Having a Voice in the Classroom

[Molly Schwartz]

It was my penultimate time in the classroom. The students had filed in as the first bell rang, Mr. DuBe had begun to get the class’s attention as students slowly began to take their seats and get out their i-pads and notes as the second bell rang. Then all of a sudden the PA system clicked on to ask everyone to stand for the pledge of allegiance. I couldn’t help but feel an almost eerie connection to my very first day of tutoring when the exact same thing happened. What was different about this last time was that I noticed a girl towards the back of the classroom sitting while everyone around her stood. This girl had short hair that was dyed pink and wore a pair of dark skinny jeans and an oversized black sweatshirt. Seeing her sit while her classmates stood around her like pillars in a structure, I felt a mix of admiration, curiosity, and pride.

I wanted to know more about this student. I had never interacted with her before, like most of the students in the classroom she didn’t participate in class activities. I began to speculate that her choice to not stand was related to her stereotypical presentation of a rebel. I also wondered what went into her thought process to not stand. I thought about Colin Kapernick taking a knee during the national anthem, of Tommie Smith and John Carlos holding their fists in the air at the 1968 Olympics. While I want to be careful not to project my thought process and reaction as this student’s motivation and goal, whether it was her intention or not, she was communicating without words, a position that was different from everyone else’s in the room.

I remembered thinking about this on the first day of tutoring when I heard the pledge of allegiance announced, of what the effect of announcing it on the PA system had on the students. The implication that standing and reciting the pledge was mandatory, felt like a way of indoctrinating students as citizens of the United States. While I believe that the U.S. will only become the republic it aspires to be by educating students to become civically responsible, having students numbly recite the pledge felt more like a form of brainwashing than active engagement. Seeing a student make the choice to not engage and to challenge the status quo was impressive, especially considering Erik Erikson’s stage theory that students at this age are struggling with identity and role confusion. Adolescence is the tightrope walk between fitting in and having a unique voice. 

Reflecting on the last 7 weeks of tutoring it’s interesting to think about what the goals of the class were versus what they actually spent their time doing most days. Most classes were often bogged down by grammar lessons and assignments that attempted to demonstrate student understanding. While grammar, reading comprehension, and developing writing skills can really improve a students’ writing, the emphasis on assignments rather than on allowing students to express themselves through a written format makes me wonder how successful the classroom was at actually engaging students. Seeing the girl sit during the pledge of allegiance was a reminder of what the goal in all English classrooms should be, which is helping students develop how they express their voice. Even though she was sitting and technically not “participating” with the group, she was doing something far more powerful and more in line with the ethos of education which was to express herself as an individual.

Article on the Pledge of Allegiance in a High School

[Adam Ross]

I love your use of the word, penultimate!

Your observations about rebellion in the classroom are really interesting. I, too, would have thought about Colin Kaepernick and the political symbolism of disobeying mandatory expressions of patriotism in the classroom or workplace. Your picture of the American Flag juxtaposed against the widely accepted Lab Classroom feels interesting to me as a science major. I assume that schools in Canada, Argentina, Japan, and Senegal also have a Lab Classroom only with different flags flying, but this could surely be an artifact of my American education, I don’t know what science is like in other countries.

I agree with your sentiment that English classes should help students find their voice. This is a great way for that to happen. We shouldn’t get lost in the materials we traditionally use to teach, because then we risk teaching our students to imitate what they have already seen in school rather than make new ideas. A voice doesn’t have to come out in a book report, actions speak louder than words.

[Author]

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