Editorial: Taking full advantage of a 'teaching moment'
Nathan Etter had two memorable teaching moments recently.
The first was on Valentine's Day when the music teacher at Prairie View Grade School in Elgin had a brief, impromptu discussion with his first-graders about respect and tolerance after a negative response from some students over flowers his husband sent.
The second was last week when he addressed the Burlington-based Central Unit District 301 school board to explain the importance of his action and urge members to pledge to support every educator, student and staff member when faced with blatant intolerance.
Our hope is the messages resonated with both groups.
As Etter has noted, teachable moments happen daily in classrooms - cover your mouth when you cough, be kind, thank someone when they help you. Treating people with respect and tolerance is a valuable message worth spreading, one that needs to be reinforced often until the words of hate, intolerance, and discrimination so common today are wiped from our lexicon.
Where better to make that point than with the youngest students and those leaders charged with protecting and educating them?
It started after a brief exchange in class over the delivery of flowers. Etter, who is gay, said they were from his husband and some students reacted with "ew" and "gross." Instead of letting the matter drop, he made it a "teachable moment" about respect and tolerance. He asked students if just because something is different from what we're used to seeing or hearing, should we make fun of it or call it gross? Students, he said, responded with "a resounding and unanimous 'no' without hesitation." Then, the music lesson continued. He estimated the discussion took 30 seconds.
However, after a parent complaint, Etter was called to the principal's office and told to "stick to the curriculum." He and union officials sent an email accusing school leaders of treating him in a "discriminatory manner."
District 301 responded with an open letter to the school community stating "discrimination, harassment, exclusion or intimidation in any form are unacceptable and will not be tolerated."
There will be some parents and community members who will argue Etter chose the wrong time and place to address the issue. We disagree. By all accounts, Etter handled it in a sensitive and age-appropriate manner.
In his statement to the school board, Etter said he questioned the emotional effect "ew" and "gross" would have on any student in the class with same-sex parents if he had failed to address the matter.
The classroom should be a place where teachers have the latitude to veer briefly from curriculum to note historic events, reassure students in troubled times, and, yes, seize teachable moments about how to treat those around us. Doing so may change a life forever.