I know the problem of hate speech is not just a Burlingame high school problem. Last year, teachers at Aragon were told by Black Student Union, an Aragon student club, about the prevalence of hate speech on campus, both in the hallways and in classrooms. Many of my colleagues, including myself, were shocked. But being shocked isn't enough. Explicit teaching needs to happen on my end. But then students have a responsibility too to police each other. Aragon is a community, whether you think that's hokey or not, and a culture of tolerance and acceptance is only a true as the people consistently push to make it one. Do you hear hate speech at Aragon? What should be done about it?
Hate speech at Aragon can be heard in many places where authority isn't really present. Teachers are knowingly doing all they can based on the information which they have access to. No matter how much authority says it, however, students don't see the negative effect it as on a person just based on speech. Students often also don't police each other as almost everyone has a fear of getting made fun of themselves. This leads them to simply look down and look away. People generally don't see the negative effects of using racial slurs or LTBTQ terms as an insult as it doesn't affect them directly. In my opinion, awareness and examples of the effects are the most effective way in controlling hate speech on any scale.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was at Aragon in person, I often heard hate speech said around campus. Whether people were of different age or age, they would all participate in casually using hate speech in conversation. As Evan mentioned, students don’t tend to see the negative effect hate speech can have and I think it’s a consequence of normalizing hate speech through using hate speech in music or comedy sketches. Eventually, we end up forgetting the reason why the word was offensive in the first place. While I obviously can’t stop students from using hate speech, I think spending a day or so on educating students on the history behind certain words would help resolve the issue a bit.
ReplyDeleteI feel like the best way to get rid of hate speech is to explicitly teach about the origin of the hate speech. Once people know, they can't ever not know. So cliché, but knowledge is power.
DeleteFortunately, I have never heard hate speech at Aragon, but I know that it is a prevalent issue on campus. I'm not quite sure why it happens, but it could be a matter of not fully understanding one another. Adding on to Farrah, I think that Aragon can start to eliminate this problem by teaching the history behind these words and phrases and why they're so derogatory. Change usually starts with awareness. If students understand where these words came from and the impact they have on others, it will hopefully stop students from using them. Another way to inform students on why this language should not be used could be to have a day each year about it where we hear from speakers who have a personal connection to the topic and learn from presentations, similar to the days where we are educated about other issues such as substance abuse.
ReplyDeleteI think it happens, even at Aragon, because some kids don't know. I refuse to believe that kids are inherently evil/bad. They are taught it. So if they are taught that hate speech is normal/ok, they can be untaught it. But that's not just my job as a teacher, that's everyone's job in a society/democracy.
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