Being a teacher, you are constantly teaching students about respect. Respect each other. Respect your teachers. Respect classroom boundaries. Show respect in your manners. Listen respectfully to the opinions of others. Respect the accomplishments of others. Respect yourself. The list is seemingly endless.
Every Monday, students enter my classroom wanting to talk football. They are talking to each other about football. But even the non-football fan knows about and wants to talk about the national anthem controversy. None of them knows why the players are protesting really. (Many became aware of the protest in recent weeks as it pertains to President Trump and Twitter. I am aware of it because of the player last year who wanted to highlight police inequities along racial lines.)
What do you say to students who are watching their heroes be disrespectful toward the societal expectations for the singing of the "Star Spangled Banner"? What do you say to students who are watching adults whom one would normally respect using foul language to make a point? What do you say to students who lack respect for the views of others in a classroom when the very fabric of respect is being shredded on the NFL football field?
Each time one of these players takes a knee, he knocks down a respect pylon in our society. (Do they have a right to protest whatever they want? Yes. But the old saying goes, "Your right to punch someone in the nose ends at my face." Is disrespect to the national anthem a form of protest or is it an ill placed protest? ) Respect is something we are teaching students to possess and to exhibit. Respect for others is not what they are seeing.
Personal opinion: I don't understand how the anthem and the police behavior of some correlates as a cause and effect process. I don't understand how protesting the behavior of some who are bad is effective at the moment you are being protected by those who are good. I don't understand how a tweet from the President relates to the national anthem. Stand for the anthem. Period. When we go to the Olympics, we stand for everyone's anthems whether or not they are allies of the USA or whether or not they are perfect on human rights issues. It is a simple matter of courtesy, civility and good manners.
Nonetheless, if you understand how disrespecting the flag and the anthem relates to racial issues or political disappointments, perhaps you can explain it to me. I'd like to be able to tell my students that respect still matters in all walks of life. I'd like to assure my students that one person's disrespect does not permit another person's disrespect.
For me, each time the NFL players kneel, they erode the respect we are desperately trying to cultivate in the youngest members of our society as we work to prepare them to be contributing adults to a free society. Plenty of things are wrong and unjust. Let's teach our students the way to respectfully dispute injustice and to meaningfully create dialogue that leads to justice. Grandstanding under the flag is not solving the issue. Perhaps I'd be less inclined to boycott my life long favorite team (which I will continue to do until they act respectfully toward the flag and the anthem, this includes watching as well as purchasing) if the team members were out in the communities starting programs to bridge the gap between justice and injustice. But, I don't see them out there. (To be honest, I most often see the players of my team in the news for having broken laws or for having beaten a family member or for bullying texts. I don't think that is indicative of the entire team. It is just a few bad players. Heretofore, I have never boycotted my team for the behavior of a few. Because my team refuses to have and to enact a team policy that shows respect, I am purchasing nothing with their logo--not a Tostito, not a shirt, not a Dooney and Bourke wallet, not a piece of memorabilia--nothing.)
Me? I am just trying to teach respectful behavior in all circumstances. I am trying to guide them to have a voice without becoming the very behaviors they protest.
I love my country and know it is not perfect. I love my football team, though they are far from perfect. Always have, always will. Let's remember that there are bad representatives in every walk of life. They need to be identified and rectified. At a school, a bad teacher needs to be identified and then brought to the attention of those who can be certain that the situation is rectified. In the community, bad police officers with racially imbalanced motivations should be brought to the attention of the authorities who can ensure the situation is rectified. Silence is not the answer. Neither is kneeling.
How is this playing out in your classroom?
First Published 10/1/17
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