Caring About Students

“…teachers like Ms. Bronzic seem to possess an ability to see themselves and the destiny of humanity in the students they teach. They see all of their students as worthy beneficiaries of their wisdom, information, trust, and caring…such vision is indispensable to good teaching and is all too often absent in the relations between at-risk students and mainstream teachers.”

I found the discussion of cultural and social capital in the Dance article to be very interesting. It is consistently mentioned that good teachers are those who can share their social and cultural capital with the at-risk students in their classrooms. And while social and cultural capital is extremely important in getting a well-paying job, it is also important for teachers to be showing students qualities listed above. Students need to know that they are respected and cared for before they will respect a teacher. Furthermore, the teacher has to show that they respect the culture of their students, and that they’re willing to talk about difficult subjects in the classroom. For example, Ms. Bronzic is willing to discuss street culture, whereas many other teachers that the students spoke of would not. I don’t think it’s possible to show students that you care about them unless you are able to talk to them about things that really matter to them.