When you decolonise ballet...you end up with this.| Submit your comments on this article |
| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| What Do We Tell The Children? |
| 2016-11-10 |
| “What should I say to my students after the election if Trump wins?” a principal asked me recently. Good question. What should we tell our children? Mommy's a kommie. Plan to start drinking heavily when you get into high skool... Tell them, first, that we will protect them. Tell them that we have democratic processes in the U.S. that make it impossible for one mean person to do too much damage. Tell them that we will protect those democratic processes ― and we will use them ― so that Trump is unable to act on many of the false promises he made during his campaign. Tell them, second, that you will honor the outcome of the election, but that you will fight bigotry. Tell them bigotry is not a democratic value, and that it will not be tolerated at your school. Tell them you stand by your Muslim families. Your same-sex parent families. Your gay students. Your Black families. Your female students. Your Mexican families. Your disabled students. Your immigrant families. Your trans students. Your Native students. Tell them you won’t let anyone hurt them or deport them or threaten them without having to contend with you first. Say that you will stand united as a school community, and that you will protect one another. Say that silence is dangerous, and teach them how to speak up when something is wrong. Then teach them how to speak up, how to love one another, how to understand each other, how to solve conflicts, how to live with diverse and sometimes conflicting ideologies, and give them the skills to enter a world that doesn’t know how to do this. Bigotry is free speech and therefore is very much a "democratic value." Teach them, third, how to be responsible members of a civic society. Teach them how to engage in discussion—not for the sake of winning, but for the sake of understanding and being understood. Students need to learn how to check facts, to weigh news sources, to question taken-for-granted assumptions, to see their own biases, to take feedback, to challenge one another. We need to teach students how to disagree—with love and respect. These skills will be priceless in the coming months and years as we work to build a democratic society that protects the rights of all people ― regardless of the cooperation or resistance those efforts face from the executive branch. Finally, remind them ― to ease their minds ― that not everyone who voted for Donald Trump did so because they believe the bigoted things that he has said this year. Many of them voted for him because they In the aftermath of this traumatic election, Heh I hesitate to even exercise my voice in this way. In the past year, I received hate mail and a death threat from white supremacists for blog posts like this ― blog posts that are, let’s be honest, fairly insignificant expressions of personal opinion from a person with very little power. I am not a threat. And yet people have threatened me ― and my family ― for expressing my view that we should build a world in which all human beings can live freely in the wholeness of their identities. I fear that this kind of intimidation will only increase in the event of a Trump victory. I fear that it will worsen tomorrow ― as soon as I hit send ― if Trump supporters are emboldened in their aggression towards people with whom they disagree. And yet the only thing that makes me feel safe in this moment ― as I stare into the face of a possible of a Trump victory ― is to speak up and speak out, and to invite others to do the same. Not justifying death threats, but I suspect you voiced your opinion about attacking people for their views under the color of law and using allies in the government. If you did, death threats are an entirely reasonable response. BREAKING: Trump evicts black family and aging granny from Government housing and occupies the building himself! Eviction to take place 20 January 2017. |
| Posted by:badanov |
| #13 Pretty much every contest has a winner and a loser. They should understand that by the time they are in school. We also have a system of government in which the results are not for life, Trump will be out of office in 4 or 8 years so they can chill. We also have a media that lies through their teeth to promote one party over the other. Perhaps the principle should teach the children about that so they can get some critical thinking started. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2016-11-10 11:00 |
| #12 Some broad from the Boston Globe wrote something of a similar strain. I sent her an e-mail asking what the phrase 'consent of the governed' meant to her (thanks for the reminder, Procopious 2k!). I just checked my e-mail, and to no one's surprise, she hasn't responded yet. She won't respond at all, because she'll only believe in 'consent of the governed' when it goes her way. |
| Posted by: Raj 2016-11-10 10:28 |
| #11 African version of the Kabuki dance? |
| Posted by: Tennessee 2016-11-10 09:24 |
| #10 When you decolonise ballet...you end up with this. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2016-11-10 08:25 |
| #9 How about zipping up with brain washing and teaching them the staff you drones are supposed to teach: how to write in English, sciences, math etc...? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2016-11-10 08:21 |
| #8 Also tell them you don't always get a trophy for just showing up. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2016-11-10 08:13 |
| #7 Maybe you should tell the kiddies to get out more, move among more members of the real world communities out there, empathize don't demonize while they're out there. Oh, and check the privilege your mommy installed in you about how superior in thought and deed you are. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2016-11-10 07:16 |
| #6 A terrified lady of Dayton Gets letters from Hell, full of hatin'! Block printed in crayon... A thread of red rayon... And every last one is signed, "Satan." |
| Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 2016-11-10 06:59 |
| #5 As an aside speaking of children. Part of Trump's message while campaigning was "We are going to get rid of Common Core (or maybe it should be called Commie Core)." I was surprised at how people not only knew about Common Core but were resoundingly against it. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2016-11-10 06:52 |
| #4 It's the Huggyinton Post. I refer you to what #skidmark said. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2016-11-10 06:31 |
| #3 Jeez, who is this pansy. On the internet if you say blue buses are nicer than red buses then someone is going to abuse you for it. Get over it, or get off the internet. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2016-11-10 05:18 |
| #2 Dont TELL them a damned thing other than election happen and to congratulate the winner and move on. Besides, "telling the children" is their parent's job. |
| Posted by: Percy Slusoger5950 2016-11-10 03:16 |
| #1 Tell them to be humble, do their homework, be polite to strangers and get jobs. |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2016-11-10 02:48 |