Social Change

After moving here to Baton Rouge almost five years ago, I have seen a lot of different social community issues than I had up north. Among the major race differences and economic differences, what I have noticed the most is the difference in education, specifically public elementary and middle schools.

Before I started my MFA here I worked with Playmakers of Baton Rouge, doing education outreach and educational tours for the youth of the greater Baton Rouge area. In my time there I had done three separate tours, and the one thing that kept catching me off guard, was the overwhelming lack of funding for the public schools, and the quality of teachers at the schools. When we would go to some of the schools, they had to take the gymnasium and separated classrooms with pieces of fabric, and curtains, grades 2-4 would be in the same room. The schools overall were in bad shape, some in minor cosmetic things but also within areas like the lunchroom and libraries. The teachers, though I know they do all they can, were very rude to the kids, more yelling than anything else going on, the students were always riled up, and had a hard time taking on discipline. In contrast, when we went to the private schools, the facilities were excellent, teachers were orderly and so were the children. I realize the private schools are paid for by outside sources and the tuition paid, but I do not think that justifies the state of the public schools being in such disarray. I went to a public high school and received just as good of an education as the private high schools students.

So, my cause for social change would be to fight for the children and teachers to increase funding in the schools. This is an important cause because I think that we are perpetuating the problem of distinguishing lower and higher class. We aren’t giving the kids the chance to have an equal education, and have an environment that is conducive to a healthy educational experience. In addition, we are giving the teachers more and more hurtles to jump through to do their job; standardized testing has become the main objective for funding these schools, so the tension level is high and the kids are left in the background.

How would I bring about social change?  Oppenheimer lays out an array of tactics, training and overall advice to protestors in training. I think the best ways to tackle this issue would be to do a two-fold tactic approach. The first tactic would be to do a parade; I think this would be a great approach particularly here in Baton Rouge, since the community and culture here already has an admiration for parades, it wouldn’t be an off putting approach to the community. Instead of throwing colorful beads and party favors, they would throw black beads, tee-shirts that say, “Education is a right, that is why we have to fight”, or “Why does my kid loose while you save?” Parents, teachers and students would participate in the parade, wearing all black, and instead of upbeat party music, various chanting would occur, phrases like, “ Fund our future, Fund our schools”. The parade route would go through the neighborhoods of those in legislation and school boards denying the funds in addition we can also take the route through all the neighborhoods with private schools, continuing the chants.

The second half of the protest, if needed, would be a reverse strike, for instance, on Friday afternoon, once school is done fro the day, the teachers setup chairs our side the school, wearing all black and sit outside the school until Monday morning. Through this part of the protest, social media would come in handy; teachers live Tweeting the event, Facebook and Instagram being used to express the message to a broader range of audience. Any of these social media outlets could be used to the schools advantage, giving it national notoriety and perhaps sparking a domino effect in the other schools in America.

How long will this last? I would propose that this happens as many times as it needs to until it is noticed by the powers that be. Perhaps once a month or every weekend until waves of change occur, but since this is an ongoing issue in and outside of our community, these acts of social change may spur a movement that could gain ongoing support, and in result share the weight of this issue.