Hello hello,
My first grader started a new school a few weeks ago, and I have to say it’s super interesting. In the short time we’ve been a part of the school community (and by “part of the community” I mean reading approx 50% of the stuff we’re supposed to…), they’ve emphasized that their primary goal is to instill a sense of purpose in each student. They make it clear that part of academic success for the young elementary students includes fighting for a cause bigger than themselves. This is reinforced through many different behaviors such as:
- The kids wear a simple uniform (purple polo and khaki pants) UNLESS they want to wear a shirt that highlights a cause they believe in (i.e. climate change, racial justice, etc). They can wear their “passion” shirts any day of the week.
- My first grader’s daily homework includes a section called “Today, I commit to…” where they have to write down any action they are taking to advance the causes they’re interested in.
You won’t be surprised to hear that I love these practices!
Now, here’s where it gets a little dicey for me …. it’s a public charter school, so we entered a lottery and were awarded a spot. However, I can’t help but feel guilty that we’re taking a spot at this school that could make a HUGE difference in someone else’s life (#whiteguilt?). It’s an extremely diverse student body – ethnically, socio-economically, racially – and it has a higher ‘rating’ than the local public school. (Cue deep breath) So, am I perpetuating my privilege by taking this spot? I know that statistically my kids are already so fortunate due to my husband/my education, socio-economic status, salaried jobs that allow us flexibility to support and prioritize our children’s education, on and on and on. And yet, I still didn’t enroll my kid in the neighborhood school because he got a spot in this charter school (ostensibly by chance). As much as I want to be comforted by the veil of a lottery, it feels flimsy. Let’s counter this stance with that of my husband who feels that we have every right to apply for and occupy a spot at this school (and he’s not wrong!). He’s generally like, ‘feel bad about what now??’ I’m not looking for anyone to say, “oh, it’s ok. yadda yadda yadda…” I simply want to be transparent about a) the choices were making and b) my own grappling with some of those choices. I generally think it’s a necessary exercise to look for and question when we’re take advantage of our privileges.
Anyway, while that’s my very local focus right now, there’s a big shit storm happening in Afghanistan… and so many people are in dire danger despite the fact that they’ve have no involvement whatsoever in the inciting conflict (isn’t that generally true for humanitarian crises though, smh…) Here’s a great resource to help those arriving from Afghanistan to the US:
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/how-you-can-help-afghan-refugees-arriving-to-the-u-s
You can also sign up to host refugees through Airbnb:
Admittedly, I was pretty ignorant about the history of Afghanistan so I was really intrigued by Throughline’s recent two part series on the history of the country: Afghanistan: The Center of the World : Throughline : NPR Afghanistan: The Rise of the Taliban : Throughline : NPR. In addition, with the 20th anniversary of 9/11, there’s a powerful and informative docuseries on Netflix called Turning Point that was super educational for me. I didn’t know it at the time (I was 15 on 09/11/2001), but I can now fully appreciate Barbara Lee’s, D-CA, courage to speak her truth as the only dissenting rep in Congress against the resolution to give the President essentially unchecked authorization to use military force. She simply wanted the country to pause and make the most informed decision before proceeding. What I find so ironic about this is that we often hear that a “woman can’t be President because she’s too ’emotional'”…
#blacklivesmatter #courageousconversations #powertoprivilege
Be well,
Jessica