Teaching Current Events is Not Personal
As I read the news of the horrific shooting that occurred in Buffalo, New York , I am struck by the responses to this among teachers on social media. It’s not their personal responses that are disconcerting. They are horrified and saddened, just as I am. Yet, many times they also stated that they needed to discuss the news story in their classroom as a way of asserting and affirming their feelings about specific social and political issues. I believe this is the wrong approach, and is fraught with potential complications.
The best way to approach current events is by focusing on teaching students how to think rather than what to think. This is essential to media literacy, and is part of the national and state standards. It is necessary that students know how to verify facts, detect bias, and evaluate the news within the context of current social and political realities. The problem occurs when a teacher focuses on their own feelings and beliefs rather than focusing on the skills students need to analyze current events and media. I too made this mistake early in my career. I was dedicated to ensuring my English language learning students felt as capable and strong as any other student; able to weather the discrimination they did experience outside our classroom walls. I thought I was standing up for my students by using my feelings to drive class discussions. But looking back, I see that the best thing I could have given them was the intellectual and personal skills to achieve academically despite their disadvantaged status. They did not need my pity or my outrage, because it wasn’t about me. It was about them being able to take on the world for themselves, and insuring that they had the skills and the help to do so.
They did not need my pity or my outrage, because it wasn’t about me. It was about them being able to take on the world for themselves, and insuring that they had the skills and the help to do so.
Back in 1985 when is was a senior in high school, I had great government teacher who every Friday would have students discuss current events. We would choose a news story (we all had copies of Newsweek,) and then discuss our interpretation of that article. He never sided with one student or the other. He kept his personal beliefs out of the discussion. Using a rubric that students had to follow, he taught us how to analyze a news story and its political impact. But most importantly, he taught us how to listen and respectfully discuss differences of opinion with each other in an academic manner. Remarkably, we even discussed the contentious issue of abortion. (Could that even happen today?) There were students who were pro-life and pro-choice, and yet we were able to have a open thoughtful discussion on the political and societal issues surrounding the topic of the article. And not once did any student know what our teacher felt about the issue personally. He was the moderator, the facilitator…the teacher. By removing his own beliefs, he allowed for a open discussion among the students. If he had sided with one belief or the other, this would have dramatically impacted the students’ ability to speak openly and honestly, therefore destroying any chance of teaching students how to have a thoughtful exchange of ideas. For even a 17 year old would be reticent to argue with a teacher, especially when that teacher is assigning them a grade which could make or break their chance at graduation or getting into the college of their choice.
Today, too often the teaching of current events is the teaching of what is good versus what is bad; what is right versus what is wrong. This is a misguided approach. I don’t think any sane person would argue that mass shootings are OK, but often the justification for teaching current events is that we need to teach students what is right and wrong. But education, especially high school level social studies, is the refinement of intellectual skills. Academics goes beyond base moral lessons, and requires students to analyze issues in a nuanced manner that extends far beyond the simplistic proselyting of what is good or bad. While media has devolved into emotional headlines playing upon people’s fears and anger, schools need to provide the refined analysis needed for a society that thinks deeply about our problems so we can solve them, rather than devolve into a finger pointing game that ends up resolving nothing.
It is unfortunate that political divisiveness has permeated our society to the extent that traditional news has been replaced with outrage, and teaching, for some, has become an extension of political beliefs. Yes, there are issues in our society that will deserve our outrage and activism, but let’s reserve these efforts to our private lives outside work. I know many will vehemently disagree with me on this point, but I want to encourage everyone in education to step back and think about how best we can serve our students. Only by teaching them how to think critically, and have open-minded nuanced discussions will we teach them how to build a society that is unified, rather than divided; thoughtful rather than explosive; just rather than prejudiced.
While media has devolved into emotional headlines playing upon people’s fears and anger, schools need to provide the refined analysis needed for a society that thinks deeply about our problems so we can solve them, rather than devolve into a finger pointing game that ends up resolving nothing.
While it is destructive and frustrating to have legislators and members of the public try to clumsily censor school curriculum with the precision of chain saw, educators themselves must be aware to not use these actions to justify activist teaching. Teachers are professionals who, for thousands of years have sought to inspire their students to think for themselves. Let’s ensure that noble mission is carried on, and that the profession of teaching remains standing resolutely outside of the coarse and destructive divisiveness that cripples our society.
