This commentary is by Dave F. Brown of Essex Junction, an educational researcher in young adolescent development and effective middle level schools. He is executive director of the Vermont Association for Middle Level Education, professor emeritus at West Chester University and an adjunct professor at Villanova University and St. Michael’s College of Vermont. He is on the board of the New England League of Middle Schools and is co-author of the book “What Every Middle School Teacher Should Know.”
A Vermont middle level teacher’s simple act of caring for his students recently created controversy.
Like many educators across the globe, this teacher invited students, if they so chose, to use their preferred pronouns in introducing themselves to one another — at least that’s my understanding of the activity. Perceptions of the value of choosing to use pronouns as a personal descriptor are perhaps steeped in deep emotions based on national conversations, but the opportunity to do so while at school is intended as one of genuine care that many perhaps misunderstand.
Teachers experience unique pieces of many families’ lives through their interactions with students — lives that are often quite different from those that defined teachers’ own familial or communities’ customs. Our classrooms provide a perspective of a range of human diversity that exists beyond each of our own unique, tribal communities.
Educators recognize early within each new school year that the students in their classrooms are more diverse than they are alike, despite their relative similar ages and similar geographic location. Some students are painfully shy, others social butterflies; some are emotionally mature and others incredibly juvenile; some are confident, successful readers while others struggle with text for years. Some students arrive at school from high socioeconomic circumstances, while others’ families struggle to maintain economic stability. Some students have lived in the U.S. their entire lives, while others recently immigrated.
Adults who aren’t educators might believe that students don’t notice the differences among themselves — but they do, and at an early age. Students notice who reads well, who has the nicest clothes; who needs the most help in completing assignments. They notice who are effective speakers versus those who say almost nothing. Students notice skin color and in which neighborhoods their classmates live, and they notice those whose English isn’t perfect. They notice their fellow students who have special needs and receive additional help.
As students enter adolescence, their intellectual growth processes create a clearer picture of where they fit into the hierarchies of social, economic, racial, cultural, gender, physically able, and sexual orientation expectations.
This recognition doesn’t occur due to a forced identification exercise or a purposefully taught lesson. Students between the ages of 10 and 15 are constantly pondering their own identities and others’.
They ask themselves a series of questions that adults seldom hear, such as:
- Am I ever going to grow more?
- Why does our family practice this religion?
- How do I identify my family ethnicity on this test form when my mom’s African American and my dad’s Puerto Rican?
- Am I ever going to make it to college because everyone else has better grades?
- Are my clothes nice enough to fit into that clique?
- Are my sexual interests the same that everyone else is experiencing?
- Will my skin color prevent me from getting the help that I need?
- Will my limited English prevent me from making friends with others?
The nature of healthy adolescent development leads many students to seek answers to these questions among their friends, by surfing the internet, or via conversations with teachers. These identity questions arise during young adolescence (ages 10-15): an immense physical, social, emotional, cognitive, and identity developmental growth period.
Accompanying this age is often students’ lowest levels of self-esteem, affecting much of their personal feelings and beliefs about being accepted for who they are.
Middle level educators recognize that students’ forays into examining and eventually determining their various identities are a sign of healthy development. Teachers and parents don’t get to choose their children’s identities — that’s a personal, never-ending journey that each of us deals with throughout our own lives.
Teachers know that students must receive this clear message from those who interact with them daily: that despite their diverse family heritage, cultural distinctions, ethnic diversity, skin color, physical capabilities, gender identity, sexual orientation and spiritual identities, school must be a forum for students to become the healthiest person that they can.
Teachers are required to protect all students to ensure their psychological safety while at school.
The United States is renowned globally for the unrivaled opportunities that our system of public schooling provides for every student. The principle of providing equitable opportunities is public school educators’ commitment to democracy. If we, as educators, fail to recognize and value the differences among our students or fail to help them identify with pride and dignity their own diverse identities, then we fail those students who most need our support.
When we invite students to share with their classmates and teachers who they are, including what pronouns they use, we’re laying the groundwork for a place of acceptance, care and equity. For us to do otherwise would be malpractice and immoral.
