Last Tuesday involved an extremely thought provoking lecture on racism and patriarchy. Sadly we live in a society where despite there being positive changes to these issues, they are still extremely prevalent. Therefore, in my role as a future primary teacher, these issues will sadly still need to be addressed within the classroom. I hope that by the time I graduate it will be taught as a negative part of history that is far behind us now rather than a current affair.
Throughout my secondary school experience, I thoroughly enjoyed history and a mighty part of my Higher course was the Civil Rights Movement (which obviously heavily focused on racism.) I always “enjoyed” this subject as it is one which makes you think about how harsh they had it and how brave they were to put up a fight for their own rights; something which in my opinion should not have been essential to fight for. Key figures in this time period include Emmett Till and Rosa Parks and this lecture focused closely on the story of Emmett Till. Emmett Till’s story was one I focused on largely at school and is one that every time I hear about it, it resonates with me further. Perhaps it was because of the severity of his lynching, his bravery to stand up for his own rights at a young age but maybe it was his age. Especially now I’ve heard his story once again, as an education student this time rather than a school pupil, I feel a greater deal of sadness. To think I will in the future, be teaching people of just a few years younger and that there would have been teachers in this time experiencing deaths like these regularly saddens me and frightens me. Not only that but to think in a career like my future one would have seen such young, innocent children having to sacrifice so much for a sound quality of life. This should never have ever been a thing.
Moving away from the idea of racism (which hopefully our society today can also do, sooner rather than later) the second half of the lecture focused on patriarchy.
This idea focuses on the idea that women are still not fully equal to men, even in the 21st century and never have been. Women in the early 1900’s had to little to no rights and huge part of British history was the women’s suffrage movement. This resulted in women receiving the vote which luckily we still have today – indicating that society has not taken a step back in time in this case. However, in some ways in society today women still aren’t fully equal. Unfortunately the gender pay gap is still apparent in today’s society. Women are still more likely to enter lower paid work and/or work less hours due to childcare commitments and even in the public eye, the BBC have been proven to pay women much less than the men they employ. This then highlights that society maybe hasn’t come as far as we had originally thought.
In order to conclude, I believe that in my role as a future teacher it is essential we continue to teach how to banish differences like these and celebrate diversity to leave an equal, fair society.
