Mrs. Uher and the Importance of Being a Student
“Education is not the learning of facts but the training of the mind to think.”
In a cultural moment, in the West at least, where opinions are increasingly polarized and words weaponized, reaction, rather than conversation is the order of the day. With emotions raging, words are being launched back and forth. In places where we should be employing reason and seeking to educate ourselves, shame has become a lethal tool to kill long-standing friendships and dig vast trenches between groups of people. Therefore, I find it increasingly crucial to the health of my heart to find the good and encouraging in this tired old world of ours. Not just the good, but also effective means to become a bold peacemaker. This is why I would like you to step into Mrs. Uher’s classroom with me.
I was surprised in June, with the explosion of racial turmoil, horrific violence, and ugly online arguments, to find myself thinking of Mrs. Uher’s classroom. Suzanne has been teaching Humanities to grades 10 through 12 at my kids’ school for years. For three of those years, I also had the privilege of working as an aide in her classroom where I had a front-row seat to the passion, hilarity, and depth of her teaching. But why would the historic events of this past June and beyond make me think of a high school history teacher?
I had been immersing myself in articles and lectures, sensational videos and personal tirades, heart-wrenching personal experiences as well as cold judgements on both sides of the divide. The culmination was a strong sense that lack of education was a catalyst for much of the anger. People ignorant of their own history, good or bad, became a common thread. Sadly, I was excluding myself from such ignorance.
In my smugness, I was ready to respond to someone online with that sentiment; self-righteous disdain for those who were blissfully unaware of their own history. But as I was typing I had a little prick in my conscience. I paused and started asking myself some questions. How old was I when I learned about the Chinese Head Tax? My twenties. The horrors of Residential Schools? My thirties. The Sixties Scoop? My forties. And other blights to British Columbia’s history, such as the Japanese Internment, were barely glossed over in grade seven.
As I sat there, fingers poised to write a self-exalting comment on Facebook, I felt humbled. Humbled by the realization that I had so much to teach but was unwilling to learn. Quick to speak but slow to listen. I enjoy making statements but rarely ask questions. I had been working hard to shore up my own arguments by surrounding myself with books and opinions and articles that echoed my position. I realized that so much misunderstanding is not just willful ignorance but terrible education.
I thought of my high school history teacher, Mr. Clarke. I swear he was 80 at the time. Looking back, he reminds me of Professor Binns in Harry Potter who is actually a ghost droning on and on, lulling his students to sleep. I pondered my own children’s education and I felt more grateful than I ever had before.
Before they were handed over to the care and keeping of Mrs. Uher, they had a very cool and stimulating social studies education in middle school. But starting grade 10 with Mrs. Uher is a shock to anyone’s system. Her personality is larger than life and her laugh is even larger. She danced with a chair to explain personification and has a lifelong crush on Lester B. Pearson (her husband knows). In a word, she’s wild. After watching my four children move through her classes for the past 6 years I have been increasingly in awe of the work she is doing as a teacher. The students in Suzanne’s class are pushed hard to think.
Each year the class must take part in a debate in which they are given a real person to, not just study, but embody. They need to argue from this person’s point of view, whether or not it is a view they hold. I have seen kids squirm as they have to convincingly and accurately portray Fidel Castro or a founding father who is defending the Indian Act.
She teaches the kids how to debate properly and gives them formal and informal opportunities to practice. Since Suzanne is also a friend, I know that she has deep convictions and strongly held opinions but when running her classroom, she lets the students speak their minds. She directs the discussions without telling them what to think.
I remember one day, after Humanities class, my daughter came home and passionately relayed a debate that broke out that day. Her eyes were fiery and her breathing hard. Finally, she blurted out, “And Mrs. Uher didn’t even say anything even though I am sure she agreed with me!” I nodded and smiled to myself. This lady knows what she’s doing. Building confident and independent thinkers; people who know that the world doesn’t end if others disagree with them.
Besides her pure dedication, hard work, and natural talent for teaching, I believe that her secret is that, at the core, Suzanne is a student. While she is a confirmed extrovert, she asks more questions than answering them. She listens and seeks to understand in order to gain knowledge and empathy.
Even if we can’t go back in time and spend three years in Mrs. Uher’s class or enroll in a college history course, we can learn. We can read. We can ask questions, assuming we don’t have hardly any of the answers. We can seek out people or articles with opposing views; summoning the courage to step out of the echo chamber we have found ourselves in. When I consider Mrs. Uher’s classroom and other teachers that I know out there, I am heartened and hopeful. And I am inspired to learn.
