Classism. Period.

Creative title, I know.

But I think it deserves to be stated outright.  Its often forgotten over the other "-isms" that we commonly think of.  Ironically, in my opinion, it is one of the more prevalent and wide-ranging inclusivity issues that youth deal with.  On a very superficial level, we judge people by how well kept they are, if they have the trendy clothes/styles and whether or not they have the latest Apple gizmo (this is especially true in younger kids).  Commercials and media don't help this idea either.  So I don't think we have to even go as far as looking at poverty to see classism in everyday life and easily in our classrooms.

But looking at the more serious issue of child poverty.  Reading the 2003 Report Card on Child Poverty, by the Canadian Council on Social Development, I was astonished to read that 390,000 children live below the poverty line.  14.4%.  Imagine having 4 kids in each one of your class below the poverty line.

To me, it makes me wonder as to why we don't see classism as much as an issue as I've seen in the past.  Is there some reason we don't want to talk about it?

Most of my teaching experiences so far have been in summer school.  Sadly that means there is a whole bunch of material to cover and not a whole lot of time to worry about a lot of "under the surface" kind of issues such as the "-isms".  To me, a successful day was if the students came to class and didn't get into a fight (the ratio of successful days to unsuccessful days was about 1:1).  So it makes me excited to get my own class and actually have the time to establish a classroom atmosphere.  And for an inclusivity issue that does not get brought into schools all that often, this will definitely be another "-ism" that will be in the back of my mind while trying to create the best environment my classroom can be.

Inclusion <=> Innovation

Read Inclusion Promotes Innovation by Jutta Treviranus on Thestar.com, September 12, 2007.

What I like about this article is it flips how we view inclusion of students with disability (or at least my view).  The normal perspective is that innovation is needed to promote inclusion in the classroom (ie hearing aids can help students with hearing difficulties).  However, what is needed is the idea of inclusion to not only support innovation directly, but to support others who would otherwise not be able to reach their full potential.  We don't have to look further from Einstein, Beethoven, and Stephen Hawking to see true innovators who all have disabilities in some way.  Imagine

The second part of this article that really intrigued me can be summarized by the quote:

"We train educators to teach the norm"

This (in lack of a better word) sucks.  Mainly because it's true.  It's hard when society gives us perceptions of "normal" students, how "normal" students learn, and how "normal" students behave.  How can we expect to teach anything different?  Well think of that 1 amazing teacher we all had in high school.  The one that did something different.  The one that geeks and gangsters alike adored and listened to.  They didn't teach the norm.  So why should we?  

And this is why I love Education courses so far.  We question ourselves and convention on a weekly basis.  What I hope happens is that this teaches us, as future educators, to do this on our own constantly in schools.  Question inclusivity issues.  Question our own practices.  Question our own bias.  Because so far, thats been the best thing that we can do before we have our own classroom and even after we have established ourselves as professionals.  It's always time to grow, especially in a growing world that requires inclusivity.

Students do not drop out, they are forced out.

Consider that statement for a second.

For me, it's a powerful one.  Along the lines with "Consider the glass half full, rather than half empty", it really changes how you view at-risk students in schools.  Essentially students will not leave a place that is doing them a service.  Maybe instead of viewing the disengaged student as someone who can't be helped, or needs to change, we should look at how the teaching can change to serve the student (to a point obviously, we aren't going to make a candy, puppy and firework course just because a student is skipping math).

I want to extend this a little bit further however.  We have the "force out" instead of the "drop-out", but we should also recognize students that are at risk of becoming a force out.  Let's call them, a "fade out".  I work as an EA in Peel Board's Summer School and these are the students I see most often.  The ones that are genuinely bright, capable students but either never show up or disrupt others around them because they aren't getting anything out of their school experience (for a variety of reasons).

With this different perspective of how students are feeling, I think we all as current and future educators can better serve others.  So please give it a second thought the next time you are ever frustrated with the performance or attitude of a student