by: Ji Ho (Geo) Yang, PHD Candidate at the University of Washington
The last group of students that I taught have just recently graduated from high school. To them (and all my other students who have had graduations, milestones, and life joys), I want to say thank you for your presence, patience, and perseverance during my time teaching in Chicago, I taught 1st graders, and 7th & 8th graders. I am so grateful and privileged to have been your teacher, and I sincerely hope the best for you all. Our communities are so blessed to have you as our future.
When looking back at my teaching years, there are many moments that make me wince because of my failures to do better for my students and greater school communities. A big part of the wincing is because I have grown in my educational capacity; and now would have navigated many of those past teaching moments differently. However, I wouldn’t have been where I am today and made the growth without the awesomeness of my students (and the greater school communities).
Teaching is certainly not all pleasant; and often far from it. There are many moments of tearing my hair out, questioning my career choices, and pure exhaustion. Once the dust settles in these moments and I have had some time to reflect, the prevailing feelings are usually regret (on my own actions and inabilities), love, and hope (and a healthy amount of cynicism). Don’t get it twisted, public teaching in the U.S. isn’t necessarily sustainable or responsive. But serving youth and families 5 days a week for most of the day brings out our most human and authentic selves.
My students are mostly south side Chicagoans; growing up on Italian Fiesta pizza, Harold’s chicken, and rib tip BBQ (these are more so foods I miss dearly, to be frank). It is amazing how they get themselves to school in blizzardy winters and sit through sweltering days with limited A/C in schools. Like many other cities and school districts, Chicago and Chicago Public Schools (CPS) have been greatly influenced by capitalism and neoliberalism, which culminates into market practices in education. This means my students (Black children) had to endure legacies (and currently) of budget mismanagement, inequitable resourcing, privatization of education, political corruption, school closures, and teacher strikes (and this does not even include a deeper history of racial violence). Other ways they confront the machine-like nature of schooling include school choice via charter schools that can be brutally strict and competitive and being valued solely through their test scores and school grades. Fo me, I see this manifest in how I lacked pedagogical support when starting out as a 1st-time teacher, in how we did not have adequate access to our school library, or in how every facet of my worth as a teacher revolved around testing. All of which culminated in my final year of teaching, which was 2019-2020. This year in CPS started with the looming teacher strike and essentially ended with the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. In some ways, I was blessed to have started my doctoral journey right afterward.
My students (and students everywhere) persevered, not without pain. It is also crucial to emphasize the immense beauty, passion, and drive inherent in my schools. Seen through the students and families as the community, teachers driving each other, and staff and leaders putting students/children first. Every day, kids come into the school building with a smile that reflects hope, aspiration, and dignity, even in the aftermath of a tumultuous yesterday. Oftentimes, giggling about lord knows what, whispering slightly irreverent gossip (as we all did and do), and sharing their moments of pride and joy with school staff. Many students showed their passion for learning, working with others, and growing as citizens in the classroom. While others showed these passions in other ways beyond the classroom, whether in sports, music, nerd culture, interpersonal relationships, etc. My role as a classroom teacher often forced them to limit their passions in academic contexts, but my humanity can’t help but see theirs in all of its glory (often having the time to take a step back or during moments of pedagogical reprieve). It is often during these moments when having to limit themselves within the confines of systems-based learning (e.g. test-based academics) that my students are driven to their “worst”. Having to excel at system-defined levels of proficiency, creativity, and ways of knowing.
Through thick and thin, they came out of it on the other side. My students’ perseverance through all of this reflects their immense resiliency. More so, it shows how they are the best part of south side Chicago and even more. As Nas says, “The world is yours”. To my students, the world is yours, meaning success is how you define it. I am so excited to see how you will become leaders of your communities, families, and our society. This includes seeing you grow and become more confident in yourselves to endeavor in journeys that are most meaningful to you. I hope you find meaning and peace in all of your pursuits, actualizations of your dreams, and passions. You are role models for old geezers like me and for our next generation. Thank you for being you, and I am so grateful to have had the honor of working with you and knowing that our world is a better place with you in it.
Best wishes – Mr. Yang
When looking back at photos of my school communities (i.e. students & teachers), I was overwhelmed with joy, laughter, and hopefulness! However, there was also pain and sorrow in looking back. Unfortunately, some students have been lost in communication and some are no longer with us. Writing this blog post has been a tremendous blessing in going back in time to reflect and relive the past. It was an important way to honor and to ensure those who are not with us stay in our memory, and thus our world still today. I hope to do better to reflect and hold onto my school community, now as I am navigating academia and non-profit work and in the future in my next endeavor.