education and their mental health by giving them some in-person instruction.

             I know many teachers also want to be in the classroom.  But most of them are silent among the screams.  We can all agree that teachers who want to be on-line should get that chance.  Now, let us please also agree that teachers who want to teach in person should also get that chance.

             Finally, I am in full agreement on this: “No teacher should be forced to teach in person.”  True.  Teachers, if you don’t feel comfortable in the classroom, then ask to teach on-line, and you should be granted that.

             But why are we not hearing this?  “No teacher should be forced to teach on-line.”  It took me seven weeks and two Associate Deans agreeing with me to finally be granted the chance to teach in the classroom twice a week this coming fall for my interdisciplinary classes.  If I was not well established in my values, and if I did not have strong rationale that my students need some face-to-face (F2F) instruction, and if I was not teaching interdisciplinary classes for students recruited outside my field by those who also want F2F, I would be like many of my colleagues: A teacher who wants to teach F2F and is being forced to teach on-line.  Friends, we need to have that conversation also.  

             Friends who want us in the classrooms, please speak this counter message among the screams:

It Still Takes a Village to Raise a Kid

So let those of us who want to be physically part of that Village

Be that Village

Update 7/23: The American Academy of Pediatrics agrees.

 Also see Dr. Z's objective video on the AAP statement.


(c) 2020 by karina.  Please use with permission or with a citation to this blog.

No comments:

Post a Comment