On Being a Subversive Teacher (in Lancaster County)

During my field placement my cooperating teacher said something that made sense but left me with arched eye brows and a face of puzzlement.

In discussing her unit for Harper Lee's masterpiece To Kill A Mockingbird, my co-op casually said, "I try not to get too involved in discussions of racial tensions--after all," she smiled, "we are in Lancaster County." While I understand her concerns, I wonder if this is, in fact, the best practice. Should the book just be read to discuss plot and characters or should it open the floodgates to a much larger and more meaningful conversation? To me, the answer is quite clear. We cannot allow our students to live sheltered Lancaster-County-lives. The world is much bigger than this county and discussing diversity and racial tensions, while potentially controversial, is a necessity. The world abroad is not homogenous. It is not one color. It is many shades of gray. We cannot allow our students to live in a black and white world. We most show them the polychromatic scheme of our world.

More importantly, we must open these floodgates and allow our students to question their preconceived notions. To paraphrase the reading we read by Postman and Weingartner, a subversive man is a dangerous one, because he is not easily enlisted into an ideology. I WANT MY STUDENTS TO BE DANGEROUS. I want them to question. I want them to be curious. I want them to ask WHY.

 We must ask our students to confront and challenge their status quo. This is particularly important if we want to challenge the status quo of the current school system. We must open our classrooms to these potentially controversial conversations. There will be bumps in the road, of course, but at the very least we must consider having the conversation. We cannot shy our students away from reality.