November 15, 2016
Dear SRI Community,
Like millions of Americans, I watched the election results with dismay. However, my dismay isn’t about partisan politics. As an educator who has actively participated in anti-bullying campaigns for years, I was truly shocked to see that our country had elected a bully. For the last 18 months, we watched and listened to the president elect speak openly, and in disparaging ways, about the millions of students and families we work to serve every day, while the crowds surrounding him cheered. Yet, despite his racist, misogynistic, anti-gay, anti-Muslim speech, he was elected to the most powerful position in the world. Educators work every day to keep our students safe from the type of bullying that we observed playing out on a national stage. The hypocrisy was overwhelming, and I’m still angry.
As educators, our work is strongly impacted by world events. Our students show up at school bringing with them the knowledge, and often the burden and trauma of the world in which they live. We know we cannot ignore all of that and just go on teaching as if world events don’t have an impact on kids; making students feel that their responses to these events don’t matter. We must teach our students how to make sense of the world, and when they see injustice we want to encourage them to not only name it, but fight to disrupt it.
Our fierce commitment has not changed. When times are bad, educators are called to respond. As Toni Morrison wrote:
“This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.
I know the world is bruised and bleeding, and though it is important not to ignore its pain, it is also critical to refuse to succumb to its malevolence. Like failure, chaos contains information that can lead to knowledge – even wisdom. Like art.”
This is precisely the time when educators go to work. When the world is in chaos, we need to step up. Fierce commitments require action – they compel us to do something to make the world a better place. We keep going, we persist, despite the strong forces working against us. We speak, we write, we do language. We teach.
We do not know what the next four years will bring, and we don’t have to look too far to see some of the hateful things happening around the country both in and out of schools. What we do know is that our commitment to students is unwavering. That means we engage, move into action, and work to make sure students feel safe not just in schools, but also in their communities. As educators, we cannot leave the real world at the classroom door, and we cannot expect students to do the same.
SRI’s mission of a fierce commitment to educational equity and excellence resonates today more strongly than ever. We will keep working, no matter what, to stand up against injustice and help to create the schools and communities that support and serve ALL people.
Thank you for your commitment to students. We are a community, and I am thankful every day that there are educators who are willing to stand up to bullying and bigotry. I am poised and ready to work with each of you to change the world!
With gratitude,
Kari Thierer
Executive Director, School Reform Initiative
