On Sexuality:

I used to work for a movie theater, doing everything from counting cash to running the projection booth. Our projectors worked off of a platter system, where the film sits on a giant platter, and it feeds from the center out to the projector. To keep the film from snagging or tangling, we have “brains” in the platters that make them spin at the appropriate speed to avoid film damage. Unfortunately, the “brains” we had would constantly malfunction, causing a “brain-wrap,” where the film would wind up tightly around the brain, causing the film to either snap or burn in the projector. When we upgraded to shiny new “digital brains,” we were told that these brains would keep the film from “brain-wrapping.” A normal brain-wrap would be anywhere from a ½ to whole inch. The digital brains did greatly reduce the amount of brain-wraps, but perfect, they were not. Brain-wraps around a digital-brain-created-to-not-have-brain-wraps were anywhere from 4-6 inches (and that much more difficult to fix). AOUM (Abstinence Only Until Marriage) is the digital brain. While it should fix all of our problems, it doesn’t. Further, when problems do occur (and they will) they are far worse than what a “faultier” program would offer.

Before I began the reading, I assumed it was just something to get through, because I wouldn’t need this information in a middle school. WRONG. According to the Anderson piece, adolescents are engaging in sexual activity and behavior as young as 11 years old.

WHAT THE WHAT?

Yeah. 11 years old.

While I disagree with ignoring sexual education until high school, I feel doubtful that 11 and 12 year olds (5th/6th grade) could truly appreciate the delicate, but important topic. By educating them, we are also empowering them, and I do question how beneficial that is to either the individual or society. Would an adolescent with sexual knowledge be more likely to commit a sexual offense?

I will admit though, education is empowerment, so at the same time, will an adolescent with sexual knowledge be more less likely commit an offense, or more likely to take necessary precautions?

I’m not entirely sure where I stand in terms of when sexual education should happen. There is no doubt in my mind, though, that it needs to happen. More importantly, it needs to happen in a manner where students are able to choose between abstinence, safe sex, or not safe sex. Abstinence is better than any condom, but the numbers presented by Anderson lead me to believe that an education in abstinence only is an education that is horribly lacking, and not preparing our students for real life. I also believe a progressive program would include lessons in LGBTQ sexuality as well.

As a prospective English teacher, I know it will not be my job to teach 30 students at a time how to put a condom on a cucumber. At the same time, it is my job as an adult in the school to be a responsible individual with an open ear. I will also need to choose appropriate literature that does not glorify one walk of life while debasing another. It is my job to empower students to, as individuals, make their own responsible decisions in whatever terms they define as responsible.

On Being Hardcore:

The Dance piece on “Being Hardcore...” was hitting a little close to home for me. Living in Lowell, a town being known for its increasing gang presence, I am always a little extra receptive to the negative effects of the “hardcore” culture. While I found the article enlightening, I did find a big piece of information that was missing: the influence of fear.

To get into a gang, a prospective member needs to be “beat in.” This involves a certain number of gang members (around five, I think) beating on you for a certain amount of time (again, I think it’s thirty seconds to one minute). If the member wants out of the gang, they need to be “beat out,” which involves typically twice the amount of members beating on you. The phrase “within inches of life” comes to mind in this case.

A student once confided in me that they were “beat in” to a gang in Lowell, and that they were afraid to go back, because they wanted out, and were going to need to be “beat out.” I’m not sure that one of Dance’s “ideal-types” fits my student, because none of the ideal-types presented addressed wanting out, or fear of the “hardcore” lifestyle. The student was afraid. In all honesty, I was afraid, too. If the student went back to the gang, and got “beat out,” he/she would be left for dead. If the student decided to rejoin the gang, rival gang fights could also have a final say in a life. Without an intervention from a higher power (school system, law enforcement, protective services, etc) I was sure to see a familiar name in the obituaries.

To my argument, fear is not only looming for current gang members, but I imagine over prospective members, and outsiders as well. The Valenzuela chapter reminds us that the students of Seguin don’t feel the teachers care about them, and this is mostly due to teachers not being in this environment. I don’t think many gang members going onto college (and grad school) to become teachers. Violence begets violence, not change or motivation for change. More so, the teachers of Seguin thought students didn’t care about school, and with living situations as they were (are), I don’t blame the students. If I was fearing for my life, or the lives of loved ones, I would not care about what Shakespeare had to say, or why Stem and Leaf Plots are necessary (they aren’t, but the principle of the matter is that they wouldn’t care).

As teachers, I think its important to (prepare yourselves, this is mind-blowing news coming up, here) know where our students are coming from and going to. It is more important, in addition to that, that we fill that seven-hour day with as much positivity as possible. Whether that be a stable environment, where there are consistent rules, rewards, and consequences, or a safe environment, where the student can feel free from outside pressures, and open to discuss the burdens of life (of course, this also involves a code of trust between student and teacher). Structure and accessibility are two tools that no teacher can afford to be without.

On Caring:

Some of the accounts presented in the Rolon-Dow article were disheartening at best. It was depressing to read Ms. Nadler’s response to the changes in the community, as she regarded “diversifying” as “getting worse.” More-so, Mr. Weiss’ account of the view of the school was also less than pleasing, as community members saw it as a “necessary evil.” How bad has it gotten over there, that education is looked at as such a triviality? James Middle School, the school in question, is in the the Northeastern United States (sound familiar?). Attitudes, like Ms. Nadler’s, are ones that I equate with border guards and the 1950’s, and are not making a bad situation any better. You can’t blame a community for being of any background. Walmart doesn’t carry neighborhoods of white people for restocking your town.
The comments about parent’s not caring is a something we’ve also covered in class. In many cases, the parents have been unable to help, typically due to some form of inadequacy: unfamiliarity with the topic, or inability to communicate appropriately with their kids. One teacher mentioned that she knew it was wrong to “put my values on these kids.” While it is important to let the parent be the parent, why can’t we, as teachers, instill social values in our students? We are not robots. We have the ability to determine between right and wrong. Why can’t we pass that along? I understand that we shouldn’t be pressing any religious matters in school, and that’s fine, but to my knowledge, no religion has a copyright on being a good person.
I think my least favorite, and yet, most intesting account was Mr. Rosenfield describing his interaction with a student’s mother. He insulted the student’s home life, by suggesting she grew up in a barn, and when the parent came, he supposedly convinced her that it was the daughter that had the problem, not he or the parent. Now, this parent, according to Mr. Rosenfield has not been around the school to often, so it is clear that his comment really insulted her, to the point where she would visit the school in person. I wish we had gotten a taste for this mother’s life beyond her interaction with Mr. Rosenfield, because I am willing to bet she was a struggling to be a parent, either financially, or within the relationship of mother-child. I say this because the insulting comment was in regards to her ability to keep a clean home. If I was working my butt off, and someone had the nerve to make a comment like that, I’m sure that I’d be upset, too. I think I am most disappointed in Mr. Rosenfield for not understanding his student (regardless of parental contact over the school year), and for failing to recognize how such a little comment could leave such a negative impact on his relationship with a student. His inability in handling a parent interaction also made the situation worse. He openly talked about how the student was bad, not her behavior or actions. He was unable to get any real information from the parent (like if there was something he should know about the student or her home life), because he asked less questions than he offered criticism. His comments regarding the student were general and unspecific, most likely due to any observations of the student being undocumented. To top it all off, he didn’t offer any sort of plan for improvement.
If I was in a similar situation to Mr. Rosenfield’s, I would be sure to have documented any negative behaviors exhibited by the student, not just that “today Jimmy was bad,” or “Stephanie was a pain in the butt.” Once these have been shared with parent, it’s important to come up with a way of correcting the behavior. Scare tactics are only effective if the target is given a strategy or option to avoid danger or failure. Further, if I am getting the idea that I am viewed as the “bad guy,” then I’d be very quick to find out why. Maybe I didn’t realize the thing I said was offensive to the student or their family. Maybe I’ll have an opportunity to redeem myself, as I would want the student to be able to redeem his/her self.
Ideally, a teacher should be able to relate to their students. If this is not happening, the teacher needs to find out why. Ask questions. Call the parents (not every parental phone call is bad news!). The Caring Theory places such an importance on the relationship with a foundation of trust between student and teacher, and a student isn’t going to be the forger of this relationship, it’s the responsibility of the teacher.