Journal #7

When did sexual education and reproductive rights become such a political issue? Not to get political but I find it ironic that the same political groups that are against birth control and teaching safe sex are the same people against welfare and public-assistance programs. This article is proof that women who drop out (and are not getting proper education whether it is sexual or otherwise) are having sex and getting pregnant as teens. Fine and McClelland point out in Sexuality Education and Desire: Still Missing after All These Years, “[i]n fact, 38 percent of teen women who left school prior to graduation had a subsequent pregnancy and birth while still a teen…” (p. 302). By making sexual education a political issue we are allowing students to be ticking time bombs. Whether adults like it or night young people in high school are going to have sex. Since that is a reality I think we need to do whatever possible to educate our students properly. Who knows, with proper education some of these students might decide to NOT have sex. Many young people just succumb to peer-pressure and do not necessarily fully know the consequences of having sex. 

As teachers we need to try to support our students better. Reading this made me think of a story that a friend of mine told me recently. He is currently teaching in Massachusetts and had a senior boy come up to him a few weeks ago and asked him to buy Plan B. He had unprotected sex with his girlfriend and was worried that she was pregnant. The student had the money to buy the pill but was not old enough (or possibly embarrassed to buy it, I cannot remember). My friend was mildly horrified that a student was asking him this. I looked at it a different way. If I were teaching I would hope that my students would be able to trust me and come to me with things like this. This student was obviously concerned, worried and needed to talk to someone that he trusted. It’s not like he was asking to borrow $5 for lunch; this is a serious issue. After all, isn’t this all why we are doing what we are doing? We want to be able to teach and help students. 

Places such as the LCHC give me hope that programs are going in the right direction. This is a positive place for students to be. The subject of sex, STDs, and pregnancy are not taboo and teenagers feel like they have someone who will truly listen to them. We need more of this in our schools. The Fine and McClelland article does point out on pg. 324 that are “a number of comprehensive sexuality education courses available for use in and outside of school settings” and this is relieving to me. If schools are not going to step up (or are too afraid to step up) and teach kids about sex in a way that works then hopefully the community can step up to the challenge. I wouldn’t use a history book from 1950 to teach my students so why would I preach abstinence-only to my students? Times have changed and like it or not in order to be successful teachers and give the most to our students we need to change and adapt as well.

Journal #6 - Hardcore

Can we blame them?

Can we really blame students for some of the gangster-like behavior that they are emulating? There are many students who are just trying to be gangster or they are “wannabe hardcore.” As the article points out ‘I do not want to be a gangster, but I can behave like one if the situation demands!’” (pg. 52). Of course some kids want to act gangster. What do they see on TV, in music and films? They see rappers acting “gangster”, doing drugs, demoralizing women and they’re millionaires from it. If being a gangster is going to make you a millionaire who wouldn’t want to be one? Page 60 also points out that “sometimes black and white kids act hardcore because it’s like kind of a trend.” If this is the message that media is sending students it’s hard to blame them for acting like that. I know that many would say that’s not reality and kids can’t act what they see on TV but many kids do. Unfortunately many of these people are “role models” for young people and it’s pathetic. You can argue all you want but society glorifies this kind of “gangster” behavior in many very real and noticeable ways. 

Of course there are many situations where students need to take the blame for their actions and not just because they are “gangster” but because they are dangerous and illegal. The “jacket incident” was particularly disturbing to me. Pages 59-60 outlines a scenario where a student wants to assault another student over a jacket. What does it really prove that you are willing to physically harm someone over a jacket? Was he actually going to hurt him or was this just a “front” to show that other boy that he would hurt him and not to mess with him again? Maybe it’s because I’m a girl or perhaps because I grew up on the mean streets of Pelham, New Hampshire but the thought of hurting someone over a jacket just seems a little out in left field to me. If this is really how it is and kids need to act this way to survive why aren’t we trying to do something to help them? Why do children have to grow up like that?

I think that all of this gets back to being good role models in the classroom. We obviously aren’t going to save every kid that walks through our doors; it’s unreasonable to think that we are going to. But if we can make one kid feel safe, change one person’s life then we are on the right path. We’re all here because we had teachers who truly impacted our lives. Hopefully 10-15 years down the line a troubled teen or otherwise labeled “gangster” will be in our shoes ready to teach because we made a difference in his or her life.

Journal # 5

 I was looking through different news stories online and I found the following article and video. I think it is worth taking a few minutes to look at and read.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/highschool-prep-rally/middle-school-girls-hoops-player-benched-game-saying-155532292.html

The girl, Miranda, was not allowed to play in her middle school basketball game because she said “I love you” in her native language, Menominee. The teacher told her to stop speaking in the other language, but she really wasn’t speaking in the other language she just said one phrase. The teacher also said, "[H]ow would you like it if I started talking Polish?" I would imagine that the young girl would not mind if she said “I love you” in Polish. She is just saying one phrase, why is this such a big deal? I was reading the same story but by a different writer and it said that Miranda was taken out of the game because she had an “attitude” problem after be reprimanding by the teachers. I would have an attitude problem too if I got in trouble for that. It’s not like she was talking negatively about the teacher in the language she simply said one phrase and got in trouble for it. I would understand if she was plotting against the teacher with her friends in another language but this is just ridiculous. What if there was a student who did not know English or had limited English proficiency? What if a student only knew how to say a word in his/her native language and could not express it in English?

Maybe the school has a policy that students cannot speak other languages in class and that is another argument but this girl said one phrase. If another person said “hola” jokingly would that person not be allowed to play a sport or get a detention? I just think it sends the wrong message to students to punish them for being culturally diverse. Instead of looking at this as a negative the school should be happy they have diversity within the school and embrace the culture of the local tribe. The only message this girl gets sent home with is that her language is wrong; why else would she not be allowed to utter even one word of it in class?

I’m sure there is more to the story than we are seeing in this one article but I was still outraged by this. You would think that in this day and age something like this would be a non-issue or non-factor but apparently there are some people out there who just like to cause a scene.