Bully (CRR)

In my elective class, we are watching the film Bully. This movie is really sad and touching (and it's on Netflix if you are interesting in watching it). It brings up so many questions for me about human beings, human interactions and the human spirit, not to mention all of the questions about schools, adult responsibilities, teachers, and safe spaces. 

The film begins with the story of a child who committed suicide because he was so tormented in middle and high school. I really wonder why those children are driven to be so cruel. It seems to me that they must be learning these behaviors somewhere. If these children's parents are abusive, the children learn that abuse equals power. They feel helpless in their own lives, so they try to find that feeling of power by abusing others. At least, that's what I've learned in psychology classes. 

The thing I find even more difficult to understand is that there were about 45 kids on the bus. One kid was being attacked. About 4 kids attacked him. What happened to the other 40 kids on that bus? Why do they just ignore what they see and know to be wrong? It seems like there are probably some deeper issues going on. Group think maybe? They don't see anybody intervening (trying to help), so they don't intervene? I don't know, but watching this, I really wish one of the other kids would have tried to stop it.

Next, the schools: almost all of this abuse happened in schools or on the school bus. Don't schools have an obligation to protect students from physical and mental abuse. If a child is being abused in school, how is that child going to learn anything? No one can reach his or her learning potential when he or she is afraid. The administrators in the schools in the movie are not very good at dealing with these issues, but don't you think that teachers and administrators should be trained to deal with this? We can't let students become victims or abusers.

Finally, I have a respect rule in my classroom. I know some students feel like they are just playing when they tease each other or make fun of each other. As a teacher though, I don't know how the teased person really feels. I can't read that person's mind. They could be laughing along, but still feel hurt. That's why I don't think 'playing' is funny. That's why I go out of my way to stop it when I see it or hear it. Physical and mental abuse is not cool. It's not acceptable. It's not funny. It does not create a safe and respectful classroom. I will not be a party to abuse happening when I can try to stop it.

A Slave Grateful for Slavery? (CRR)

Phillis Wheatley is such an interesting and controversial character in American literature and history. Her life was most certainly tragic, but her poetry reveals something else entirely. In class, we are reading "On Being Brought from Africa to America." This poem makes me think about so may different controversial topics: religion, slavery, race, self-expression, and authenticity. As a person, Wheatley went through so much: being taken from her family, the boat ride from Africa to America, learning the English language, learning to read and write in three(!) languages, traveling to England, being freed from slavery, and eventually dying in poverty. Her biography makes her life seem terribly difficult and heartbreaking. I want to cry for her and the difficulties of her life. 

And yet, the poetry she produces does not complain about her place in the world at all. In fact, she seems comfortable with her position in life as you read her poetry. This sparks so many questions in my mind: Did she really think that slavery was a 'mercy?' When she wrote that, did she mean it was a mercy for her in particular? Maybe she wasn't trying to say that slavery was a 'mercy,' but only that it turned out well for her? How would her poetry have been different if she were a slave on a plantation? Could she even have become a poet if she were a slave on a plantation? Was she writing her poetry to sell it? Maybe her poetry was not authentic at all, but was written to find white readers to purchase her books? How did her legacy affect the African American poetry that came after her?

I don't know the answer to any of these questions. I'm hoping that some new ideas and perspectives will come out in class over the next few days and weeks. Phillis Wheatley is definitely an enigma, one that I find compelling and thought provoking. Hopefully, our class discussions, debates, and essays will prove just how interesting and controversial Phillis Wheatley is.