Mission in Action: Living Out Your Values
When I was in tenth grade, we read Night by Elie Wiesel together in my AP World History class. I remember it vividly.
I remember going home and crying and crying with my dad. It was hard to process the injustice of the Holocaust. I had the gift of being raised by an incredible father who taught me to love unconditionally and stand up for what is right and good.
And yet. There I was. Crying as another chunk of my naïveté was chipped away.
I had heard of the Holocaust before, of course. Not only heard of it, but studied many of the historical details in school in earlier years. I knew it was absolutely horrendous. But I had not yet read a firsthand account such as this.
This is the power of language and literature.
And this is major part of our work as educators.
The Power of Literacy
Reading powerful texts with kids is often a springboard for opening up vital dialogue, intercultural understanding, and self-literacy. I am reminded of the "Heart" questions in Book-Head-Heart from Kylene Beers and Bob Probst. What did I learn about me? How will this help me to be better?
What literature might you read and discuss with your kids to grow together? What books might you ensure you include in your classroom and school libraries? Here are a few helpful resources to start:
(This short list is just the tip of the iceberg, I'm sure. I hope it opens up a starting place.)
Of course, writing is equally powerful. Your students are able to take what they have learned through reading and living and express their unique voices. It's hard to think of something more empowering than knowing your own voice and sharing it.
It's seeing beyond the essay, right? It's understanding that the essay isn't just this mere assignment...that you're giving a young kid the tools to advocate for themselves...and that advocacy could save a life, or that advocacy could change a mind, or that advocacy could open a door...it became more than just the essay...it became more than just word study...People weaponize words to harm whole communities, and that I can engage in word study and give kids tools to fight back. Hell yeah!...I'm not just doing word study for word study. I'm doing word study because people need tools to redefine how folks in the world see them.
Cornelius Minor (via video interview) | April 2020
Take Action
Vital dialogue, reading, and writing can and must lead to action and positive impact. We talk a great deal about action within international schools—especially those of us within the IB. Action is a core component of our values.
International-mindedness is also encouraged through a focus on global engagement and meaningful service with the community. These elements challenge students to critically consider power and privilege, and to recognize that they hold this planet and its resources in trust for future generations. They also highlight the focus on action in all IB programmes: a focus on moving beyond awareness and understanding to engagement, action and bringing about meaningful change to make a more peaceful and sustainable world for everyone.
What is an IB Education | May 2020
How are you lifting up opportunities for your students for both global engagement and meaningful service within your communities? We must not be silent, and we must not allow injustice to slink on silently, either.
And that is why I swore never to be silent whenever wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must—at that moment—become the center of the universe...Human rights are being violated on every continent. More people are oppressed than free. How can one not be sensitive to their plight? Human suffering anywhere concerns men and women everywhere.
Elie Wiesel, The Nobel Acceptance Speech | December 10, 1986
1986.
If I didn't know, I could believe it was written yesterday.
Institutionalized injustice continues to run deep and infiltrates our globe. And, while it is living within all regions, as I am typing this conflict in the United States is at the forefront as centuries of racial injustice overflow. I consider Elie Wiesel's words yet again: "Wherever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must—at that moment—become the center of the universe." Even if, like me, you currently reside on the other side of the globe from the US, you nevertheless have a responsibility to dig deeply into this injustice with your students and colleagues.
Inquire. Read. Discuss. Act.
Live Out Your Values
The IB Mission Statement opens with: "The International Baccalaureate aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect..."
This is our why.
The IB also often refers to the Learner Profile Attributes as the Mission in Action. While all of the attributes play a role in our work to be anti-racist, global citizens, there are three that rise to the surface as especially important.
Principled: We act with integrity and honesty, with a strong sense of fairness and justice, and with respect for the dignity and rights of people everywhere. We take responsibility for our actions and their consequences.
Open-minded: We critically appreciate our own cultures and personal histories, as well as the values and traditions of others. We seek and evaluate a range of points of view, and we are willing to grow from the experience.
Caring: We show empathy, compassion and respect. We have a commitment to service, and we act to make a positive difference in the lives of others and in the world around us.
Right now, in this moment, are we as educators living out these values? And are we empowering kids to do the same?
In addition, in many international schools, we often think a lot about transdisciplinarity: going between, across, and beyond the disciplines. It is powerful for kids (and adults) to do that kind of thinking with more than just disciplines, of course. Between, across, and beyond our countries, our regions: Where does racism and injustice live? How can we take action and actively work as anti-racists and humanitarians?
Wiesel's words echo yet again: "When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant." It is vital that you and I empower our students to take action whenever, wherever they encounter injustice: in the prominent, high-profile inequalities, in their daily lives and the conflicts existing within their communities, and in the injustices that continue to remain vastly ignored despite their deep harm to thousands upon thousands of people.
“Can this be true? This is the twentieth [now twenty-first!] century, not the Middle Ages. Who would allow such crimes to be committed? How could the world remain silent?...that is why I swore never to be silent whenever wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation.”