We’ve had seemingly all sorts of hot-button, available, challenging topics in recent weeks — some of which we have specifically covered — some, alas, that we have not. Allow me a brief, but insufficient review… a review of what’s happening simply in our schools…
A teenage girl was fiercely thrown to the floor by a school resource officer during math class at her Columbia, South Carolina high school. She was texting during class; she was defiant; people blamed people; the student and her desk were flipped forcefully backwards. The video then quickly went viral, and the officer was soon fired…
In Bremerton, Washington (as previously referenced here) a high school football coach has silently prayed on the field since 2008. While leading no one, multiple students joined in. He was suspended two weeks ago for praying publicly — because of the potential causing of teens to be coerced into an undesired religious practice — individual, silent prayer…
At the University of Missouri, racial slurs were directed at the student body president in September. The next month there were two more incidents — one involving a drunken white student at a black gathering — and a second involving a swastika and feces on a bathroom, residence hall wall. With the administration’s response perceived as piddling and pathetic, one student began a hunger strike. The protest gained ample, albeit minimal attention — that is, until last weekend, when the Mizzou football team announced they would not practice nor play until the university’s president resigned. He resigned on Monday. In the following days, threats against those who disagreed with the protests became vehement…
Also at the University of Missouri — related to the protests — there was a student photojournalist who attempted to chronicle the black students’ reaction to the president’s resignation. The journalist, however, was physically restrained from covering the event by multiple students, faculty, and staff. As this confrontation then quickly went viral, one professor who physically restricted press coverage also resigned…
And lastly… one more challenging topic…
At the known-to-be progressive, Township High School District 211 in Palatine, Illinois, there is a student athlete who is a transgender teen, one who was born male but identifies as female. The student has undergone hormone therapy but not gender reassignment surgery; in other words, the student born with a male anatomy still has visible, male parts. Her family sued the school in order to use the girls’ locker room — not a restroom with individual stalls and partitions — but the locker room, with open changing areas, showers, and prominent nudity. The U.S. Dept. of Education’s Office of Civil Rights ruled last week that the school is discriminating against the student by not allowing her to change clothes with the other girls. The district now has 30 days to “negotiate an agreement” to rescind “its discriminatory denial of access to the locker rooms” for transgender students or face up to $6 million in federal funding cuts in addition to a possible criminal investigation. Question: what are the rights of the totality of students?…
This is a mere sampling of current, hot-button conflicts. From Missouri to Yale, other challenging situations are occurring in our schools. Let’s first take a deep breath… a heavy sigh, if you will.
Each of the above causes me to step back, reflect, and refrain from simply, emotionally reacting. It’s too easy to simply react; it’s too easy in these challenging topics to simply go with my first, gut thought — assuming I’m all right — and also amazingly cognizant and compassionate toward all people.
Each of the above also then prompts me to revisit the definition of the word “challenging.” These are challenging topics.
“Challenging” seems the embedded, increased temptation to lose all respect for some people when articulating an opinion or perspective. In other words, we only respect some people; we only stand up for some people; we only love some people groups; we are only compassionate or empathetic toward some. “Challenging” means we only wrestle well with the so-called some.
What a challenging world we live in… yes, for some.
Respectfully…
AR