Mainely Middle
Journal of the Maine Association for Middle
Level Education
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Volume 10, Number 1
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Not In Our SchoolAnd one day students will not be afraid to walk our halls and streets harassed by words like scrub or fag or retard. One day perhaps these words will not be used any more. One day students will not be harassed for their clothing, learning styles, racial background, or religion. One day... Last year, my first as Dean of Students at Auburn Middle School, I had early on hoped that my passion and enthusiasm for the issues of tolerance could make a difference in the school. In November, 1998, the synagogue in Auburn was vandalized with antisemitic graffiti. The community responded, and here at school I worked with teachers to have students view the film, "Not In Our Town", which chronicles the response of a town to several forms of hate crimes, including those against a Jewish family in the town. Most teachers had their students follow up the video and discussion with posters on the themes of tolerance and the four Core Values that our school adopted two years ago. The Core Values - honesty, compassion, respect, and responsibility - are used by staff members throughout the school in curriculum, discipline issues, and every aspect of student life. It was heartening to see teachers respond to the vandalism and support the issue of tolerance through the curriculum. The response of students was equally positive about the lesson. Later in the year we formed a group called Team Harmony to deal with issues of tolerance in our schools. Students made announcements and put up posters and displays for Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday, designed a bulletin board display on Kosovo, and worked on a student-taught lesson on the Rights of the Auburn Middle School Community. It was this last project that was the most exciting and meaningful for our school because it involved our students teaching students and responding to one another. Every student in the school had input into the Rights of the Auburn Middle School Community which will be on display in our lobby. Team Harmony students taught the lesson and led the discussions. Students designed and created the final display, although we did have a professional sign company transcribe the Rights on the display. Now, it is a new year. This year our tolerance group has grown and changed its name to the Auburn Middle School Civil Rights Team. Seven students and three staff advisors have been trained by the Attorney General's office to be a Civil Rights Team. Our team has grown to twenty students who are eager to be a part of making Auburn Middle School a more tolerant place . During our training we were told that the two goals of a Civil Rights Team are to create a safe environment in our school and to promote awareness of and education about cultural diversity in our society. In reflecting on my experiences as advisor to Team Harmony last year and my training as a Civil Rights Team advisor this fall, I have realized some things important to my understanding of what a truly "safe school" must be. In my first few months as an administrator at Auburn Middle School last year, I had envisioned a Zero Tolerance Policy on physical and verbal harassment, and I was prepared as Dean of Students to carry out that policy. No more labels. No put-downs. No more words like lezzie, loser, or slut. No harassment of others. Period. I still have the vision of AMS as a school that is free of harassment, but I now have a different view of how to get there. First, the I in the sentences above must change to We. And the We must include all of the school community: parents, teachers, staff, administrators, and students. But it is more than a unified commitment to tolerance that will make our school safe. We must examine ourselves as members of this community and address all incidents of prejudice, no matter how slight they may seem or where they originate. We must do more than pull out the tolerance unit for three weeks every year and then put it away; tolerance must flow through the climate of the school every minute of every day. How does a school make tolerance a part of the climate? First if all, we must ask hard questions and address intolerance wherever it appears. Words that breed intolerance like prep, scrub, fag, and jock all resonate as labels that promote cliques and prejudice. Our Ophelias walk the halls in fear and in groups because of that fear. Our real boys pretend toughness while the same fears grip them. We can do what we can in our own classrooms, and administrators can be in the halls. We adults can create a safer climate in our school, but we must have the students as partners or we will never get anywhere. At Auburn Middle School, we have a staff that has made a commitment to improving school climate through character education, curriculum integration, the Rights of the Auburn Middle School Community, and organizations like the student council, the Civil Rights Team, peer mediators, and others. Students are involved, but many students are still not a part of the solution. The issues that divide students must be addressed: class, gender, and race, are real issues in schools today. Students must be encouraged to talk to students about the walls that divide them. If Israeli and Palestinian students can learn to respect one another, as Seeds of Peace accomplishes every summer in nearby Otisfield, then why not Auburn students who live on different streets and dress differently from one another? A safe school committed to tolerance and diversity promotes tolerance through its curriculum, discipline policy, and daily life, but no matter how many programs and policies, no matter how many videos and guest speakers, posters and slogans, the only way that a school will truly address these issues in a meaningful way is through the students themselves. They are the ones who must talk to one another. Students must deliver the message and be given the reins to lead the discussion In November, Auburn Middle School members of the Civil Rights Team will be teaching a lesson in tolerance that incorporates the video "Not In Our Town." It will be a lesson they themselves have developed. The lesson the students teach will directly address the labeling and put-downs that happen in our school and community. Their goal is to create a safe school and promote awareness and celebration of our similarities and differences. Their goal is also to be able to say, "Not in our school." I can't say that the words that hurt will be removed from our dictionaries, but perhaps one day soon our students will be able to say, "These words are not used any more..." |