Marginalized Stories

Since the beginning of education, schools have participated in the concept of marginalizing so many groups of people. Seeing first-hand the interaction that TikToker ‘@dancingteacher808’ had with their students really opened my mind on just how much history excludes so many important minority figures. Growing up I did come to the realization that the majority of historical figures I was learning about were in fact white males. We were taught about these white males over and over again while I was in school and I agree they are very important to learn about but to spend each year going over the same dudes gets pretty exhausting especially when they are overlooking the important people in minority groups who’s hardships and achievements are not being looked into. I think it is important for schools to teach more marginalized stories that way students see people just like them in historical contexts and develop a mindset that they can do anything just like the people they learned about. Learning about marginalized stories are also important to learn about because you get to hear different stories about communities of people who usually go without being shared. This can teach students about all different kinds of communities and cultures from these stories being shared. Changing the curriculum to better involve the stories is the right thing to do. So many people and I are tired of hearing about the same people and think that people of color, women, LGBTQ+, low-income individu- als, prisoners, the disabled, senior citizens, and many more deserve to have their stories taught in schools.

 

How do we talk about issues that matter?

    Talking about issues can be an incredibly difficult concept to do but pushing these issues away can cause a lot of damage to not only the students but also the teachers. This is because as teachers, challenging conversations are inevitable and it is your job to provide empathy and be a shoulder to lean on for the student. 

To begin talking about the issue, I feel that having a comfortable environment for the students is crucial in the first step of addressing the topics. Letting students know that they can come to you gives them a feeling of comfort in some situations and lets opening up to you way easier. Being able to communicate about these issues is also very important. In the article, “A letter to the students of color who were in my History classes”, the author Dylan Way talks about his experience of not addressing the underlying issues in his classroom. Way would never acknowledge the different races in his class which led to him having unconscious biases because he found that talking about the differences between him as a white male and the minority of students in his classroom made him uncomfortable. 

Not opening up about the issues in the classroom can cause such a negative space and limit your students voices which makes them feel unwanted or seen by their own teachers. No matter what way you decide to talk about these issues amongst your students, taking the initiative to do so can go a long way and I believe finding your own way to deal with them is what will work best. The thing that matters most is to make your students feel like they belong and opening up about their issues can make sure they feel this way.