At the end of third period today, I noticed a kid had writing on his hand. This kid hates school and often ditches to hang out with his older brother. He is a quiet and unassuming kid during class. He plays the "if I don't get noticed then I can skate by" philosophy. I waver about which battles to fight with him. Showing up every day was our first goal. So when he does show up, but doesn't have his homework, should I press him about that or just have him accept his zero quietly? I usually just make sure he does his class work and don't press the homework issue for fear that he will not show up again. I figure that it's better that he be at school and gain something from my class than not be there at all.
So I looked at his hand and saw three symbols: a swastika, an anarchy symbol, and a pentagram. I waited until the bell rang and I knelt by his desk.
Me: I noticed some symbols on your hand. Did you draw those?
Bob: No...yes...
Me: Why did you choose those symbols?
Bob: They're things that I like.
Me: Really? Do you know what anarchy is?
Bob: Yeah, they teach people to hack and stuff.
Me: Well, no, anarchy means that there are no rules and no order so basically the biggest and strongest win. It means that I can take your backpack and there's nothing you can do about it. It means I get to do anything I want to you if I'm stronger than you. What about the swastika, do you know what that is?
Bob: Yeah, it's the Nazi symbol.
Me: Do you know what the Nazi's believed?
Bob: They hated the Jews.
Me: Do you feel that way?
Bob: Not much.
Me: Do you realize that the Nazi's hated more than just the Jews? They hated every race that wasn't white. The Nazi's would have hated you. They murdered many people just because of their race or beliefs.
{At this point, "Bob" started to get up to go to his next class.}
Me: I want you to wash this off of your hand, because those symbols are evil. I'll call your next teacher and let her know that you'll be late.
I wrote a note to our counselor so she can talk with him more. Later that afternoon I saw another two kids: one with a new haircut and a drawing on his arm and the other was his friend.
Friend: Doesn't he look like Hitler with his new haircut?
Me: No, he looks like a rockstar!
Haircut kid: Yeah, I have half of a Nazi symbol on my arm.
Me: Is that half of a swastika?
HC kid: No, no. It's a lightning bolt, see. {It was a lightning bolt}
Me: Good!
Friend: Nazi's are cool.
Me: Excuse me! Do you know what they stand for?
Friend: They hated the Jews.
Me: Not just the Jews, but a lot of other groups of people too.
Friend: They're still cool.
Me: (not very successfully holding back my angry glare) They murdered 12 million people and would have murdered even more if they were not stopped. {the lecture continued for a while}
So no more swastikas, ok?
Friend: I get it, they're not cool.
The kids are reading Anne Frank right now and I think that they see the Nazi's as some kind of video game bad guys. The reality of the situation doesn't seem to hit them. I want to take all of my kids to the Simon Wiesenthal or something so they can have an idea of what fear, pain, evil, sin, and truly vile actions the Nazi's were responsible for. I wish these kids would see outside of themselves and look to the struggles of others with empathy and concern and a desire to act in such a way as to make genocide and hate be defeated. I know that it is ignorance and not a true passion for the Nazi's that make my kids delight in such shocking symbols, but if they could see for themselves what those symbol really mean, I think that they would have a clearer perspective and perhaps a greater purpose in their own lives. Well, there's my soapbox. I will now stop preaching to the choir.
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