Leah Hawkins
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This school year, Aragon began implementing its Humanizing Aragon campaign to eliminate dehumanizing language on campus. The program involves lessons taught by teachers during Flex and Leadership students during fourth-period CARES lessons. As part of the program’s efforts, all teachers have agreed to stop any dehumanizing language that they hear. They have also included reminders about humanizing language in their syllabi.
The program was created after results from a survey conducted by the Student Equity Council in February, which found that students heard dehumanizing language on campus.
“We took some of [the findings from the survey] to the faculty, to the department heads, to the principal,” said Steve Henderson, social studies teacher and Student Equity Council advisor. “The teachers, using the voice and guidance of students from the Student Equity Council, designed a program we thought would really change the campus culture.”
When designing the lessons, the teachers sought to emphasize the importance of using humanizing language.
“We defined what dehumanizing is, but we also defined what humanizing [language] is, and we wanted to strive toward making that more of the reality here at school,” Henderson said.
On Sept. 4, teachers school-wide taught their fourth-period classes a Flex lesson, addressing the effects of using dehumanizing language and the importance of humanizing language. Students added to posters about dehumanizing language, humanizing language and interrupting dehumanizing language. Leadership students have also presented short lessons during Aragon CARES on Mondays.
“[The lessons are] really beneficial,” said sophomore Aveah Pok. “It’s cool that people are working towards making a better community at Aragon, and with the live announcement sessions, it’s nice to know about the harmful effects of dehumanizing language.”
Julia Del Mundo, senior and Student Equity Council member, offers a contrasting viewpoint, however.
“I feel confident about [the program], but I’m also worried, because during the [lesson], people weren’t taking it seriously,” Del Mundo said. “Some people [were] laughing and thinking it was insignificant, even though they’re probably not the ones experiencing it. With time, [dehumanizing language] might become better, but I don’t know if it will dissolve [entirely].”
In the few weeks since the lesson, some reported seeing decreases in dehumanizing language.
“[The program] has the ability to make some change,” said senior Adi Shankar. “[During] that discussion in class, [even though] some people laughed at it at the beginning, there were some points where [it] hits people.”
Pok believes the program is able to make an impact because of its publicity.
“This time, everyone knows about the consequences if you say something dehumanizing, and more people are aware of how it harms other people,” Pok said. “So [there is] a stronger sense of empathy throughout the school.”
Still, on the same day of the lesson, Sept. 4, the n-word was found written in an oil-like substance on a lunch table.
“This is hate speech, and there is no acceptable use of the n-word on our campus. It causes harm to all who come in contact with it,” said Principal Michael Jones in an email to the Aragon community following the incident.
After the school-wide lesson, Aragon staffulty held a meeting where they considered the impact of the lesson. On Sept. 30, students completed a survey on the effects of the CARES lessons. The survey found that 61% of students believe the lessons were beneficial, and 39% thought the lessons were ineffective. When students explained how the program could be improved, some suggested stricter enforcement of dehumanizing language. Others pointed out that some students see the lessons as a joke.
“We’re gonna continue working with [ASEC], amplifying student voices and we’re gonna look at the data,” Henderson said. “We’re [going to] talk about what we think is best, and then continue moving on the campaign, but we’re going to pick either another lesson or different kinds of activities, or call in a public speaker, something else to emphasize our message.”
Ethnic Studies teacher Courtney Caldwell believes the program must be sustained past this year.
“We have students here for four years,” Caldwell said. “So we [plan to] continue building on the momentum of what we’ve started now and hopefully over time, we’ll see [dehumanizing language] go away, so we have to do these explicit lessons [less and less], [and instead] can take smaller opportunities to have these conversations with all students and staff.”
Henderson thinks the program has been successful so far and could have a district-wide impact.
“People from the district office have come to study what we have been doing and ask us for copies of what we’ve been doing,” Henderson said. “I think other schools in the district are looking at what we are doing and saying, ‘Would that work for us?’”
