January 25, 2015 - 19:41
Through what I have learned thus far about education it has become clear me that teachers must have an open mind when confronted with new cultures that might not match their own, or match those of the school, or those of the students within. I witnessed the exact opposite during an observation of a first grade arts class at an all boys private school. We were sitting around the arts room working on perspective drawings when one of the boys said something along the lines of “hey dog, that’s not cool!” The teacher immediately turned to the student and said (again something along the lines of), “Dog? What’s this ‘Dog’? We don’t use language like that! We’re not in the ghetto!” I was stunned. It seemed so inappropriate to banish that langauge from the classroom in that manner. Now the school probably consideres that form of speech informal (This is a school where the male teachers are in ties and the females in skirts, and everyone is addressed as either Mr. or Ms/Mrs.) however it gives the teacher no right to make a comment like that. It really bothered me because the teacher was pushing down one form of speech in favor for another. What if that studen's parents used that languge, or his uncle, or older brother? Now he has conflicting views on the speech, all because one professor decided that it was a form of language not appropriate for his classroom.
This incident troubled me because it seemed like an ostracization of a group of individuals who use that form of language. It was a clear push down. The way he said “ghetto” very much implied that those who lived in the ghetto were beneath everyone who was in the room at that moment. That’s not okay. This teacher needs to be fostering acceptance and the coming together of different individuals. He can’t all of sudden say that one group is better than the other.