Freedom of Religion

Last week I made note of a few key points to make sure I made a post about a certain class that had a serious impact on me. I will begin with my notes on their own and will then describe the situation that brought about these comments.

"A woman and a woman? And man and a man? That's just disgusting." -female student #1 (age 13)

"I know my religion is right. I can prove it!" -female student #1

"No straight person would ever support gay rights unless they wanted to be gay or were secretly gay." -female student #2 (age 15)

In all of my classes this year, my schedule is a bit on the complicated side. I have 5 classes. Two of them meet Mondays and Tuesdays every week. The other three meet Thursdays and Fridays every week. Wednesday is a swing day - so every other week it is either the Monday-Tuesday classes or the Thursday-Friday classes. This makes planning a bit difficult, so I decided to make Wednesday a bit of a wild card day - keeping my classes on the same page by having Mondays always being the same as Thursdays and Tuesdays always the same as Fridays. Up until the election, Wednesdays are designated as election days. While the election is not in the curriculum, I find it important enough to sacrifice a little bit of class time to give my students some idea of what the candidates stand for and the processes by which they run for office and are elected.

In this particular class, my students copied a few notes on voting and the electoral college while I gave a short lecture on those topics (not best practice, I know, but sometimes that happens). Once I felt that most of the students were thoroughly confused by the concept of the electoral college and were gradually processing and figuring it out, we started to talk about issues. Teaching in a school where most (read 90%+) of my students are of color, and where most students don't know a whole lot about either candidate, the vast majority of my students support Obama, as they like the idea of having a Black President. Since Obama is the candidate who appears to be the better choice for low-income folks, their support did not flounder throughout discussion of many of the issues. There came a point in the discussion, however, where I decided to throw in a few controversial curveballs to stir things up a bit. I mentioned that Obama supported a woman's right to choose, while McCain was against abortion. This issue did not cause the stir I had anticipated. A few students made quick but calm comments both pro-life and pro-choice, and the conversation continued, or was perhaps derailed as I informed them that Obama supports gay rights while McCain believes marriage is between a man and a woman.

The tone and mood of the classroom took a turn I don't believe I have ever seen before. Anger and defensiveness and adolescent embarassment and silence ensued - along with a few seemingly enlightened comments from a few students who wondered why we couldn't all just get along. One young lady who is a Pentacostal and has undergone at least one exorcism and another 8th grade repeater who went to bible camp over the summer both had some strong words and responded as though I was personally attacking their faiths.

Being a public school teacher, I felt it my duty to have a discussion about freedom of religion and freedom FROM religion with the class. One of the most important things for me as a teacher is to make my class a safe place for everyone, especially those who are often rejected, insulted, or otherwise marginalized in the school, community, or general culture of my students and their families. I responded strongly to both girls and engaged one of them in a debate where she found herself unable to answer many of my questions because she knew her answers were wrong. Perhaps some people may read this and say "Oh great, this guy thinks he's really something for out-debating someone half his age," but I honestly feel that students need to be challenged, especially when what they are saying is hurtful and unneessary. The dicussion continued on into religion and I was told all about sin and hell etc., while I responded with questions such as "What if someone doesn't believe in hell?," "What if someone doesn't believe in god?," "What if I wanted to worship my stapler." After a while, most of the class supported the idea that freedom of and from religion is a good thing, and I was eventually asked to stopped discussing with the student because the rest of the class was tiring of her answers.

While I try my best to keep my personal views to myself and to be objective in my teaching, after I commented about Obama supporting gay rights, a student asked me if I did, to which I instincively responded "of course I do" and went on to talk about how I had married gay and lesbian friends who I fully supported and cared about. Not all of the students heard it, but the 3 young men sitting closest to my desk, who are all fairly close to me, put their heads down. While they appeared to be projecting that they were masking giggles or laughter, to me it was quite apparent that they were generally uncomfortable to hear a male role model make a positive comment about a gay lifestyle. I am pretty certain that most of my students only hear negative comments, jokes, and slurs regarding homosexuality, and do not realize that some of their teachers and classmates currently identify as such and that it is possible that they themselves may come to a realization at some point that they are not straight.

The absurdity and sheer ignorance of my students' really affected me because I know that their views reflect their parents' views and that those views are shared by a large percentage of people. I want to expose these students to differing viewpoints and help them to develop into understanding, empathetic, caring, and compassionate young adults - I just have yet to discover how to do this effectively.