Balancing Chemistry and Social Issues in Classroom

709 Words2 Pages

Gray speaks on how her students usually bring hot topics or issues that they want to know about into the classroom. “One day one of my students wanted to know more about the Black Lives Matter movement and the rising cases of police brutality. I could not say no. I had planned to speak on the periodic table and this issue came up first.” When her students leave her classroom, the real world awaits these kids, why shouldn’t they be as well-equipped as they can be to navigate the society that already has stereotypically placed them into categories to limit them? Pretending that these real life issues don’t matter is a great disservice so she continues to see it as a challenge to give a balanced lesson: chemistry and social issues. On making her classrooms a safe place, she remembers a class of students so respectful of each other where one day a male student came in and cried for a solid five minutes and no one even did so much as laugh or belittle him. Students of hers were checking each other for sexist and homophobic jokes and albleist language. Not only that but they were starting to check themselves, their …show more content…

These children include, children of color, children who live in urban areas, disabled children and even children who belong to the LGBTQIA community. The solutions to such a gigantic problem all start somewhere as there is no “one size fits all” solution. The focus on mentoring programs, after school (and summer break) programs and communities that get involved in the rearing and looking after the children are a plus, obviously. Smaller, more concentrated schools that cater to their regions: offering more flexible night classes for parents (especially young

Open Document