Vox Populi:

When I first meet my classes of senior students, I bond with them by saying, “We have something in common: you’ve been doing this school thing long enough, you’re burnt out, and jaded, just like me.” Some laughter. “We’ll get along well!” I also talk about the two-way street of respect, and I read, verbatim, the following: Our classroom must be a place where everyone feels comfortable and respected in terms of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and political thought. We will not tolerate bigotry, bullying, racism, misogyny, or heterosexism in any form.

What a lie.

This is what I’ll report from the classroom of a suburban high school in mid-September of 2025: no one feels comfortable. I can feel it in the air and hear it in the unduly harsh sound of the new bell system. I can feel it in the deadly repetition of the lock down drill routine we had to go over, class after class, earlier this week. I also noted the reaction of an administrator when I shared what I thought was my humorous way of connecting with my seniors, about how they are as jaded as I am. “Jaded. That’s not good.” He was serious. The irony meter registered a zero.

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