Saturday, July 28, 2007

Unity LEWIS MY WORD Are Chavis' results worth hurt feelings?

Article Last Updated:07/06/2007 05:31:15 AM PDT


IT FRIGHTENS me that in 2007, a man who behaves like the only way to reach black people is by degrading, humiliating and disrespecting them is allowed to run a school ("Madman, genius or both?" June 15).

For the past seven years, I have taught in public schools across the Bay Area and on the island of Guam, where the Guam Legislature awarded a resolution for my contribution to students' lives.

I have never had to insult my students, behave violently or use sexist and racial slurs to reach them, nor have I seen other educators successfully motivate students by behaving in this way. In fact, I've seen the opposite.

Degrading students alienates them and destroys their understanding of themselves and others. I wonder then, what damaging effects have American Indian Public Charter School Principal Ben Chavis' teaching tactics and racist forms of punishment had on the lives of young boys and girls?

Chavis exposes his racist attitudes and bigoted viewpoints to the public constantly with little to no reprimand. It is irrational that the principal of a junior high school, where students are at a critically impressionable age, is allowed to teach that it is acceptable to put people down because of their race or gender.

Chavis uses negative racial stereotypes to punish his students in ways that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders fought hard to stop half a century ago. Yet today, because Chavis' students produce high test scores, he is praised more than he is held accountable for his racism.

On March 15, Chavis saw the color of my skin, and before I could even say a word, attacked me. He stood two inches from my face, tried to pick a fight, and spit and shouted racist and derogatory profanities at me in front of my fellow classmates from Mills College and his middle school students.

He tried to empower himself by criminalizing and labeling me another "young black minority punk."

No matter how much Chavis and his school's board try to discredit me about what happened, the fact is my experience isn't the only documented incident of Chavis' absurd behavior.

Other complaints and horror stories have surfaced from teachers who worked at AIPCS claiming they were assaulted, and from parents who say Chavis discriminated against them and their children.

Imagine how many incidents have gone unaccounted for.

Chavis said himself that he sees the world divided in two, "darkies and whities," and that he believes humiliating students with racist taunts is a good tactic for unlocking their potential.

I don't divide my students based on race. Every student I have worked with at every level of education, kindergarten through college, has been unique, with values and needs specific to their uniqueness.

But none of those needs included diminishing their self-esteem by reinforcing stereotypical, hurtful and wrong ideas about who they are.

Unity Lewis, 25, has been teaching in the Oakland public school system for seven years.

Unity LEWIS MY WORD Are Chavis' results worth hurt feelings?Article Last Updated:07/06/2007 05:31:15 AM PDTIT FRIGHTENS me that in 2007, a man who behaves like the only way to reach black people is by degrading, humiliating and disrespecting them is allowed to run a school ("Madman, genius or both?" June 15).

For the past seven years, I have taught in public schools across the Bay Area and on the island of Guam, where the Guam Legislature awarded a resolution for my contribution to students' lives.

I have never had to insult my students, behave violently or use sexist and racial slurs to reach them, nor have I seen other educators successfully motivate students by behaving in this way. In fact, I've seen the opposite.

Degrading students alienates them and destroys their understanding of themselves and others. I wonder then, what damaging effects have American Indian Public Charter School Principal Ben Chavis' teaching tactics and racist forms of punishment had on the lives of young boys and girls?

Chavis exposes his racist attitudes and bigoted viewpoints to the public constantly with little to no reprimand. It is irrational that the principal of a junior high school, where students are at a critically impressionable age, is allowed to teach that it is acceptable to put people down because of their race or gender.

Chavis uses negative racial stereotypes to punish his students in ways that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders fought hard to stop half a century ago. Yet today, because Chavis' students produce high test scores, he is praised more than he is held accountable for his racism.

On March 15, Chavis saw the color of my skin, and before I could even say a word, attacked me. He stood two inches from my face, tried to pick a fight, and spit and shouted racist and derogatory profanities at me in front of my fellow classmates from Mills College and his middle school students.

He tried to empower himself by criminalizing and labeling me another "young black minority punk."

No matter how much Chavis and his school's board try to discredit me about what happened, the fact is my experience isn't the only documented incident of Chavis' absurd behavior.

Other complaints and horror stories have surfaced from teachers who worked at AIPCS claiming they were assaulted, and from parents who say Chavis discriminated against them and their children.

Imagine how many incidents have gone unaccounted for.

Chavis said himself that he sees the world divided in two, "darkies and whities," and that he believes humiliating students with racist taunts is a good tactic for unlocking their potential.

I don't divide my students based on race. Every student I have worked with at every level of education, kindergarten through college, has been unique, with values and needs specific to their uniqueness.

But none of those needs included diminishing their self-esteem by reinforcing stereotypical, hurtful and wrong ideas about who they are.

Unity Lewis, 25, has been teaching in the Oakland public school system for seven years.

http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_6312154

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