I’d take a bullet to protect my students
I am a high school English teacher. This past week I told my students that I was prepared to take a bullet for them. Here are the lessons I want them (and society) to learn.
Lesson 1: Influences on life affect decisions.
My world literature class this year looked at ancient and modern influences on decisions in life: god(s), free will, fate and culture. Probably the most important book we read this year was “Chronicle of a Death Foretold,” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, because an entire village of characters fails to warn Santiago Nasar that he has been targeted for death. The bystanders assume that someone else will take care of it.
Lesson 2: Decisions are based on recognizing another’s point of view.
What we choose to read may be “windows” into new cultures or unknown experiences, or “mirrors” that reflect our own lives and reassure us that we are not alone. Students
tell me that this “windows/mirrors” mindset helps them develop empathy. Lesson 3: Decisions need to be weighed. Students live with their cellphones, which have apps that provide instant feedback, often leading students to react immediately without consideration. To counter this mindset, my senior English class learns to analyze a reading’s context, purpose and bias, which helps them become more careful thinkers.
Lesson 4: Decisions need to be based on cause and effect.
I have students who only need to be told once that something is not allowed, and I have other students who make frequent mistakes until they finally figure out that Action A causes Consequence B. Rules and consequences provide a framework for students to learn that their actions affect themselves and others.
How do these lessons apply to school shootings? Let’s review: 1) No one can prevent a person from making the decision to bring a gun to school and shoot people. But teachers try to diminish the reasons that someone would want to do so. In social studies and English, we teach decisionmaking skills that students learn from the mistakes made by historical figures and literary characters. 2) The majority of school shooters were bullied. We try to teach empathy. We use stories, both fiction and real, to help students appreciate others. 3) Instant gratification encourages people to make quick (wrong) decisions. We hope our lessons on how to think carefully and weigh consequences counteract those impulses. Finally, 4) Support us as we teach. If teaching history and literature will help students learn from others’ mistakes, don’t ban our books. If lowering class size and individualizing instruction will help us reach troubled students, then pay taxes. If providing mental health services and limiting gun access may help, then create those laws … and fund them.
Everyone makes decisions. To shoot or not to shoot. To bully or not to bully. To treasure life or to throw it away. Society needs to support education, because as we teach future decision-makers, we may be the only thing standing between our students and the next school shooter.
CAROLE LECREN
BAY PARK