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Shianne Priest is a teacher in Old Town.
I do not post my political views on social media or fight about politics. I have beliefs. Strong ones. I’m human. I’m a passionate person. I care.
I’ve been a teacher for 29 years, through the many highs and a few lows of education. Because I’m a teacher, however, I feel that it’s part of my job to keep my beliefs to myself, in school and publicly.
I understand political disagreement. I respect that we don’t all have the same vision of what’s best for America. I choose to believe that people who disagree with my political beliefs are trying as hard as I am to make our country the best it can be. I care deeply about all of my students, regardless of the political beliefs of their families.
Despite my career-long vow to remain politically neutral to the public eye, I can no longer be silent about the impact on schools of America’s politics, culture of divide and “say anything” mentality. The impact is immense and growing. It’s creating a problem schools can’t fix. It’s cutting into learning time and making many students and educators feel unsafe at school.
As educators (in every town and city) we are bombarded with complaints of bullying and hate speech. Most are legitimate. We often have to stop class or remove kids from class (who miss learning) to deal with these situations.
We, as a national workforce of educators and administrators, are tired, weary and feel powerless. We are quitting. We are changing careers. We are taking early retirement. We are creating a national teacher shortage. Kids are losing qualified, experienced and caring adults in droves. Schools are suffering from these losses.
Bullying and hate speech is not a school problem. They are a societal problem that sneak into schools through the minds and hearts of children.
Our schools have many bullies and many kids using hurtful language because they are growing up in a country where it’s OK for adults to be bullies and use hate speech. Our kids see the bumper stickers that say “F your feelings.” Our students hear adults talking and saying things like “your body, my choice” or making fun of someone who chooses a pronoun they don’t like, understand or agree with. Our kids hear athletes, musicians and politicians using hate speech and slurs that we don’t allow in schools. We are holding our 12-year-olds to standards that many adults do not have for themselves or the people they vote for, cheer for, attend concerts by, etc.
How are we supposed to extinguish hate speech and bullying when we have to explain to children that adults can use it, but kids can’t? And not just any adults — the most well-known adults in our country.
Children will be traumatized and terrorized by other children who have been taught to believe that these behaviors are how popular, rich and successful people treat others. The words or actions of the next generation of bullies may well hurt a child you love and are trying to protect. But, it will not be the fault of your child’s teacher or ed tech or principal or superintendent or school board or coach. These people are not the ones teaching children that it’s OK to ignore how someone feels.
There have always been bullies. But the bullies of today are armed with weapons that the bullies of our childhood didn’t have. They have cell phones, the internet and instant access to anyone they want to target. A child can become an expert bully in a matter of minutes by just scrolling through the Internet.
Bullying and hate speech will not stop in our schools until it stops in our culture. The way that our leaders behave and treat others is a direct reflection of the unkind and intolerant culture schools must unsuccessfully battle.
Do you want to stop bullying and hate speech in schools? Start at the top and work down. Vote for leaders and support athletes and musicians who model what we expect of children.
Do you disagree with me? That’s OK. I’ll still care about you and wish the best for you. I won’t fight with you on social media, at the grocery or anywhere else. Rather, I will keep teaching kids that feelings do matter.
