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Teaching Tolerance lost a longtime friend over the weekend.

As educators, we must push past the call to “prepare students for the future.” This approach is insufficient and ultimately hazardous.

Billy Lucas grew up an Indiana farm boy in Greensburg—halfway between Indianapolis and Cincinnati, Ohio. He grew up winning blue ribbons for his prized and much loved horses and lambs. He also grew up enduring taunts, threats, and physical abuse from bullies. He grew up with those bullies telling him he should kill himself because they thought he was gay. Whether he was or not, Billy never said.

The class was silent as we waited for Samuel to collect himself. It was a respectful silence that happens when everyone knows something powerful is taking place. Samuel’s elbows were on his knees, his head was down. A few tears had fallen. Our chairs were placed in a circle. A sign posted on our classroom wall read, “Every person in this community is as important as every other person.” We were in the middle of our weekly class meeting, a time when we acknowledge conflicts and work to resolve them as a group. The current topic: name-calling and disrespectful speech.

Have you ever noticed the toolkit icon at the bottom of a TT magazine story? Have you ever “opened” it?

Be prepared for whatever this year holds with these Teaching Tolerance materials.

Many students come to school with stories already attached to them. This teacher prefers to hear students’ own stories about themselves.