Am I My Brother's Keeper?

This has been bubbling up for me recently.  Lately, with the world seeming to become smaller by the status update, my students have shown increasing awareness of the world’s problems.  Just a few weeks ago, some people with a passion for social justice in Africa found the perfect platform to educate the world about an injustice.  Within a week, students breezed into the classroom with “Kony 2012” scribbled on their arms in Sharpie and put hand-made posters on their lockers proclaiming that Joseph Kony needed to be STOPPED!  I was impressed; they showed a previously unlikely awareness of something that was wrong in the world and wanted to talk about it with their middle school passion to right a wrong.  Wow!  Considering my clientele, it was refreshing to see that they were learning of a world outside of our typical demographic, and what’s more, were learning about it on their own time via Facebook and Youtube.

Last week, a couple of colleagues presented an opportunity to partner with a connection in Guatemala to help build schools there and share books in an impoverished area.  We had a way to help provide them with soda bottles and plastic bags (which villagers in the area were able to use as insulation for the walls), not to mention explore the Guatemalan culture and forge bonds between English- and Spanish-speaking students.  Once again, amazing.  Here is an opportunity to extend our interests and resources beyond ourselves, now that we have ways to efficiently communicate globally.

But I have this ongoing issue this year with students.  It seems fairly easy to excite their notion of social justice and fairness and what basic necessities humans need.  They have energy and voices and they want to fight!  But why...why don’t they want to fight for each other?  Why don’t they want to stand up for the kid at the next lunch table who comes from a different culture than they do already, without having to look for opportunities in other countries to fight for social justice?  That kid sits two seats away from them every day.  But sometimes social justice seems like it has to be grand and made into an emotional Youtube video that everyone has seen before the kids want to put up posters.

What I would give for my students to scribble on their arms, “Sam is a beautiful girl and deserves respect.”  I would love to see signs around the school, littered with signatures in support, that say, “Stop targeting classmates!  I will not allow my classmates to be ostracized!”  I want to see them look at another kid who comes from a perspective that could very well be the polar opposite of their own without thinking that they need to virtually circumnavigate the world to make a difference.  Because I know that they could see the difference they were making if they could find the courage and support to just act right here!  Right now!

It might sound short-sighted, close-minded to say that students need to turn their fighting spirits toward the homeland and away from other situations in the world that are grossly unjust.  I am just worried about their worldview becoming "I have this and they don't have this, so we should fix them."  This is a dangerous worldview that only promotes a feeling of privilege and entitlement when considering other people and cultures.  It's complex, and my students have fragile, still-forming minds.

I want my students to know that what’s really wrong right now is that Americans are destroying each other slowly (or quickly) and trying to establish who is the more noble social group with more noble ideals.  We tear each other down because we disagree on fundamental issues.  As an educator, isn't it my job to teach kids how to respond to all people with dignity and kindness?  To be able to talk through issues, even if a solution cannot be easily reached?  To have tolerance for ambiguity and to strive for peace (not take comfort in "Well, they're just idiots")?  Who wants to make a Youtube video about THAT?