EDU Trending: “Something Special to Share”
The culture wars rage on. Different racial, cultural, and religious groups denounce each other, and are mute about the hateful rise of Islamophobia and rampant Antisemitism. Less publicized, but just as real are the indignities inflicted on Native American children, which are a chronic blight on our history. The latest incident happened last month at the R.V. Haderlein Elementary School in Girard, Kansas.
At the start of the school year, an eight-year-old Native American boy, a member of the Wyandotte Nation,
was told to cut his hair because it was longer than the school dress code allowed. His mother wrote,
requesting an exemption so that her son could follow his culture and spiritual beliefs. The school
responded that if the boy did not cut his hair, he would be sent home.
Fearing that her son would be suspended, the mother complied, and The Wyandotte Nation told CNN:
“For centuries, tribal people have faced a siege of cultural oppression to impose [White] conformity…and historical traumas for many tribal nations.”
The ACLU representing the boy and his family, sent a letter to school officials demanding that the hair policy be rescinded.
A school’s dress code can ban T-Shirts that sport offensive messages and girls’ skirts that are too short. It should never usurp a child’s right to honor and be proud of his heritage. To insist that he conform, and, in so doing, reject his culture and religion, is racism.
To their credit, at a December 14, 2023, meeting, the Girard School Board voted unanimously to rescind their hair policy for boys of all grade levels. Effective immediately. In that article, the ACLU applauded the decision saying, “Corrective action such as this is part of how we move forward…”
This story is not a one-off. It echoes another that occurred thirty-three years ago. In that case, Wind-Wolf, a Native American boy, was five. His excitement about school quickly turned to shame and sadness. His English was not as good as the others. He was quiet; they were not. His hair was longer than the other boys’. Unlike the child in Kansas, Wind-Wolf begged his parents to cut his hair so his peers would accept him and like him.
But the children ostracized him because he was different. His teacher thought that he was slow. At home, Wind-Wolf asked why the other kids seemed not to appreciate nature, why Indians were always killed in the movies, and why his only friend in school told him she liked him because he was a “good Indian.” He withdrew and refused to participate in his family’s cultural ceremonies and activities.
Wind-Wolf told his parents he hated Washington and wanted to live near his Indian friends and cousins.
In a letter to his son’s teacher, Robert Lake (Medicine GrizzlyBear) pleaded for understanding:
“He is caught between two worlds, torn by two distinct cultural systems…I don’t want him to be a dropout or juvenile delinquent… to feel inferior…because of discrimination. I want him to be proud of his rich heritage…and succeed in both cultures. But I need your help.”
Lake spoke from experience: American-born, an enrolled member of the Seneca and Cherokee Tribes and an associate professor at Gonzaga University’s Department of Education, Spokane, WA. He ended:
“My son, Wind-Wolf, is not an empty glass coming into your class to be filled. He is a full basket coming into a different environment and society with something special to share. Please let him share his knowledge, heritage, and culture with you and his peers.”
The outcome in Haderlein Elementary is heartening. But the truth is we have made too little progress toward “diversity, equity, and inclusion” since Lake’s plea for his son in 1990. His letter should be required reading, discussed in schools everywhere. For we each have heritages and cultures to share. Personal stories to hear and understand. The discovery that we have common experiences as well.
What do the words diversity, equity, and inclusion mean if we do not practice them intentionally and wholeheartedly? Are they merely words on a poster or in a school mission statement, words that make us feel enlightened, even as our actions refute them?
Maybe we should replace the crippling politics undermining D.E.I. with the humanity and purpose of ABC: Acceptance, Belonging, and Community. As the Girard School Board did. Maybe then, the continuous loop of cultural, racial, and religious disrespect, denial, and exclusion can be stilled.
News and Views: ‘No-Fail’ Is No Good
In the aftermath of COVID, while most people worried about learning loss and its subsequent impact on students’ GPAs, New York City’s strong and rising graduation rate seemed to be a national anomaly. Now the secret is out: NYC schools have a no-fail policy that registers an incomplete or failing grade as NX (Course in Progress) on students’ transcripts. Students can do some work or no work and be promoted until they “pass” the NX course on their own, or until teachers are pressured to change NX to a “P. ” Graduation ready?
The sad truth is that no-fail policies - such as grade inflation, credit recovery, no zero and pass/fail policies, superintendent forgiveness, and others – did not start with COVID. They have been common practice in education for years, starting with good intentions on university campuses in the 1960s. Then, students wanted to take elective courses based on personal interest not expertise. Because they feared that a low grade would affect their GPA and future career opportunities, they requested pass/fail grades, and universities agreed.
By the 1970s, good intentions disappeared. Pass/fail policies became ubiquitous, and students used them cynically to avoid showing up and doing the work. This is the open secret of how such policies compromise K-12 education and the future of our children.
Some argue that no-fail policies help students to feel supported and maintain their self-esteem. I stand with those who believe that self-esteem and self-respect come from doing the work, not cheating the system. Think about it. Being confident, having pride in your work, knowing that you can do it – these boost well-being as well as academic achievement. Handing out grades that are not earned has the opposite effect.
It is really very simple: To students: Show up. Do your best and do the work.
If you need help or more time, teachers will be there for you – during school, after school, and in
summer school. That is how it has aways been. To school leaders: Be ethical role models.
Provide help, encouragement, and high expectations.
And as one teacher said: “If they aren’t ready… let them fail…” We learn the most from our failures.
When students make progress, tell them how proud you are.
We raise our children to let them fly. If we want them to soar, we must insist that they accept not only help, but responsibility to learn, think, explore, and develop independence. Then they will experience the joy of knowing that they can grow and succeed on their own.
Question of the Day: New Year Resolutions
When and where did the tradition of new year resolutions begin?
In Babylonia, over 4,000 years ago, when the new year began in March.
In ancient Rome, in 46 B.C., when Julius Caesar’s Gregorian calendar marked January 1 as the start of the new year.
In the Middle Ages when, at the end of the calendar year, Knights made resolutions called “Peacock Vows” to honor the values of knighthood.
In the 18th century when Christians would go to church, reflect on the year about to end, and make resolutions to do better in the new year ahead.
In 1813, in Boston, when a local newspaper officially used the phrase ‘New Year Resolution’ for the first time in an article titled “The Friday Lecture.”
For the correct answer, go to www.merleschell.com/blog/the-home-phone-advantage/
From Me to You: To Know You Is to Know Ourselves
When you take the time to look and really see someone, listen and really hear, have a conversation that is open, honest, and caring – that is the stuff of understanding, respect, and progress.
No one illuminates these desires more than the heart, mind, and light that are Joy Harjo - poet, storyteller, musician, and the first Native American poet laureate of the United States. It is with hope that we end 2023 with the passion and wisdom she shares in her many books like these.
The title of Harjo’s book of poems, The Woman Who Fell from the Sky (1994) is first a Native American creation myth. Like its title, Harjo’s poems celebrate the spiritual and worldly truths of Native American myths that infuse the stories of ordinary people with universality and connection to all living things. Her belief - that everyone’s story is a creation tale - gently flows and lifts us with hope from line to line. Most important is that Harjo’s voice for human rights is as powerful and relevant today as when her book was first published almost thirty years ago. It is a magical and transformative experience.
In her memoir Poet Warrior (2021),Harjo’s eloquence and clarity reveal our own vulnerability, longing, and mandate:
"We are all here to serve each other. At some point we have to understand that we do not need to carry a story that is unbearable. We can observe the story, which is mental; feel the story, which is physical; let the story go, which is emotional; then forgive the story, which is spiritual, after which we use the materials of it to build a house of knowledge."
Happy Holidays from my family to yours. Please enjoy “The Heart Before Christmas” at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRmoK9boDQI&ab_channel=MerleSchell
