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How Should We Practice Kindness and Respect?

Welcome back to my blog. This post is for the second Action Project of the Humanities course: A Nation's Argument. In this unit, we have been investigating how a nation contradicts itself. We started by looking at the United States Supreme Court and valid and sound arguments. We then moved on to logical fallacies and the Scott versus Sandford Supreme Court case from 1857. For Field Experiences, we spoke with Northwestern Law Professor Paul Gowder and met later with 40th Ward Chicago Alderman Andre Vasquez. For Prof. Gowder, we talked about the rule of law in the United States and Critical Race Theory. We talked with Alderman Vasquez about what being an alderperson means and "consent of the governed," which the United States is based on. For this Action Project, we have been asked to look through GCE's student Social Contract in the Family Handbook. In this Social Contract, we are looking for something that we find is a contradiction or want to amend. One section I found is called Practice Kindness and Respect, which is one of four commitments GCE students are expected to abide by. In the following text, I will explain the current rule and how I want to amend it. I hope you enjoy reading.

Pikist

An act of kindness is like a fish creating ripples in a pond. Just as the ripples affect other fish, an act of kindness affects someone else, and many others connected to that person. As their own spirits are lifted, their behavior towards others is kinder too.

Practice Kindness and Respect:
"To practice kindness and respect is to express care for one another. In this context, kindness and respect are both personal virtues; they are not earned, but given. Kindness is our generosity, expressed in affirming words and gestures; in attention to others’ perspectives, feelings, and circumstances; in advocacy for one another’s cares; in our acknowledgment of others’ successes and of their trials. Kindness and respect compel us to greet each other, to listen to each other, to aid each other, and ultimately to enjoy each other."

Explanation:
This rule outlines one of four commitments GCE students are expected to abide by. Students should act with kindness and respect to their peers because they are values that should be given and not earned. The rule gives some explanation about what kindness is so students can have an idea of what to offer to others on those terms.

The syllogism of the current rule:
P1: Students are deserving of a safe space that accepts them for who they are.
P2: A safe environment gives students a feeling of trust, safety, and positive well-being.
P3: Kindness and respect are virtues given, not earned.
C: Therefore, kindness and respect are deserving for all students.

What’s missing:
This rule has been put into the student section of GCE’s social contract and because of this, the rule does not apply to teachers, staff, FE hosts or guests, or anyone GCE students may interact with. The reasoning behind this may be because the rule is directed to be upheld among the students while in the school building. This would be the most common place of interaction between students so the rule extends only to this point. However, GCE students are not the only people who should be recognized with respect and kindness because we strive to be global citizens who are aware of the world and their communities.

Reasons to amend:
Kindness and respect are values that are different in every mind and because of this, the terms should be more precisely defined in the rule by GCE. Teachers and staff at GCE are called by their first names to put them and students on the same level because there doesn’t need to be superiority in learning. In some cases, students can be the one who teaches and the actual teacher of the class learns something. This shows that they are equally deserving of kindness and respect as the students are and should be included in the rule. If the school were to do this, they would establish their expectations of the terms for students and other GCE community members to uphold.

The New Rule:
Practicing kindness and respect are both personal virtues that are not earned, but given to all students and extended to our community. This includes teachers, staff, Field Experience hosts/guests, parents, or anyone GCE students interact with. Respect is our acknowledgment of someone and acceptance of who they are, even if one does not agree with them. Kindness is expressing our feelings to help build trust and safety among the community. GCE offers these values to all in wishes of students acting in ways that are kind and respectful that represent and build on our global community.

The syllogism of the new rule:
P1: Respect means accepting someone for who they are, even if one does not agree with them.
P2: Kindness means a student can develop a feeling of trust and safety to improve their wellbeing.
P3: All GCE community members are deserving of a safe space that accepts them for who they are and offers trustworthy support.
P4: All students, teachers, staff, parents, and Field Experience hosts/guests of GCE Lab School are welcome to a safe and positive environment.
C: Therefore, kindness and respect are deserving of all students and GCE community members.

Benefits of the new rule:
If GCE set the bar for what respect and kindness meant, the school could become a more welcoming community and a safe space for all GCE community members. This amendment raises the same level of kindness and respect to everyone GCE interacts with and vice versa so there is a rule we can uphold not just inside the classroom.

Relation to historical documents:
The eighth amendment states, “excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” The phrase cruel and unusual punishment is the most important piece of this amendment and also the most controversial. The reason for this clause was so the federal government would have more controlled power, especially on the terms of punishment and how it may be used. This relates to my amendment because of the limitations set for the cruel and unusual punishment of my peers. In terms of disciplinary action, staff may discipline a student with a method that does not suit the offense, falling under unusual punishment. The new amendment tries to limit how students are treated cruelly and unusually by dissuading acts of discipline and encouraging the use of kindness and respect.

Co-signings:
“Extending the amendment to more than just students is honestly perfect. Practicing kindness and respect should be part of your everyday life and is a core value of GCE’s mission.” -CJH

Other co-signings:
TN
AAG
KH


I hope you enjoyed reading about my amendments to the Practice Kindness and respect rule of GCE's Social Contract. The Social Contract has been carefully written by our head of school and other members of GCE which made it hard to find something I thought was a contradiction. I thought that making the Practice Kindness and Respect rule more precise would be an interesting topic and it turned out to be. While working on this AP, I realized the level of importance this rule has on GCE's foundation. As I mentioned above, we call our teachers and staff by their first names because we are on equal footing as learners and educators. I believe this system is appreciated by most if not all of the students at GCE because our education seems more personable and interactive when we share a certain level of respect with our teachers. I thought this AP was fun to work on and the topics my classmates chose were also quite interesting. It would be my hope that many of our projects can be discussed by the head of school and other staff members to make amendments to the Social Contract. Thank you for reading and I hope to see you in the next post.

Sources:
Berkowicz, Jill, and Ann Myers. "Schools Must Continue to Teach and Practice Respect." Education Week, https://www.edweek.org/leadership/opinion-schools-must-continue-to-teach-and-practice-respect/2018/05#:~:text=Respect%20is%20a%20very%20important,us%20and%20follow%20our%20lead., 10 May 2018, Accessed 22 February 2022

Timms, Sharon. "KINDNESS – Why it’s more important than ever." TEDxSydney, https://tedxsydney.com/idea/kindness-why-its-more-important-than-ever/, Accessed 22 February 2022

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