Quote:
Originally Posted by Sen's Revenge
I think it is important to consider several issues of a larger order here.
First, why is this news? How did it become news? What are the cultural and intercultural issues at play here which make it newsworthy?
Why did the parent feel that her child's anonymity was less important than bringing this to a news outlet?
Would a Black family have had more awareness of the taboo of wearing Greek symbols and signs?
Why is the taboo around this seemingly de-emphasized?
What role do the norms around predominantly white GLOs play in our own opinions about this? Example: Your "new members" can usually wear letters, but ours cannot.
I am not saying that the teacher was correct in her execution of this, but she's entitled to be offended by something that is important to her. A note home without the wardrobe change might have sufficed.
My opinion is that a lower class white woman was offended by an upper-class Black woman exerting power over her in a fairly embarrassing way*, and decided to go full throttle on the retaliation by involving the media.
This should not have been news.
*and this has happened so often over the years on this very website, I know exactly how this conversation will turn out lol
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Nashville area native, and most upper/middle class families send their kids to private schools or the public magnet schools. Most Metro Nashville public schools are rough. The particular school in question is in an area of lower socioeconomic citizens. As a former teacher, these are the schools I preferred working in. So many good things come out of these schools; it just never makes the news. I say that because your assumption about lower class white resentment of more upper class and educated black teacher is most likely on point.
This did not need to make the news. Did the teacher handle things the best way? Probably not, but this is just the local news catering to the lowest common denominator for clicks/views. Teachers confiscate stuff all the time from students. Had it been me, I probably would have bought the child a new sparkly pretty shirt and called the mom to explain the importance of the letters and asked her not to wear it anymore. (And yes, I bought students new clothes all the time with my own money when I saw a need.)
