Students, teachers see ‘sea change’ on race – By Phill Casaus (Santa Fe New Mexican) / Jan 21 2019
Jake Zgela, U.S. government teacher at Early College Opportunities High School, puts on a new album while his students wrap up their writing exercise on Thursday. Gabriela Campos/The New Mexican
The soul-fueled growl of Al Green was oozing off an old stereo turntable as Jake Zgela took 11 juniors and seniors at Early College Opportunities High School through a lesson that, on the surface, could be uncomfortable.
“OK,” Zgela told his students, his preamble complete. “Now I want you to free-write on stereotypes.”
Without hesitation, an eye-roll or grumble, fingers began popping away at computer keys.
Today’s students — kids attending high school a half-century after the death of Martin Luther King Jr., kids who can’t remember when the U.S. didn’t celebrate a holiday named in his honor — have little problem writing or talking about subjects that often paralyzed the generations that came before.
Race, stereotypes, conflict, civil rights? The ability to address those issues head-on, several Santa Fe high school teachers and students said, might be what sets today’s generation apart.
“I think our generation is more open because we’ve almost aged up quicker because of our exposure with the internet,” said Skylar Richardson, a 16-year-old junior at ECO. “We’ve kind of skipped a little bit, skipped into social problems. I have a feeling if I were a kid in the ’80s or ’90s, I wouldn’t be involved with or know about [a civil rights discussion].”
Teachers agree the boom in technology — King’s galvanizing “I Have a Dream” speech is but a few keystrokes away on YouTube — make it easier to begin a discussion about race and racism that is something more than skin-deep.
But there’s something more to what Rod Mehling, a longtime teacher at Mandela International Magnet School, called a “sea change” in students’ views on race, ethnicity, sexuality and justice.
“Young people are overwhelmingly a million miles away in their outlook and understanding — not just of right and wrong, but a million miles away from the prejudice and denial of rights in decades gone by,” he said.
Meredith Tilp, an Advanced Placement government teacher at Capital High, agreed, describing a recent talk from a visitor who described the refugee problem in Syria.
“Our kids could really understand what she was talking about: Tents, refugees, people being separated from families, hardship, women making less money while working in the fields,” she said. “Kids understood that. They see pictures and movies, but they relate to contemporary society.”
Students and teachers emphasized a new enlightenment doesn’t mean everyone is happy, or that conflicts don’t arise, or that they don’t see or feel racism in their own lives. But many say the ability to identify it — and deal with it — is not as difficult as it might have been in 1969, ‘79 or 2009.
“Things are just a lot easier talk about in this day and age, with our generation, than it is in other generations,” said Jennifer Life, a junior who will graduate from ECO a year early.
It’d be pretty easy to talk without reservation in Zgela’s government class. To call it hip wouldn’t be doing the classroom justice, what with King, Malcolm X, César Chávez and Bob Dylan posters adorning the walls. An old-school stereo with vinyl records like Al Green’s 1976 classic Full of Fire provide the subtle aural background.
As Zgela prowled the classroom, prompting his mostly Hispanic students with observations on stereotypes, ethnicity, family and history, it was clear the ripple effects of the civil rights movement and King’s legacy were part of the lesson.
But he, Tilp and Mehling agreed it’s the grasp today’s students have on those concepts that makes his job so interesting.
“I mean, they’re still teenagers; they’re still wrapped in their own minds,” said Zgela, who’s in his late 30s. “But with their access to social media, the internet, the things they can get right now, they are all so aware. All the big stories I see out there, they know about. They may not understand or care about everything, but the connections are there.
“When I was in high school in the ’90s, if something wasn’t in the newspaper, if a teacher didn’t tell me about it, I probably didn’t know. With social media — kids are aware of those issues. They are very quick to make the comparisons. Donald Trump and the wall, immigration and racism, they feel in their own lives. They are aware of it all.”
In the background, Al Green was singing “That’s the Way It Is,” and Skylar Richardson has finished pumping thoughts into his Chromebook computer.
“There could be a negative aspect of it; maybe we shouldn’t be exposed to these issues as young as we are,” Richardson said. “But for the most part, it’s good to deal with these situations — even if they aren’t, you know, the best.”
