ANN
BIANCHETTI
Diary #11
A
Field Trip to Suburbia
Social studies education has undergone a series of changes since it became an official subject in the early 1920's. It used to mean just the study of history and civics. Now it encompasses so much more.
Social studies education now includes history, civics, geography, economics, anthropology, sociology, and psychology. The roles of social studies educators have similarly grown. We are no longer football coaches who also happen to teach history. We are often called upon to be a school's peer mediator (social studies discipline: psychology), to run advisory programs (social studies discipline: sociology) and to advise student groups like student council and student court (social studies discipline: civics). Of course, all this is done while also keeping abreast of the new history, civics, geography, economics, anthropology, sociology and psychology standards and curriculum theme strands.
In a middle school setting, however, a social studies teacher, myself included, often focuses mostly on the history, civics, and geography strands. But sometimes we are blessed to find ourselves in situations that produce amazing teachable moments in the other disciplines. We may find ourselves in situations that truly challenge us to teach our students how to be social beings in social worlds and contexts. In these challenging moments I am often learning along with my students and hyperaware of the impact my words and actions will have on their future social encounters.We encounter a new social world
This past Friday I found myself in just such a situation with some of my students. My student council kids and I had been invited to participate in a night of "intense games" that another middle school student council was putting on. The night would consist of teams of students from various schools throughout Northern New Jersey competing in fun and silly games such as running while wearing inner tubes and wagon races.
The teams would be a mix of students from each school. The games required teamwork and bonding, encouraging the kids to get to know one another and work together in the spirit of student councils nationally. I recruited one of the parents of my students to come along, help with driving, and participate on the parent team.
The sponsoring school we traveled to was located in a very wealthy and white homogeneous district. We are a poor and homogeneous minority (black and Latino) district. Upon arrival we discovered that my students were the only eight kids of color there. All 92 other students where white.
What happened that night was a mix of the good, the bad, and the ignorant. My skills as a social studies educator and club advisor were challenged, as were my students' self-concepts and their sheltered worldview. I must say we did some challenging of our own, too!
The racial slur
First, the bad. Before the games started all the students spent some time mingling and getting to know their team members. After about 15 minutes, two of my students approached my parent chaperone and I with upsetting news: they were shaken by a racial slur they had overheard.
It was not directed at them, it was just said in range of their hearing. I immediately felt protective of them and wanted to alert the teacher in charge of the situation. After I took a few moments to let my anger subside, I realized that was not the solution. I did not want this to dampen their participation in the games or their budding relationships with other students there.
The parent chaperone (herself a minority) offered some comforting words along with my own. We pointed out that it was one student out of 92 who said it. We did not ignore the issue, but we did not make a big deal either. We reminded the students that, unfortunately, they were going to encounter this kind of stuff all their lives, that there were ignorant people in many places and it was up to them how they would react. Would they react in a proactive way?
Later on during the games I noticed that my students were often not chosen for games and sat towards the back of the group, talking among themselves while being ignored by the majority of students. The team captains explained the directions of the games to my students in simplistic terms; my students thought they were perceived as "dumb."
My heart winced as months of social studies lessons on racial equality and progress came to a grinding halt in a middle school gym in suburbia. At first I wanted to jump in and save my students but I also knew they had to learn to find their way in this social context.
We assert ourselves
Now, the redeeming good. After the first two games my students gradually began to assert themselves. Instead of remaining isolated at the back of the group, they pushed their way into the middle; they asked strongly to participate in certain games; they enthusiastically cheered and hugged their team members when their team won points.
They fought hard to be included and it paid off. At the halfway mark of the games my students were fitting in seamlessly, giving advice to the team captains and winning many points for their teams.
After the games, the parent chaperone and I took them to a diner for a late dinner. Over French fries and ice cream my students revealed to me a culture exchange that had taken place. They shared how they learned how to "talk white" by saying "dude" and "sweet" and they had taught some of the other kids how to "talk black" with words like "peeps" and "snap."
They told me how they had compared music notes with the other students. At one point "white music" was playing and one of my students was asked if she liked the song. She replied, "No, it's corny," which sparked an enthusiastic music comparison. As they related it to me, they had a lot of fun learning the names of bands and songs of white music and had loved teaching the names of rappers and songs in black music. They taught each other dances and slang, urban myth and suburban folklore.
By the end of the evening they had phone numbers of new friends and the evening ended with tearful good-bye hugs and promises to call and "see each other in January" at the next joint student council event.
Adding some color
On the ride home the parent chaperone and I helped them debrief some more. We talked about fitting in, learning the "language of power" in order to succeed and change perspectives. We discussed why so many student councils are only in rich, white schools and what that meant for student leadership and future success.
The students seemed to sense the heavy burden they carried – that as minorities they often had to work twice as hard to achieve acceptance, but as tonight showed it was well worth the effort. They were very proud to be "adding some color to student council," as one of my students said, and they took seriously the challenge of changing the power structures of society (well, at least of New Jersey student councils) to make them more accepting of minority presence.
After dropping the students off at their homes I believed tonight to have been one of my best social studies lessons. It was real-world based, it presented a social problem, and best of all, my students provided the solution. I was merely there to be a sounding board and reflector for their social studies exploration of the history, civics, psychology, sociology, and economics of race relations in America.
