Just a discouraging thought on a gray and windy Friday afternoon...I entered the girls' bathroom this morning before I went to class. On one of the stall doors was written the following paragraph (and I shall omit the nasty venom)..."B-'s of the year"...then the names of six girls were scrawled on to the door..."F- you all B-'s"...and then, "Bye...F- you H-'s"...I looked at those words for awhile and thought about President Obama's comments this week on the need for civility in our nation. Whatever one's politics, we can all surely agree that civility in this country has taken a beating. I find it profoundly upsetting when I see the nastiness being passed down to the next generation. I observe incivility when I greet students in the hall and they ignore me. I hear it in the language used by many of the fifth and sixth graders as they attack each other with cruel, obscene names and taunts. I see it when students conduct themselves in ways which indicate no respect for authority, rank, age, experience, gender or race.
"There is a sense that something is different now, that something's broken...at times it seems like we're unable to listen to one another, to have at once a serious and civil debate...government can't solve all of our problems...talking about values like responsible fatherhood and healthy marriage is integral to any anti-poverty agenda". President Obama...in a recent speech...
We need to have a serious, national debate about civility in schools...bad, cruel, obscene language is not about authority, rank, age, experience, education, gender or race. It is incivility, plain and simple. It degrades. It uglifies. It brings our students down. It brings our teachers down. It brings our nation down. Worried about standards?...test scores?...funding?...new methods and strategies?...Perhaps we should worry more about the uncivilized people who will be taking care of us and running the country in 25 years.
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Civility is something that comes from inside--it can't be forced or legislated. Self-control stems from a willingness to see ourselves as a part of a dignified whole. It is possible to affect change, but only by example, by inexorably treating others with deep respect.
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