Week 8: Room 45

There was a lot to think about this week but I have addressed many of these issues already. Trump made a baseless, outlandish claim that Obama wiretapped him during the election. In my “Helpless” post I wrote about the confusion of dealing with a president that doesn’t seem to be working within the same reality as everyone else. The budget proposal was released in more detail this week but I already voiced my concerns about that in the “Diplomacy” post from a few weeks ago. Another travel ban was ordered and then blocked, which I addressed in my “Pride” post. I could always expand further on these topics but it was my thoughts on expansion that actually got me thinking that maybe it would be better to break things down rather than expand on them further. This is how I arrived at this week’s topic. Room 45.  

What if Donald Trump was a high school teacher like me? What would his classroom be like? If our public school system is a microcosm of our society, as we say it is, then wouldn’t it be an accurate comparison to put Donald Trump in the classroom and see what that would look like? I think so.

Donald Trump shakes hands with 12 year old student Egunjobi Songofunmi

during a campaign visit to Cleveland Arts and Social Sciences Academy in Cleveland, Ohio

September 8, 2016. -Newsweek  

Presumably, Egunjobi will be entering 9th grade next year. He could easily be a student in my class. But what if, instead, he was in Trump’s class? What would the rules be like? Classrooms usually have rules. Sometimes the students and teachers come up with them together. Sometimes the teacher just lays out the rules. I would guess Trump would just lay out the rules. Based on his election rhetoric and the things he’s said and done since he became president, here are the Top 10 rules of, what I am going to call, Room 45.   

This may have made you chuckle a bit and that’s okay. Don’t feel guilty. However, the purpose of this is not humor. It is to make a comparison to demonstrate the current realities. Now, some will say right off that bat that it’s not fair to compare a classroom teacher to the president, but I disagree. I actually think we have very similar jobs.

I teach one classroom in a school. He rules one country in the world. My job is to serve all the students in my classroom. His job is to serve all the people in his country. I provide my students with a safe place for them to develop and follow their dreams. He does the same.   

Now that we have the context let’s take a look at the rules.

Rule 1: Room 45 First. Even though the USA is part of the world and has all kinds of reasons to work well within the world, Trump has made it very clear that he doesn’t care about the rest of the world and is only concerned with the USA. This sounds like a good policy but in reality we need the rest of the world. If there is disorder in other parts of the world, it affects us. It’s no different in a school. A teacher can make all the rules they want and try to make their classroom “special,” but they are dependent on the culture of the school. Our current world order has kept us from world war for 70 years. Why dismantle it? Disorder anywhere effects order everywhere.

Rule 2: No Muslims allowed. Trump is concerned for the safety of America. He has called for a complete ban on Muslims entering the country, scaled it down to seven countries, and now scaled it down to six countries. He’s concerned about Muslims. As a high school teacher, shouldn’t I be too? It’s only fair then that I should be allowed to ban Muslims from my classroom. When you scale down this type of policy and rhetoric you see the evil in it.

Rule 3: Undocumented students will be deported from my classroom. I work with students every day and I have no idea which ones are documented or undocumented. It’s even hard to tell which ones were born here or born in other countries. Students are students. People are people. A classroom teacher knows this because we get to know students and their families. There are about 1 million of these students in classrooms around the country. If Trump had his way, this rule would be a rule of every classroom nationwide. Teachers, can you imagine this?

Rule 4: Handicapped people will be mocked. Trump is a bully. Not only is he a bully, but he is a cyber bully. Most of the drama that happens in schools these days is about what kids said on social media and then real life comes and punches them in the face, literally. Educators fight this daily. Nothing undermines our fight more than when predominate figures exhibit the same behaviors. What if a student in Room 45 raised his hand and stuttered or struggled to speak clearly? Would Mr. Trump mock him in front of the class. Would Mr. Trump Tweet out insults of student that questioned him or that he didn’t like? Based on his actions in the past year, he most definitely would.  

Trump mocking the New York Times reporter that question his claim

that Muslims celebrated on September 11th.   

Rule 5: Pretty and skinny girls will be treated better than ugly and fat girls. This hurt me to write but based on things that Mr. Trump has said, I would have to believe that in his classroom this would be a fact. During the campaign he commented on both his female competitors’ faces (Fiorina ad Clinton). He got in a Twitter war with a former beauty queen which he degraded by making fun of her weight gain. He’s said worse things about women which I won’t repeat here. What if a teacher did this in a classroom? If the president can why can’t a classroom teacher? Trickledown misogyny.

Rule 6: Poor students will not be allowed to visit the school nurse. Public schools have universal healthcare. Everyone in the school has equal access to the nurse and other service providers. No one gets special treatment. The country does not have universal healthcare. According to the Congressional Budget Office, Mr. Trump’s new healthcare plan will result in 24 million more people without healthcare. What if I didn’t let certain students go to the nurse or I made them pay for the visit upfront? I would be in big trouble for that. It’s “a public health concern” I would be told. HELLO! How does that public health concern not scale up to the whole country? I don’t get it.

Rule 7: The majority of the resources of this classroom will be dedicated to security. With a long history of school shootings and other violence in schools, would school's not be justified to redistribute their budgets to properly defend their students? Trump’s budget proposal is calling for substantial cuts in the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Transportation, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Education and the Environmental Protection Agency. All of this is being done to bolster defense spending in the name of security. What if schools did that? Cut a bunch of teachers to add security guards. No more science classes. Drop heath and hygiene courses. Get rid of art class for money to build a barbwire fence around the school. People would say “what’s the point of this school? Aren’t these kids here to learn and flourish?” I look at the budget proposal and I say the same thing.

Rule 8: I will choose ten helpers for the school year. Seven of them will be White males. Since the 1980s, the number of people of color in the United States has grown. Since the 1980s, women have become more involved in both the private and public sectors. Since the 1980s, no president has had more White men in cabinet positions. Our country has become more diverse. Women have made strides in the workplace, yet these groups are not being invited to participate in government. Classroom teachers can do that too, right? Can’t I choose the White males to be leaders in the class even if they aren't qualified? Why not? I’ve learned that when groups feel underrepresented or passed over, they tend to check out. “This isn’t my school.” “This class isn’t for me.” “This isn’t my country.” “This isn’t my president.” Sound familiar? Maybe they have a point?

    

Rule 9: The rest of the school is out to get us so anything that goes wrong is their fault. In a classroom, sometimes things don’t go well. Students bomb a test. There’s a fight. A lesson flops. You forgot your copies. The list goes on and on. What if when those things happened they were never my fault? I blame the school. I blame the parents. I blame the students. I blame society. There are teachers like this. THEY ARE BAD TEACHERS. There are leaders like this. THEY ARE BAD LEADERS. Sometimes in a high school class, there actually are students that are out to get you. You still don’t blame them. You win them over. I wish the president would do the same.   

Rule 10: Everything I say is the truth regardless of the evidence. I saw Muslims celebrate on 9/11. Barack Obama was not born in the USA. My inauguration crowd was the biggest ever. I only lost the popular vote because millions voted illegally. President Obama wiretapped Trump Tower. We forget about these. We’re promised evidence but we never get it and then a new lie is spewed and we get distracted. Let me try. Jose was absent from 2nd period. “But Mr. Walsh other students said he was there and he was marked present 1st and 3rd period.” Nope. He wasn't there. Maria failed World Studies. “But Mr. Walsh the electronic gradebook says she has a “B” and her transcript says she earned a “B” as well. Nope, sorry Maria failed. I would be fired for this type of blatant lying. Do we not hold the president to the same standard as a 9th grade teacher?

      

Democrat, Republican or Independent: would you let your child into Room 45? What if the teacher promised you your child’s success? What if he promised you that your child would go to college and get a great job? What if he guaranteed your child’s safety? What if your child was one of the favored? What if your child was able-bodied, able-minded, Christian, White, skinny and pretty (girls only), had unlimited access to the nurse, got to be a helper, etc… Would you let them in Room 45 then?

If you wouldn’t let your child into Room 45 then I have homework for you. I want you to think about your workplace or your community. What would the rules be if our president was your boss or a leader in your community? We must recognize that right now Room 45 is at the macro level, but if we don’t pay close attention it will begin to seep into our schools, workplaces, communities, etc… It’s only been eight weeks. Be worldly, be welcoming, be inclusive, be kind, be generous, be creative, be empowering. Take responsibility and tell the truth. Don’t let our country become Room 45!