Teachers should be humanitarians first

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to share one teacher's experiences about her students in an academic system, which does not provide equality and/or equity for students of color. It promulgates the injustices and encourages others to engage in dialogue about these concerns.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper is a personal narrative inquiry that primarily focuses on shared observations made over a period. The anecdata discusses one teacher's classroom experiences, recounting specific developments and concerns of her students and colleagues. The experiences also include personal accounts, which are connected to those classroom examples, all of which are discussed throughout the paper. Each subtitle is a continuous part of the entire conceptual perspective.

Findings

Teachers should not be ordinary. They should be humanitarians who have achieved a degree in education. They should understand the critical importance of trying to reach each child because as educators, teachers teach students, not content. Therefore, anyone pursuing teaching as a profession should be a humanitarian above all else.

Originality/value

When topics are centered around education, the suffering of children is usually not a part of that conversation. However, in this paper, there are several examples presented that reveal details about specific incidents during this teacher’s tenure. This paper also looks at what the teacher did to support those students who had not yet found their way to the other side of childhood trauma. Further, the teacher provides a series of anecdotes from her own story to illustrate how those experiences helped her address some of the needs of her students.

Citation

Bivins-Hudson, P.G. (2022), "Teachers should be humanitarians first", Journal for Multicultural Education, Vol. 16 No. 3, pp. 237-245. https://doi.org/10.1108/JME-12-2021-0237