The Obligation Of Care

Our children, our future, our obligation to care.

One of the biggest influences on me as a teacher, outside of personal mentors, was and still is - Nel Noddings. I wish more educators, especially those in our rather insular field of English language teaching, knew more about her work, research and influence.

Primary to Noddings is the idea that teaching is first and foremost an act of caring. This is where “relationship” is primary and the first oath, demand, gospel of a teacher is to care for each and every student under their umbrella.

In essence, teaching is profoundly and deeply a moral activity, with moral implications for the future of society through the children in the care of institutions and educators.

The pandemic has thrown a big wrench into the teacher-student relationship, especially in Canada and the US. Already under attack the past few decades as a more “facts only”, memorize and test, paint by numbers teaching philosophy has blown through education - things have gotten worse in terms of the caring aspect of teaching and learning.

SEL - social and emotional learning has been under attack. But even more to the point, the pandemic has allowed schools to become a place that is no longer safe.

We don’t realize how important a role, the school plays as a safe world for so many students. For so many children, school is a shelter from the harsh world they grow up in. It must continue to be so. I spent years teaching elementary students and know this vital role of “shelter” deeply. However, the pandemic has just thrown this notion out the window (for the most part - there are exceptions and I’m speaking and writing, in general. )

Schools have become sanitized, comply or else, learning “camps”. Teachers are now “bullies” - enforcing all kinds of mask, hand washing, distancing, isolating, rules and regulations. Although the Atlantic makes some good points about schools not being in any way sources of transmission - I disagree with their premise that all is well in our schoolyards and classrooms. It’s a disaster for the most part. Further, see my arguments against vaccinating children for schooling.

Teachers are just exhausted. The “humanity”, that caring, that Nel Noddings has so highly championed has flown the coup. I got this in my inbox recently … a good description of what is going on and what has to stop.

My son is nine years old and in Grade 4 here in Toronto. Yes, he is told not to speak during lunch.  But it’s more frightening than that for him and his classmates. The kids’ silent lunches are just the tip of the iceberg for their experience with the lunch monitor.

Last month, our son broke down in tears at dinner asking what a “fourth wave” was. When I asked why, he said the lunch monitor was yelling at kids at recess that we were in a “fourth wave” and that kids were going to create another lockdown if they got close to each other.

I complained to the principal and said this was entirely not age-appropriate. The principal said she would make sure he didn’t use threats like these. But recently my son and his friends have been telling me what this guy is still doing.

Talking during lunch means detention. Getting out of your chair during lunch, for example to throw something in the garbage, also means detention.

When a kid physically contacts another kid at recess, even to brush sleeves, that’s detention.

This is outdoors, mind you.

Detention these days means you sit with your back to the outside wall of the school, hugging your knees.  Six feet apart in either direction from other kids in detention. Outdoors.

If you approach a kid in detention to commiserate, that’s grounds for your own detention.

On my twitter feed, it is daily full of rants, sad commentaries from teachers about how the whole “regime” of punishing students and controlling their mask, distancing, washing, covid status behavior is just demoralizing to the core of what is teaching.

Here is a comment … More here.

We need to rethink things. Just like we need to for the pandemic in general. The risk, benefit for children weighs on the side of normalcy. Let’s open our schools to love, learning and let them remain bastions of safety and protection for our children. Not draconian punishment houses.