The Day of Silence fell on a Wednesday this year; consequently,
I did not go to Gilroy High School to observe. Instead, as ever on
Wednesday, I taught: two hours each of trig, algebra I, and algebra
II.
The Day of Silence fell on a Wednesday this year; consequently, I did not go to Gilroy High School to observe. Instead, as ever on Wednesday, I taught: two hours each of trig, algebra I, and algebra II.
It seems from Dina Campeau’s column of last week that some of the teachers at GHS managed to teach effectively without speaking. I am not that gifted; I must use all my modalities when I teach.
Hence, I wrote on the board,
I demonstrated problem solving, I called on kids to solve examples,
I assigned homework, I gave quizzes, I answered questions. I taught math, instead of staging a political protest.
There are two reasons why I did not stay silent while teaching on April 13th. The less important reason is that I do not believe that the oppression faced by persons of variant gender orientation is any worse than the oppressions faced by persons of color, or persons of faith, or the differently-abled, or persons of variant political philosophy, or nerds, or geeks, or brains or the sartorially challenged.
The fact is that people can be mean. Kids, especially, can be mean, especially kids in groups, and even more especially, kids in groups with insufficient adult supervision. Kids in groups with insufficient adult supervision will tease and taunt and bully anyone they perceive to be different.
The solution, insofar as there is a solution, is not to single out one group as deserving of special protection. The solution is to demonstrate civility and to correct rudeness when it occurs. Correcting rudeness can be short and sweet: “Hey, that was rude. Apologize,” can be more effective, and is certainly more efficient, than making a federal case out of name-calling.
The second, and more important, reason why I did not stay silent is that parents do not pay me to propagandize their children. They pay me to teach them math. I happen to have deep religious convictions and strong political opinions. I do not inflict them on my students. They can form their own religious and political opinions. I concentrate on getting them to show their work.
The objections that I have seen and heard regarding the Day of Silence focus on this issue: that teachers should be teaching, not staging political protests, during class time. Alas, stating this opinion is not well tolerated at GHS. Anyone who objects runs the risk of being demonized.
An objection that I haven’t heard or seen is the religious one, that the Bible condemns homosexual behavior, along with fornication, adultery, and blasphemy. These are religious opinions, and the First Amendment guarantees an individual’s right to practice one’s religion freely, and to speak. But such practice or such speech is not tolerated well at GHS.
Teacher Sallie Enriques is subtle with her demonization: “There is no place for homophobia in this classroom,” and “It’s a civil rights issue.” Dispatch columnist Dennis Taylor says exactly the same things more vociferously: he calls objectors homophobes and compares them to racists and the KKK.
No wonder an objecting parent asked to remain anonymous. Who wants to be called a racist for wishing that teachers would concentrate on teaching instead of engaging in political protests during class time? Perhaps in times past homosexuals were silenced; now the people who want class time to be used for teaching are silenced.
I agree with Ms. Enriques and Mr. Taylor that is wrong to call a human being a faggot, or to use the belittling expression, “That’s so gay.” It is also wrong to call a human being a homophobe or a racist. The current climate at GHS seems more tolerant of the free exercise of sexual expression than of the free exercise of religion.
It seems to me that the Day of Silence and the noise surrounding it is merely a symptom of a deeper problem at GUSD. The district seems to selectively hire teachers with missions in life. One wants to save the planet. Another wants to eradicate homophobia. A third wants social justice.
I think GUSD needs to reconsider its hiring criteria. A school district’s mission is to educate. We need to hire teachers with expertise, not teachers on missions.
