November 21 Update

 Dear Parents and Guardians,

 

I hope you are well.  I recently visited one of our English Language Learner classes, and the lesson was structured around the topic of Thanksgiving.  Although this holiday – the most American of all holidays – is relatively new to the two students whose families immigrated from other countries, they spoke about Thanksgiving with familiarity because they both have experiences gathering with loved ones and celebrating with food when they were living in their home countries.   

 

I did not experience my first Thanksgiving until I was in my teens.  Thinking back to that day, I remember eating turkey with gravy and cranberry sauce was more of a curiosity than a meal I was looking forward to partaking.  Like the two students I visited in the EL class, I enjoyed getting days off from school to be with families, friends, and eating wonderful food like hot pots and dumplings to celebrate the holidays.  Food is such an important part of the Chinese culture that instead of greeting each other with “How are you?”, folks from an older generation often say to younger family members or friends, “Have you eaten yet?”  Due to the fact that she lives across the Pacific Ocean and I am here, my main mode of communication with my mother is through the internet.  To this day, the first words out of her mouth when we connect on Skype are inevitably “Have you eaten?” or "What did you have for dinner?" even though we may be talking mid-morning, in the afternoon, or late at night when the memory of my last meal has well left my consciousness.

 

We live in a time when there are lots of things for us to worry about and everything we have to do is harder and potentially a source of stress.  I hope everyone will take this time of Thanksgiving to put all of that aside and spend time connecting with each other in meaningful ways.  Whether the main dish you place on your Thanksgiving table is turkey, hot pot, or pasta, and whether you greet your loved ones with, “Hello” or “Have you eaten?”, I hope you will celebrate this time with genuine love and care for each other.  Like the two students I recently observed showed us, we all have been taught how to do that despite the differences that exist among us.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

James Lin

Principal

McCall Middle School

November 14 Update

 Dear McCall Parents and Guardians,

 

I hope you are well.  I am writing to update everyone on an endeavor the McCall Faculty is working on.  This effort is to teach students about how to respect and value various aspects of each other’s identities and to think about how our actions can offend others despite our best intentions.

 

Specifically, the school is planning to set aside two blocks of time in January and March to deliver whole school instruction on the topic of Microaggression.  Dr. Derald Wing Sue of Columbia University described microaggression as:

 

"Everyday verbal, nonverbal, and environmental slights, snubs, or insults, whether intentional or unintentional, which communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages to target persons based solely upon their marginalized group membership."

 

Included here is a PBS NewsHour interview with Dr. Sue if you are interested in learning more about his insights into this topic. It is important to note that although he talked about microaggression in racial terms, microaggression is related to various aspects of a person’s identity such as social class, religion, disability, gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation.

 

My personal experiences with microaggression as one of the few students of color going through a predominantly white middle and high school include the following: 1) Being asked to translate various Asian languages into English even though the only Asian language I speak is Mandarin (i.e., behavioral microaggression); 2) Being told by coaches that it is not a good idea to try out for sports because “most Asian students participate in the Math Team or Orchestra” (i.e., verbal microaggression), and 3) Seeing little to no representation of Asian people or cultures in the curricula of the courses I took (i.e., environmental microaggression).

 

I do not know for sure what were the actual motivations of the people who exhibited those microaggression because I typically endeavored to end those uncomfortable interactions as quickly as I could by nodding or saying something brief like, “Yeah, okay”.  However, I do believe their intentions were to be curious or to be helpful.  Whatever the motivations may be, the fact is the impact caused damage.  For example, the message I received from the translation example is that all Asian people and cultures are the same, and there is no need to treat me and the other Asian students as individuals.  The other effect of that behavior was to highlight I was an outsider in a predominately white community, and that I did not belong.

 

Microaggression is often compared to a paper cut.  One such incident typically does not create much harm, and the recipient can usually get over it quickly.  However, multiple paper cuts – particularly at the same spot – will hurt, infect, and the wound can cause long term damage.  One former McCall and WHS student of color reminded me that when a teacher notices an incident of microaggression in the classroom, it is likely the recipient of that microaggression has already experienced multiple other similar incidents that the adult did not see.  Therefore, the impact of that incident of microaggression is likely deeper than what the adult observed.

 

It is important for me to note that the objective of teaching students about microaggression is not to limit or censor their freedom of speech and expression.  The main objective is to teach students perspective taking, and that their behaviors may impact other people very differently than what they intended to say or do.  If anything, our goal is to encourage communication and expression even if what students do or say may offend and hurt others.  What we want to achieve is to teach students to refrain from minimizing the emotions and experiences of others and approach conflicts with curiosity instead of defensiveness when they find out their actions have hurt others.  We live in a society that is highly segregated even though our country is becoming more diverse.  It is impossible for any of us to always express ourselves in manners that do not offend another person.  We often find out we have offended or hurt others only after we have engaged in that behavior.  Our goal is to build a learning community where students and adults are in the habit of embracing curiosity and asking questions such as, “Can you help me understand why you are upset by what I said?” instead of taking a defensive posture and make statements such as, “You are being too sensitive”, “You shouldn’t feel that way”, or “You are imaging things.”  I believe taking the former approach build bridges.  Taking the latter approach perpetuates the biases that already exist within all of us and thereby makes our community more divisive.

 

Thank you,

 

James Lin

Principal

McCall Middle School