Has a School Assignment or Activity Ever Made You Uncomfortable? - The New York Times

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Have you encountered lesson plans, class activities or school traditions that should be recognized as outdated, sexist or racist?

Students in U.S. high schools can get free digital access to The New York Times until Sept. 1, 2021.

For years a high school in northwest Texas had a tradition of seniors role-playing life in the Middle Ages as part of an English class assignment that followed the reading of “Beowulf” and the works of Chaucer. The activity awarded points to students for complying with 11 “rules for chivalry.”

What were the rules? Boys were supposed to wear suits and ties, refrain from using vulgar language, hold doors for girls and call them “milady.” Girls were supposed to wear frocks and heels, clean up after the boys, bring them soft drinks and baked goods, and curtsy and lower their heads while addressing the boys by their “titles.”

The Times reported that the school canceled this year’s activity after parents complained. While some students were excited to participate in the role play, other students were upset.

What are your initial thoughts about this role play and the reaction from the community?

Has a school assignment or activity ever made you uncomfortable? Have you encountered lesson plans, class activities or school traditions that should be recognized as outdated, sexist or racist?

In “Texas School’s Lesson on Chivalry Asked Girls to ‘Walk Daintily’ and Obey Men,” Maria Cramer writes:

The cancellation comes as many schools are re-examining traditions that are now being recognized as outdated, sexist or racist. It also highlighted, according to students, how even well-meaning lesson plans can backfire.

“I really don’t think it was the teacher’s intention to have it be such a sexist lesson,” said Hannah Carreon, 18, a senior at the high school. “There were girls that were excited to get to do this finally and get to dress up.”

She added, “But there were also a lot who were obviously upset about it.”

School officials declined requests for an interview and the teacher did not respond to a request for comment.

In a statement, the school district superintendent, Anita Hebert, said the assignment had been removed and the “matter has been addressed with the teacher.”

“This assignment has been reviewed, and despite its historical context, it does not reflect our district and community values,” Dr. Hebert said.

The exercise had been scheduled to take place on Wednesday. Female and male students, who had been reading “Beowulf” and the works of Chaucer, were given assignment sheets that described 11 “rules for chivalry.” They would be awarded 10 points for every rule they followed.

Boys were asked to rise any time a female student or faculty member entered a room, to avoid profanity or “vulgar words” and to “allow ladies to leave the room before they leave.”

Girls had to walk behind men or “walk daintily, as if their feet were bound”; address men with “a lowered head and a curtsy”; “clean up” after their male classmates; and “obey any reasonable request” from a man.

According to Colin Tynes Lain, 18, a senior, the teacher had anticipated backlash and said students who were uncomfortable with the assignment could write a one-page essay instead.

In the past, Mr. Lain said, the teacher had given parents and teachers a written disclaimer explaining that the goal of the project was to show how the chivalric code was used to obscure chauvinistic principles that harmed women.

“That’s what she was trying to pull our attention to,” he said. “That this was not chivalry in any way.”

Still, he said, he felt unsettled by the idea of treating students he is used to debating and bantering with in a demeaning way.

“It definitely made me uncomfortable and I would say that was her goal,” Mr. Lain said. “At the same time, I understand why certain people would be mad.”

The article concludes:

Role-playing can be an effective pedagogical tool, but teachers have to be very careful that they are not reinforcing negative gender and racial attitudes, said April Peters-Hawkins, a former sixth-grade teacher who is now a professor of school leadership at the University of Houston College of Education.

“What we typically see is marginalized groups continuing to be marginalized,” she said. “Black kids being asked to play the roles of slaves, Jewish kids being asked to play the role of victims of the Holocaust and girls being asked to be subservient.”

Mr. Landers said he hoped that the teacher, whom he described as caring and well liked, would find another way to have students examine the misogyny of that era beyond studying old texts.

“I feel like a lot of people are trying to cover up history; we shouldn’t do that,” he said. “If men, especially teenage boys, see how girls were treated back in the 1300s, they’ll get a better sense of how to treat women today.”

Students, read the entire article, then tell us:

• What do you think about this activity? In your opinion, did the school make the right decision in canceling the role play? Why?

• A student quoted in the article says that the point of the activity was to feel uncomfortable portraying sexist behavior and understand that the chivalric code harmed women. Do you think most students would reach this same understanding? Why do you say that? How likely or unlikely is it that the assignment might backfire, as the article warns can happen?

• What are some reasons parents, students and other teachers might object to the activity? How would someone who holds the opposing viewpoint respond to each of those objections?

• A school leadership professor is quoted as saying that a common problem with role-playing is in its design: Students from marginalized groups can often be marginalized in the activity as well. Have you experienced or witnessed anything that supports this claim?

• Now that the activity has been suspended, what approach should the teacher employ instead to teach about sexism in the Middle Ages? Explain your answer.

• Do you think any traditions that are part of your school are outdated? Do any of these traditions seem sexist or racist, or otherwise have the capacity to make people uncomfortable or feel like they don’t really belong? If yes, what are these traditions, and how should they change?

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Students 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.

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