New Normal - Dec. 2, 2016

Last week my freshmen wrote 100-word rants on topics ranging from wet grass and nothing rhyming with orange, to the trouble with little brothers and disappointment in J.K. Rowling's "The Cursed Child."

It was a one-class period assignment, a chance to review ethos, logos and pathos while practicing a little word crafting.

But several of the rants highlighted a change I've seen in students since returning to the classroom 13 years ago. 

Consider this: 

I’ll be nice, but seriously people. Stop. Do you really HAVE to scream about how scared you were the whole plane ride because you were sitting across from Muslims (personal experience)? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?? Everyone has their opinions, but get a grip. You’re just trying to look holier than everyone else. I’m a teenager. I’m definitely not holy like you supposedly are. Teen years are when you SHOULD question your beliefs and who you are. I’m not sure what I believe in. But I know I believe no one’s that holy, so please step off your heavenly pedestal.

And this:

Seriously, let other people be different. You are probably not the coolest person, even if you think you are. Not everyone needs to be like you or have a specific religion or be a specific race or like the same music as you do. People can be different, it’s not a crime. You don’t need to say that just because someone has a different religion that they’re wrong. One of my friends did this when I told them my dad has a friend who is Jewish. You should just accept people for their differences.

And then this:

I’m a normal teenage who is still trying to figure out who/what he is, but that doesn’t make it okay to assume someone's sexuality.  I have, throughout my fifteen years of wisdom, have had many people ask me if I was gay.  It’s not right. Even if I was gay what would make you think you could just come up to a random guy and ask them if they were gay. NOTHING! Someone’s sexuality isn’t any of your business. So therefore just stay out of other people’s personal life and get to know them before you ask something like that.

What I see here is a welcome "new normal." Students are more willing to speak up on issues of acceptance and inclusion--of others and of themselves. 

I've been thinking about "new normal" this week as the media struggles with effective ways to respond to fake news and Tweets from a president-elect who "does not wage political war with facts and figures [but rather] fights his battles by sowing confusion and spreading misinformation." (Brett Edkins, writing in Forbes Magazine.) 

Sample some headlines:

Welcome to Washington’s new normal: One Trump drama after another (Washington Post)

A new normal in journalism for the age of Trump (Columbia Journalism Review)

Future of Affordable Care Act (Week 1): Assessing New Normal (National Law Review)

I want to resist the co-opting of the phrase "New Normal" as code for disregard for honesty, intentional antagonizing through name-calling, and dismissal of rights guaranteed by our constitution. 

The young people I work with each day remind me that our "New Normal" can also mean giving voice to the attacked, speaking up against bigotry, and accepting ourselves and each other as worthy of respect and kindness.

That's a new normal I can get behind.