With all of the standardized tests that teachers have to prepare their students for, can seem like there isn’t time for discussing current events. But, not talking about world events leaves students in the dark.
By LOUISE PLATTER – Editor-in-Chief
School should be a place where we shape our understanding of the world, so where are the tough conversations?
On April 4, a white North Charleston, S.C. police officer allegedly shot Walter Scott, a 50-year-old black man, eight times in the back. This shooting follows hundreds of police brutality cases in 2015 alone. Killedbythepolice.net, a website dedicated to tracking the number of deaths at police hands, has recorded 324 deaths since Jan. 1, 2015.
People, many of whom were under 18, took to social media in protest of the violent crime. The police officer was arrested and charged with murder, but, as many of the social media users have pointed out, hundreds of other deaths go completely unpunished.
From my Twitter feed, you would think that this event had shaken people of my age group to their core. Strangely, though, this discussion was almost completely absent from Clarke Central High School classrooms.
It’s becoming increasingly cliched to refer to society as “broken.” From the trend of disturbingly racialized police brutality to the truly alarming rates of sexual assault on college campuses, it seems impossible not to comment.
Microblogging sites like Tumblr and Twitter have become hotbeds of impassioned youth voicing their fears. Young people talking about these issues on Internet forums is an excellent gateway to a productive generational conversation.
Unfortunately, there is the issue of accessibility.
Not everyone has a Twitter, not everyone has a Smartphone, many people have limited access to the Internet. Additionally, Internet conversations can lead to over-simplified arguments, or worse still, flame wars shoved into 140 character quips and unsubstantiated claims.
So if the Internet isn’t the ideal medium for teenagers and young adults frightened by the current political and cultural climate, what is?
The best place for teenagers to engage in thoughtful discussion will always be in the classroom.
In an educational environment, people are offered time to speak and arguments can be developed.
So why doesn’t it happen? Where is #BlackLivesMatter in our social studies classes? Why is transgender teen Leelah Alcorn’s tragic suicide acknowledged by the White House sooner than by our teachers? How is it that Indiana can pass laws allowing businesses to discriminate against religion and sexuality, and we don’t discuss the flagrant repetition of history?
What’s going wrong?
In the high stakes testing-driven environment that characterizes most high school classes, it’s not hard to see why teachers may shy away from these discussions. Considering the number of administrator evaluations and the added fear of losing instructional time and leaving students underprepared for the next standardized test, taking time for things not in the Common Core Georgia Performance Standards must be daunting.
Michael Brown and Eric Garner aren’t on the SLOs.
You won’t find the statistic that one in five women are sexually assaulted before they graduate college on any AP Exam.
But these issues are desperately important, and there needs to be class time delegated to discussing them.
Maybe there isn’t room for that in every class, maybe every teacher isn’t up to leading those discussions, but we have to try.
In September a group of students posted flyers around the school pointing out blatant sexism in the CCHS dress code policy. Those students were trying to force a conversation. They were trying to get people talking.
That shouldn’t be a teenager’s job. We need unafraid adults in the building moderating risky conversations like this on a regular basis.
Instead, we learn the CCGPS. The race to get ahead of the next test robs young people of a place to truly come to terms with the confusing and disturbing forces acting around us, then there needs to be a change.
Social media is a platform, but if we aren’t groomed and supported in our quest for understanding and possible activism, older generations will continue to write us off as a generation of faux-activists, only interacting with the news when it becomes trendy.
But that’s not fair. We don’t move quickly between causes on social media out of apathy, but rather because we need to be taught how to orate and organize and create change. CCHS is the ideal place for this kind of learning, and students are clearly hungry for it.
Until then, our generation should be commended for where we have gotten on our own.
