“Building Community from Chaos” is Christensen’s effort of valuing the lifestyle of the student. She seeks to have a sit-down but there is no neutrality to that process, it’s too aggressive (50). Communication, active discussion, sharing, through words both spoken and written is the method she uses (53). The theory of the students feeling validated by a curriculum that acknowledges phobia and prejudices, hatred and despairs, is the essence of her material (53). And not speaking of them as the far away customs in books but the neighbor or the aspect of our self who normalizes it, is a part of making school a part of the students and not the other way around.
Incorporating the “fights, arguments, tears, and anger” (50) we avoid, is “the crucible from which a real community grows” (50). Talking about the ugly parts of society helps clarify and promote genuine empathy but instead we are learned about nitpicking utopias, alphabetical math problems, and prehistoric science. I’m not disqualifying these aspects of school, but the article is how the current system does not frame our personal sense of range and possibility. We’re “polite” (50) and that doesn’t provide an understanding in the classroom but allows ignorance and “uncovered territory” (50) where “anger and pain” (50) dwells. The fashion of learning is incredible for urban education because it can reveal a student as an activist (55). Someone who will exceed to replace silence with facts, and anger with progress—why would anyone denote that?
This theory is relevant to my education because Christensen’s suggestion and possibilities did not happen for me. But I wish it had. My education is full with scholarly sources of information that had little to do with my ethnicity, cultural values, or upbringing. Though, I have rarely felt ostracized in my own land (53), there are episodes when I wish school was much more prefatory for empathy instead of book-smarts. I’ve had very few (not even a handful of) teachers who were more about teaching life than teaching books. In an effort of being polite, sensitive discussion on sexuality or ethnicity or body types never occurred in. As I recall those distinct moments, I remember them being rather self-conscious but what actually bothers me is that I wasn’t the one to make the impolite stuff a part of the conversation. Today, I bring up the ugly stuff, especially when the other person doesn’t realize how much their smarts exceed their empathy.
Works Cited
Christensen, Linda. “Building Community from Chaos” Rethinking My Classrooms. 50 – 55.
