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sarahmichelefI just recalled a conversation that I was a part of earlier this week that really bugged me.
On Monday, city schools and a handful of the suburbs cancelled classes because the wind chill was 20 below. Several other districts started a couple of hours late. The concern, obviously, is that they don't want kids standing waiting for the bus in that weather. (The wind chills never got above 0 on Monday.)
So in the locker room on Tuesday, a couple of ladies (one older, one about my age) were chatting about this and I observed that it made sense because of the extreme weather. The older lady observed, "What and kids in the suburbs won't freeze? I used to be a teacher in the city and you should have seen the things those kids came to school in! It's shameful!"
On its surface, ok, she's shocked that kids are going out inadequately dressed. But the tone was one of judgement, not one of sympathy or desire to help. Yeah, maybe the city schools are closed because a large proportion of their students DON'T HAVE ADEQUATE OUTERWEAR. Or fine, they have adequate outerwear but their parents aren't involved enough to make sure that they actually wear it when the weather gets bad. Maybe we should address those issues rather than railing about the district cancelling classes on the coldest days of the year.
On Monday, city schools and a handful of the suburbs cancelled classes because the wind chill was 20 below. Several other districts started a couple of hours late. The concern, obviously, is that they don't want kids standing waiting for the bus in that weather. (The wind chills never got above 0 on Monday.)
So in the locker room on Tuesday, a couple of ladies (one older, one about my age) were chatting about this and I observed that it made sense because of the extreme weather. The older lady observed, "What and kids in the suburbs won't freeze? I used to be a teacher in the city and you should have seen the things those kids came to school in! It's shameful!"
On its surface, ok, she's shocked that kids are going out inadequately dressed. But the tone was one of judgement, not one of sympathy or desire to help. Yeah, maybe the city schools are closed because a large proportion of their students DON'T HAVE ADEQUATE OUTERWEAR. Or fine, they have adequate outerwear but their parents aren't involved enough to make sure that they actually wear it when the weather gets bad. Maybe we should address those issues rather than railing about the district cancelling classes on the coldest days of the year.
