Learning Tolerance As We Teach It

“Will we be learning history from a biblical or counter-biblical perspective?” James asked.

I could see an intense honesty in his eyes, one that I’m pretty sure only teachers know. It was another one of those moments when my mind searched at hyper-speed for the right words. I wanted to make sure that this student felt I had given a genuine answer. I wanted him to remain connected to me and to the course.

“What do you mean by that?” I replied.

Through the subtle change in his facial expression I could tell that he had started to let his guard down a bit. His eyebrows reached for his forehead and a minor sigh escaped him before he began his reply. With subtle exasperation he explained.

“Well, it’s just that history can be taught from a biblical or counter-biblical perspective. I’m just curious if what we’re going to learn will be related to Christianity.”

My face must have been in quite a stitch, because he raised his voice to continue.

“If we’re going to search through history to explain where our beliefs come from, then when we study an idea like ‘All men are created equal,’ that has a very specific biblical origin; it’s a Christian idea.”

I nodded in way that I hoped would come across as thoughtful. The class watched to see how I would respond. I’m in trouble now, I thought. As a teacher who is on a mission to make sure that my class is an inclusive environment, I knew that this moment would either keep James engaged, allow him to shift into neutral or enable him to shut down completely.

“That’s an interesting question,” I replied. “I think you’ll find that our study of the origins of such ideas will be open to a variety of interpretations, because that’s what history is. History is the story of how we got to where we are now, and it can be dramatically different depending on who’s telling it. Our process will be inquiry-based, giving you the chance to discover various versions and decide which one makes the most sense to you.”

James had that glassy stare in his eyes as he worked to process what I had said. Seemingly satisfied with my answer he shifted back into his seat, and the garden-variety questions came streaming in.

Later that evening, I had dinner with some fellow teachers and explained what had happened in class that day. One colleague turned instantly negative. “You’re kidding me!” the teacher said. “What kind of crazy family does he come from?!”

And at that moment something unexpected happened. Within seconds, I found myself defending my student’s right to have a specifically religious worldview when approaching our class and the content. Although I was also surprised by his question, and disagree with looking at history in that way only, I was struck by my colleague’s immediate disregard of one of the most important values that teachers must embrace. We should ensure that our classrooms are places where all students can find pathways to make personal connections to the content. And we need to practice tolerance in the same ways we would expect of our students. Our work in building a just and peaceful world will be quickly uprooted if students are left to feel like their own narratives aren’t worth discussing.

It’s at times like these that we must remember to be hard on the content and soft on the people—and that learning tolerance is just as important as teaching it.

Greenslate is a Teaching Tolerance blogger and humanities teacher at High Tech High School in San Diego, Calif.