Thoughts on contemporary culture
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School has been in session for over a month now, but some individuals have already proven they need additional tutoring when it comes to acknowledging diversity.
This week’s Fool Of The Week is Dave Burk, a teacher at suburban Chicago’s Geneva High School. Last week, Burk decided to use his classroom as a soapbox for his opinion about black gay men.
A consumer education teacher (when did they start teaching this in school?!), Burk somehow thought it was okay to turn the conversation to the unworthiness of black gays. While teaching about the role of tax money being used for the National Endowment for the Arts, he asked the class “How would you feel about your tax dollars going to pay some black fag in New York to take pictures of other black fags?”
Thankfully, a gay student, Jordan Hunter, reported the incident to school officials. Other students confirmed the statements, and now some are calling for Burk to be fired. Burk does not deny the accusations but says he didn’t mean to “intentionally offend” anyone.
Where to begin with this?
The incident speaks to the acceptance of homophobia in society, as Burk thought he could disparage “black fags” and get away with it. In fact, he probably would have if Hunter did not contact the school administration. This is why sensitivity training for professionals is necessary. If Burk keeps his job, I suspect he’ll be attending one of the training workshops offered by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network.
The reference to the National Endowment for the Arts took me back to the 1980s and 1990s, when conservatives like Jesse Helms threatened to defund the organization for helping to produce work such as Marlon Riggs’s Tongues Untied. It seems that stereotypical portrayals of black gays as sassy sidekicks or men on the down low are fine, but anything that shows us in a different light is a problem.
Let’s hope Burk learns his lesson and realizes that the public school classroom is not a venue for personal agendas. And kudos to Hunter for steeping up to the plate and calling out Burk’s foolishness!
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I hope that Burk will keep in mind that sometimes teachers can (and should) learn from their students. And while I agree that “the public school classroom is not a venue for personal agendas”, I also worry about someone with Burk’s particular personal views being a teacher. Even if he doesn’t express his views quite so openly they’re still probably going to influence his thinking. Teachers should be open-minded and accepting. Someone with Burk’s views would, unfortunately, look down on some students and probably make their lives even more difficult.