Today I was going to post on something totally unrelated, but as an educator and a life-long student who is sitting here under the shadow of "the deadliest campus violence ever in this country," it seems that I just don't have it in me to write about anything else.
Not that I have anything much to say, seeing as this event has left me speechless. Nonetheless, I'll try.
Call me a nerd, but I've always loved school. I love the act of learning, the structure, the occasional epiphany, and - of course - the social aspect. My family moved around a little bit while I was growing up, so school was where I could get acclimated to my new environment, meet new friends, and figure out where I fit in inside my new surroundings. Schools have always been a second home to me, I saw my teachers - even the mean ones - as protective maternal and paternal figures, and I've been lucky enough that no matter where we moved to and what new school I had to adjust to I never felt that school was a place where I felt unsafe. Furthermore, I never understood those people who were dying to get out, cramming in and testing out of classes to graduate early so they could hurry up and get out into the "real world." As for me, if I could be a student for the rest of my life I would, "real world" be damned.
Unfortunately, as an educator schools are no longer the safe havens that they were to me as a student. And it's not just stories like Columbine and, more recently, this morning's incident at Virginia Tech that have dispelled my naivety. As an adult, I now see that my social circles as a student kept me largely isolated from the violence and dangers that were present around me all along. But as a teacher, no such luck. Now I have to be the protective maternal figure, which means that I have to see and hear things that I'd rather pretend weren't happening but no longer have the luxury to ignore.
Perhaps it sounds a bit sinister, but I see now that no school is truly safe. Not in the cities, not in the country, and not in the suburbs. We are a nation of cowboys who protect our right to carry guns more vehemently than we protect our right to a safe education, and we seem to have a terribly hard time settling our differences with our wit rather than our fists. But hopefully there will come a day when we will all understand that an education can be a greater form of protection as well as a fiercer weapon than a gun, and that our right to obtain it in a safe environment is infinitely more valuable.
Not that I have anything much to say, seeing as this event has left me speechless. Nonetheless, I'll try.
Call me a nerd, but I've always loved school. I love the act of learning, the structure, the occasional epiphany, and - of course - the social aspect. My family moved around a little bit while I was growing up, so school was where I could get acclimated to my new environment, meet new friends, and figure out where I fit in inside my new surroundings. Schools have always been a second home to me, I saw my teachers - even the mean ones - as protective maternal and paternal figures, and I've been lucky enough that no matter where we moved to and what new school I had to adjust to I never felt that school was a place where I felt unsafe. Furthermore, I never understood those people who were dying to get out, cramming in and testing out of classes to graduate early so they could hurry up and get out into the "real world." As for me, if I could be a student for the rest of my life I would, "real world" be damned.
Unfortunately, as an educator schools are no longer the safe havens that they were to me as a student. And it's not just stories like Columbine and, more recently, this morning's incident at Virginia Tech that have dispelled my naivety. As an adult, I now see that my social circles as a student kept me largely isolated from the violence and dangers that were present around me all along. But as a teacher, no such luck. Now I have to be the protective maternal figure, which means that I have to see and hear things that I'd rather pretend weren't happening but no longer have the luxury to ignore.
Perhaps it sounds a bit sinister, but I see now that no school is truly safe. Not in the cities, not in the country, and not in the suburbs. We are a nation of cowboys who protect our right to carry guns more vehemently than we protect our right to a safe education, and we seem to have a terribly hard time settling our differences with our wit rather than our fists. But hopefully there will come a day when we will all understand that an education can be a greater form of protection as well as a fiercer weapon than a gun, and that our right to obtain it in a safe environment is infinitely more valuable.
1 Comments:
i totally get where you are coming from. great post.
Post a Comment
<< Home