jadelyn:

fueledbyrydenn:

superhighschoollevelgay:

tiny21dancer:

“I guess your grades are more important to you than your morals are,” my English teacher spits out, lecturing our class about cheating that’s been going on in the school.

My classmates and I exchange glances. Well, yeah, we all seem to be thinking together. Isn’t that what they’ve been showing us since middle school?

#also that our grades are more important #than ourselves.

and our mental and physical health.

Well, when you indoctrinate kids into chasing after your arbitrary markers of “success”, how upset can you really get when they use whatever means they must in order to reach it?  You teach children that their grades define their self-worth and their entire future - oh, lip service is given to “self-esteem” and whatever, but kids aren’t stupid.  They see what you do, how you treat grades versus how you treat the supposedly-important self-esteem thing, and they see that it doesn’t match what you say.  You give out rewards and incentives to kids who get good grades, but do you give out rewards to kids for demonstrating self-assurance and standing up for what they believe in even when it goes against the obedience teachers and the school system and adults in general want to see from them?  No.  So kids pick up on the implicit lesson behind those actions, and learn that grades are the Most Important Thing, and standing up for one’s ethics and morals is inconsistently rewarded and may even be punished.  And then you get upset when they put that lesson into practice?

I had one teacher during my 12 years of school who actually demonstrated what giving a shit about kids’ self-esteem and confidence looked like.  One.  She was a long-term substitute because our teacher got sick (or maybe pregnant?  I don’t remember, it was the third grade) a couple months into the school year, so she took over and taught the rest of the school year.  She encouraged creativity.  She talked openly about love and caring for yourself and each other.  A handful of us were writing-inclined, and she took us under her wing and helped us write a class play that was also a freaking musical.  In the third grade.  I still remember those sessions, where every idea was valued even if it was patently ridiculous and impossible, because we were having faith in our own imaginations and abilities and nurturing that was more important to her than getting practical, usable ideas out of us.  

And I also remember that the parents regarded her with a sort of tolerant bemusement, and she was generally considered to be a capital-W Weirdo, although a harmless and fluffy type at least.  Because that wasn’t how you were supposed to teach, all warm fuzzies and creativity.  And that was a lesson, too.  

Kids see far more than most adults give them credit for.  They may not know the word “hypocrisy” when they’re young, but they sure as fuck get the concept, because it is amply demonstrated for them over and over and over again.

Don’t get mad when “do as I say, not as I do” doesn’t work.

gradientlair:

Lack of knowledge on the actual policies. Very few people actually understand the original executive orders, subsequent judicial decisions and legislation beyond sound bites via “news” that is insistent upon painting this as “taking stuff” from Whites for Black people (as if it is “just” about Black people). Honesty, how many White people have reviewed the actual history of why this is needed? It’s almost as rare to find as anyone who calls themselves “patriotic” who has actually read the Constitution or a Christian who has read the Bible. Media soundbites shaped by bigotry (in a White supremacist capitalist patriarchal society) absorbed by many Whites whose life ideologies have been shaped by bigotry is not going to produce the nuance and thought necessary to understand affirmative action. (Even so, these two simple, non in-depth cartoons explain this almost as well as the complex legalese: 1 and 2.)

Anti-intellectualism. Piggybacking on the first point, the current culture of anti-intellectualism doesn’t encourage most White people (and Americans at large) to actually investigate things they are “for” or “against.” It’s much simpler to decide to be “for” anything shaped by a legacy of White supremacy and White privilege and against anything that appears to be contrary to the former. Whites are used to being a “baseline,” the “norm,” or not considered a group at all, but those whom other groups are compared to.  Sociopolitically, many Whites are having a “day of reckoning” moment by even being classified as a “group,” or a “race” as Tom Scocca pointed out so well in a recent article about Romney’s overwhelming support from Whites. These factors contribute to the resistance to affirmative action.

Ahistorical views on race. If a White person takes the “why isn’t there a White history month” and “why isn’t there a White Entertainment Television station” stances on Whites and the media, it can be safely assumed that they are either uneducated or being willfully ignorant about the role of race in America and why certain spaces exist for Black people amidst the media, public discourse and culture itself. By pretending that the tide of history has no racial element, they can then infer that if everyone “is equal” (as if being equal means being treated equally) Black people are “unfairly” getting “goodies” through affirmative action. This also ignores the fact that even with said theoretical ”goodies,” unemployment, health care, finances, real estate, and more is markedly worse for Black people (and other people of colour) versus White. The latter is written off as Black “character failures” in the ever so common victim blaming ideologies such as American “exceptionalism” and even “patriotism” at times. This is where LIES about “poverty culture” come about as a way to praise greed, wealth and Whiteness and demonize suffering, poverty and Blackness.

The concept of what “greatness” is. The inherent racism involved in assuming that someone White is always “more” qualified, as if being White is a skill itself, is common in everything from college admissions to employment applications. The idea is that some “stupid” minority “stole” a slot from the perfect White knight on a horse who deserved things because he “worked” for them prevails. Further, the idea that perhaps a series of advantages afforded by White privilege is “hard work” would be even more humorous if it wasn’t despicable. Said privileges often place Whites ahead in spaces by sheer virtue of the luxury of Whiteness, not any actual work.  The myth of meritocracy is a plague on the American psyche. (Christopher Hayes wrote about this oh too well in his book Twilight Of The Elites - America After Meritocracy. Also, I recently read a fascinating study about the REALITY of financial aid versus the myth that “stupid” minorities “take all of the college monies,” and other assorted lies.)

A zero/sum view of racism. Ultimately, many Whites feel that any joy, success or progress in Black life means misery, failure and regression in White life. Period. This tunnel vision view is rooted in racism and fear. Research has revealed that many cisgender heterosexual White men feel like the “real” victims in America. Even if they are victims, would that not be at the hands of men just like them, except of a higher social class? Not to them. Racist social narratives involve the worship of “job creators” (the same ones who fire these men) as heroes because after all, they share Whiteness even if they don’t share class, status or cash. Other research has revealed that while some Whites view past times (during and pre-Civil Rights era) as a time more racist against Blacks, they view today as “more racist” against Whites. Of course this is false and has more to do with the idea of some Black people not suffering and Barack Obama’s existence more than any in-depth study of how race is a primary factor to consider when examining socioeconomic status. The enlightened exceptionalism involved in some who even choose to praise Oprah or Beyonce or LeBron James is what allows them to pretend that life for the average and for most Black people has dramatically changed, when for many, it has not. Claims of “reverse racism,” which doesn’t exist, are more common now than ever.

People who benefit from affirmative action also want it destroyed. While more than anyone else, White women have benefited from affirmative action, many of them stand with White men against affirmative action while simultaneously benefiting from it. Most people now know the name Abigail Fisher and know it well. Further, many older Black people (primarily men from what I’ve seen) want it dismantled despite the fact they benefited from it in the past. They clearly knew that in their time especially, being qualified was not enough. Assumed inferiority blocked their way.

Related Posts: CEO? Have A Seat. Kthanxbai., Black Woman? Want A Job? Register On Monster.com As A White Woman, False Equivalence, Kerry Washington Talks Affirmative Action On Real Time

positivelypersistentteach:

Positivelypersistentteach’s wishlist is here.

Girlwithalessonplan’s wishlist is here.

Listenlearninspireteach’s wishlist is here.

Thinkbrit’s wishlist is here.

Novicephoenix’s wishlist is here.

Diaryofafyt’s wishlist is here.

HeyMissAt’s wishlist is here.

Msleahhbic wishlist is here.

Donteatthepaste’s wishlist is here.

Hithertokt’s wishlist is here.

Annaslibrary’s wishlist is here.

Texasfirstyearteacher’s wishlist is here.

Allisonunsupervised’s wishlist is here.

Pablophonic’s wishlist is here.

Wiinga’s (formerly Bettyinthebush) wish list is here.

VWalker’s wishlist is here.

RevolutionizeEducation’s wishlist is here.

Denisea’s adopt-a-classroom is here.

Incognerdo’s wishlist is here.

Reblogs are appreciated.

I’m sure there are more (and you’re welcome to add yours in a reblog), but these are the ones I was able to find with some stealth research or were provided to me by fellow teachers.

I think that people outside of teaching might be surprised by how much teachers spend in their classroom.  At the first school I taught at, I even had to supply the tables my students sat at.  I’ve found that even among teachers, we are surprised by what colleagues in other grade levels or districts have to purchase.  I spent over $2,000 in my first year of teaching (I also taught in a economic disadvantaged area and at a charter school that didn’t even supply books for my students to use).

I now teacher Pre-K at a different school, and while our school has a school library, my students are not permitted to borrow books from it (only K-5 are).  Since early literacy skills are very important, I work hard to cultivate a classroom library with quality books (in decent conditions) for my students to borrow each day.  Sometimes the number of books I have goes down due to a mishap with a little brother, or when I give a book to a child because his family is moving to another state (or in some cases to another country).  

There are theater teachers that must buy tools for setting up the stage, art teachers that buy paints, most teachers buy construction paper, and on and on.

I don’t wish to ask that other teachers spend money on myself or those listed above, as I know they have their own items to buy for the year.  But, I did want to put out the wishlists that I know of out there, so that if there are any generous people out in the tumblr sphere with a passion for education and some spare change, they’d know where to look to get things done.

Pro-Tip: If you are buying from multiple wishlists, you must do them separately in order for it to allow you to choose the wish list addresses (I think).

Sometimes orders from wishlists do not show who the sender is.  With that in mind, I’d like to thank anyone who donates on behalf of the teachers who receive items.