Annus Horribilis/Annus Mirabilis

Charles Ungerleider, Professor Emeritus, The University of British Columbia

[permission to reproduce granted if authorship is acknowledged]

 There is little doubt that, for most people, this school year was horrible. There were many examples of extraordinary acts of kindness. But, for most teachers, the year was incredibly challenging.

Coming off such a year, it might be easy to lose sight of the huge difference that teachers make in the lives of their students. The students won’t. I didn’t when I was one. At least, as far as I remember.

When you get to certain age, you reflect on how you arrived where you find yourself. Of course, for most of us (me for sure) there was no plan. In my case I was the beneficiary of some extraordinary good luck, having been in the right place at the right time.

Part of my good fortune – perhaps most of it – was to have had some extraordinary teachers. Not just one or two, but many. Right from the beginning.

I remember being coaxed up the stairs in my elementary school by my mother. I was holding the handrail and resisting her at every step. But she used her weight and height to her advantage and was crafty. I cannot recall what inducement (bribe) she promised, but I relented. She delivered me to Mrs. Waite, a kindly kindergarten teacher who took me by the hand, led me into the classroom, and comforted me.

I grew up in a home where, because I was 11 years younger than the nearest of my siblings, I was the centre of attention. There were few obvious limits placed upon me by my parents or by my brothers and sisters. I was indulged. It was Mrs. Waite who taught me I had to wait my turn, seek permission before speaking, and share the spotlight with 25 or 30 peers.

Mrs. Waite must have liked us because she ‘re-enlisted’ to teach us in grade one. It was there that she taught me and my peers our most valuable of life’s lessons: how to read. She read to us at the beginning of each class and at the close of the school day. We learned the alphabet and its correspondence to sounds. Mrs. Waite taught us how reading was the most powerful of the tools we would acquire. Under Mrs. Waite’s tutelage I acquired the means to inform and entertain myself. Secrets – adult secrets – were no longer hidden in plain view. I could read!

Mrs. Fuller, my grade four teacher, taught us to love singing. We had a class choir. The whole class sang; no one was left out. I was given the privilege of shaking the bells during our performance at Christmastime. My hunch is that Mrs. Fuller thought I would not be able to ring the bells and sing simultaneously. I proved her wrong. She retired at the end of the year.

Mrs. Eisensen, my grade five teacher, encouraged us to be curious. “There are no bad questions,” she would remind us. In grade six, Mr. Einstein (no relation of Albert’s) engaged all of us in physical activity . . . everyday . . . rain or shine.  

My middle years in junior high school were mostly a blur. I took Latin I twice, and not for the love of the language. But the teacher I had in summer school taught me that, if I paid attention, I could master enough Latin to qualify for Latin II. I still have mixed feelings about that accomplishment.

Mr. Byrd, my grade ten English teacher encouraged us to read and appreciate poetry and difficult types of prose. He read to us like Mrs. Waite, but only at the beginning of class. Mr. Fesler, my high school civics teacher, kindled a passion for politics and government that has stayed with me. Mrs. Rocha, my grade twelve English teacher, taught me to write better compositions. Each week we would write a short essay, hand it in on Friday, and get it back with copious comments and suggestions on the following Monday. She likely had no life, but everyone of us passed the qualifying exam for entry to college-level English.

Dr. Bunzel, Dr. Collinge, and Dr. Whittaker taught me how evidence and logic could help shine light on almost any topic. They were not alone. Drs. Orkney, Guerevich, Gutierrez, Scalapino revealed the elegance of history, psychology, and statistics. Dr. Berliner mentored me when I was a doctoral student (his first).

If you are a teacher, I hope you realize the enormous influence of your work.

This is my last blogpost for school year 2020-2021. I plan to resume the blog in September – very likely on a new platform. 

I hope you have the rest and relaxation you deserve, and return refreshed to the coming school year.

Walking the Talk

 Charles Ungerleider, Professor Emeritus, The University of British Columbia

[permission to reproduce granted if authorship is acknowledged]

The US Supreme court will soon decide whether a school can limit the off-campus freedom of speech of a 14-year-old student. When Brandi Levy did not earn a spot on the varsity cheerleading squad, she posted a photo and message on Snapchat giving the middle finger salute and voicing her upset with a corresponding four-letter expletive about “school,” “cheer[leading],” “softball,” and “everything”.

The school barred Brandi from cheerleading for one year, arguing that punishment was justified to “avoid chaos” and maintain a “team-like environment.” Brandi sued the school district and won. The court said that the district had breached Brandi’s rights to free speech by punishing her for off-campus speech. Saying that the Court’s decision was inconsistent with rulings in similar cases elsewhere, the school district appealed the decision to the US Supreme Court where a ruling will soon be made.

It will be interesting to hear the US Supreme Court’s decision and read its reasoning. But it is important to keep in mind that Canada is different from the United States. What applies there may not apply in Canada. I doubt anyone would dispute the right and responsibility of schools to regulate student conduct on field trips, at inter-school events, and at school-sponsored activities off-campus. Few would dispute punishing a student who damages a teacher’s home, assaults another student at a park when the dispute began at school, or discriminates against another student, teacher, or school official.

Most conduct is not so clear cut. Take Brandi Levy’s case. She was away from school and sent a message to about 250 friends using Snapchat. One recipient took a screenshot of the message and showed it to her mother, a coach. The school used its power to punish Brandi.

I appreciate that schools must walk a fine line between protecting student rights and preserving order, but Brandi’s school did not appear to use the incident as a teachable moment. I wouldn’t be writing about the case before the US Supreme Court if it didn’t have implications for how schools respond to student criticism and protest.

Secondary schools typically have mission statements that refer to students becoming responsible citizens by acquiring the knowledge and dispositions that citizenship requires or as one school puts it “the wisdom, rationality, intelligence and empathy we hope to instill in all our students.” It is unfortunate that when things get a bit sketchy--as in Brandi Levy’s case--schools do not always walk the talk, communicating rather different messages than those contained in their mission statements

When schools stumble or take a misstep, those instances attract the attention of the students who learn lessons quite different from the ones taught in social studies or civics classes. A student is punished for defying a ban against singing a song deemed inappropriate when he sang the song in front of a school official during lunch time. A young man in Toronto is told he ­could not bring his male date to the high school prom. When a student wearing a T-­shirt expressing his opposition to a commercial venture being pursued by his school, the school cuts the power  to the amplifiers and microphones he and his classmates were using, preventing them from performing during a school-­sponsored battle of the bands. A principal threatens students with punishment if they sign a petition against a school rule. A student is suspended from school for giving a speech to fellow athletes in which he said the soccer team existed because of “the tenacity and perseverance of several players who took it upon themselves to do the phys ed department's job and find a coach."

As expressed in many school mission statements, we want students to connect what they learn in school with the lives they lead outside of school. If schools truly want to instill wisdom, rationality, intelligence, and empathy in students, they must walk the talk.