To quote you: "They’ll learn a lot, though, from what they can tell matters to me, from how they see me spending my time." Do you only have love for your family and your people, or do you love everyone and want all to succeed? The past couple of years have been a perfect time to examine how we relate to others outside of our immediate circle. Where we choose to live certainly can act as a bubble or inner circle. If you don't see it - it doesn't exist - which is also true for our children's schools. We lived in downtown Atlanta and still managed not to understand what other families really went through just past the dividing highway. You want the best for your children - yes of course - but don't some of us have enough? Time to give back and set a more level playing field. Maybe we can stop thinking about which college they'll go to and start thinking about what kind of person we are raising to begin with.
This writing is so infused with your voice, your love for your children and justice. As a white teacher, I've been wrestling with my privilege and working as much as actions allow for equity. Thank you so much for the beautiful balance of intellect and emotion.
I'm sorry that it's taken me so long to reply to this (you know, for life-in-this-moment rasons but still), but thank you sincerely for these incredibly kind words. And thank you even more so for being a white teacher being actively thoughtful about your and your students' identities.
This is so beautifully written and eloquently presented. I share your sentiments, but am a little further down the pike (13, 10, and 8 yo). Watching most of my friends who have bowed out to private school now discuss their remote learning plans and multiple daily zoom tutoring sessions, really drives your points home. I have to say, the tug of war you describe doesn’t get any easier (middle school makes it a lot harder), but we are still living our ideals and I hope in the end that means something.
“What’s tricky is the problem I’m ranting about is actually the sum of an equation in which one of the addends is malevolent (generations worth of internalized racism and entitlement) and the other one is benevolent (the intense love that parents feel for their kids).”
Sending love to your family-- you're right, middle and high school does make it a lot trickier. I have no doubt that the way y'all are living your ideals absolutely means something.
Love this so much. Thank you. My kids are similar ages. Any thing you've been doing specifically to teach about unfair and painful systems during this time of quarantine?
Thanks for the kind note. I should note that the convos we're having (particularly with our six year old) build off of previous convos about the history of race in America (making sure there's an understanding of why racism as an idea was invented, and the fact that it still plays out in systems that are unfair). Because we started from there, it's been pretty easy to have convos about the patterns that have developed between who has more and less resources to survive the current crisis (I found the article I linked about schools in CT to make particular sense to my son). Additionally, here in Milwaukee, because our city is so segregated, there's also a clear and tragic infection pattern (by far, Black men on the northwest side are the majority of cases) which we've also talked about-- and connecting that to all the work we are doing to live differently to keep everybody safe. Still thinking about other ways to keep doing that though (and apologies if that answer doesn't make sense-- feel free to follow up!).
God this is good. Thank you Garrett.
To quote you: "They’ll learn a lot, though, from what they can tell matters to me, from how they see me spending my time." Do you only have love for your family and your people, or do you love everyone and want all to succeed? The past couple of years have been a perfect time to examine how we relate to others outside of our immediate circle. Where we choose to live certainly can act as a bubble or inner circle. If you don't see it - it doesn't exist - which is also true for our children's schools. We lived in downtown Atlanta and still managed not to understand what other families really went through just past the dividing highway. You want the best for your children - yes of course - but don't some of us have enough? Time to give back and set a more level playing field. Maybe we can stop thinking about which college they'll go to and start thinking about what kind of person we are raising to begin with.
This writing is so infused with your voice, your love for your children and justice. As a white teacher, I've been wrestling with my privilege and working as much as actions allow for equity. Thank you so much for the beautiful balance of intellect and emotion.
I'm sorry that it's taken me so long to reply to this (you know, for life-in-this-moment rasons but still), but thank you sincerely for these incredibly kind words. And thank you even more so for being a white teacher being actively thoughtful about your and your students' identities.
I am more educated. Thank you Garrett.
Thank you, Garrett.
Sharing with my community. Thank you.
Wow. This is amazing. Thank you.
Brilliant. THank you so much.
This is so beautifully written and eloquently presented. I share your sentiments, but am a little further down the pike (13, 10, and 8 yo). Watching most of my friends who have bowed out to private school now discuss their remote learning plans and multiple daily zoom tutoring sessions, really drives your points home. I have to say, the tug of war you describe doesn’t get any easier (middle school makes it a lot harder), but we are still living our ideals and I hope in the end that means something.
“What’s tricky is the problem I’m ranting about is actually the sum of an equation in which one of the addends is malevolent (generations worth of internalized racism and entitlement) and the other one is benevolent (the intense love that parents feel for their kids).”
Sending love to your family-- you're right, middle and high school does make it a lot trickier. I have no doubt that the way y'all are living your ideals absolutely means something.
Love this so much. Thank you. My kids are similar ages. Any thing you've been doing specifically to teach about unfair and painful systems during this time of quarantine?
Thanks for the kind note. I should note that the convos we're having (particularly with our six year old) build off of previous convos about the history of race in America (making sure there's an understanding of why racism as an idea was invented, and the fact that it still plays out in systems that are unfair). Because we started from there, it's been pretty easy to have convos about the patterns that have developed between who has more and less resources to survive the current crisis (I found the article I linked about schools in CT to make particular sense to my son). Additionally, here in Milwaukee, because our city is so segregated, there's also a clear and tragic infection pattern (by far, Black men on the northwest side are the majority of cases) which we've also talked about-- and connecting that to all the work we are doing to live differently to keep everybody safe. Still thinking about other ways to keep doing that though (and apologies if that answer doesn't make sense-- feel free to follow up!).