This is a food blog, but also an
activist blog. So today I’m posting
about something that has been on my mind which is not about veganism, but about
respect and tolerance in the teaching profession. It’s fundamental to my values and approach as
a special education teacher in general, but lately, I have been in a number of
situations which have really tested my patience and made me think even more
about how it can be addressed in a broader sense.
Teachers shouldn’t be calling
people, specifically students, “retarded.”
For five years I worked with junior high special education students who
had come to believe that they were “retarded” because this is what they had
been called for so long by bullies in a variety of forms. It took years to undo the damage this did to
their self-esteem and a long time for teachers to come together and institute
the “R-Word Campaign” on campus. There
were two situations in which adults at school actually called students the “r-word”
to their faces specifically because they were in my class. When adults use this word, then students
really begin to believe it about themselves.
When teachers use this word with regard to their students, even if it is
not directly to their faces, it further legitimates bullying.
The term “mental
retardation” was originally used as a medical term, but has since been replaced
by the term “intellectual disability,” since the “r-word” largely became used
as an insult and a synonym for the word “dumb.”
I like how the “R-Word Campaign” puts it by saying “when ‘retard’ and ‘retarded’
are used as synonyms for ‘dumb’ or ‘stupid’ by people without disabilities, it
only reinforces painful stereotypes of people with intellectual disabilities
being less valued members of humanity.”
It’s bad enough when the general population uses this word, but when teachers
say it, they discriminate against students with intellectual disabilities and
students who are considered “dumb” by many because they receive special
education services for one reason or another.
For example, students with Learning Disabilities are often considered “dumb”
although they possess average or above average intelligence. Many of these students actually believe they
are “retarded.” Teachers need to be helping
students challenge these assumptions, rather than playing into them.
On a
similar note, I often hear teachers complaining about being having “SpEd” kids
and “gangsters” in their classes, talking about these students with a tone of
derision. Anyone who has set foot in my
classroom over the past six years knows that I have historically worked with
the most difficult students in the school.
These students were in my classes for the entire day every day, and
while there were many challenges, many of them turned around their behavior and
made huge academic strides. All of these
students acted the way they did because they suffered from poor self esteem,
low academic skills, and problems at home.
Students know when a teacher does not expect anything from them. Students who are labeled “bad” know it, and
they start to live up to that reputation.
What is ironic to me is how the students who need the most support often
get the least attention. The students
who need teachers to advocate for them are instead viewed with scorn.
There are lots
of teachers who treat all students with respect and create a culture of
tolerance within their classrooms. There
is my friend, a junior high teacher who decided to start the “R-Word Campaign”
at our school. There are schools where
bullying truly is not tolerated in any form.
Much like going vegan can encompass the phrase “be the change,” the
language we use and the attitude we take towards all of our students can be a
vehicle for change.
