A critical incident

Just the other day, several of my students were complaining about the huge load of work they had in front of them and the many things they had to study in high school. I have been in that very same situation so I wanted to hear what they had to say. One student wished to speak first and he did. Actually, he asked me a question: Why do I have to study English? I have been asked this question many times before and I myself as a high school student have asked the same thing but in reference to math. These kind of questions are asked all the time by all students in reference to at least one subject in the curriculum and now that I am teaching I understand how important it is to deal with these matters. So when this particular student asked why he had to study English I quickly responded that learning English was an excellent tool for today's highly competitive labour market. One nano-second later, I realized that should not have been my first answer. The student who posed the question quickly replied: But I want to be a lumberjack, like my dad, and he does not speak English”. He was right.This student was not planning on getting a white collar job. His project for the moment was to work with his dad and I did not see that coming. What makes this incident critical is that my formation, my mindset played me a bad turn. The student who posed the question was left dissatisfied by my work-oriented answer as it was not true, or at least not to him. I later explained that we were not just learning English in class but also social skills such as collaboration and empathy but for some reason my first answer was the one that made an impact. I realize now that when I responded the way I did I was not being critical at all about my class. It was my cultural background who did the talking. I remember my parents talking about English as a great tool for work but working as a lumberjack was not on my menu. The incident worked as a wake up call for me. I realized once more that one brings many things into the classroom and needs to examine all assumptions, taking nothing for granted because more than often these assumptions respond to a given culture, to a mindset that is not necessarily my students´. The incident gave me a lot of food for thought and the next class I felt the students and I had to discuss it a little bit further. I did not want to vindicate my self for I am glad this incident happened, giving me the chance to reflect upon it and to improve as a teacher. All I did then was to give a more student centred answer, less prejudicious and subjective.

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