How can a teacher feel safe?

I had a really strange dream last night, which transported me back to the days when I taught religious education. I was showing a film that used the word "ass" for some reason (I have no idea what the film was)-- and I was apologizing profusely to one teenaged girl for the language used. She assured me that she "hung out with friends," and she was "not offended...it's the 'bigger' words" that upset her more. I was mortified that the film had the word, and I was grateful she was not upset. 

Why all this? Probably because I'm absolutely bonkers about the whole kerfuffle in Florida. A teacher is now in hot water for showing a film that was PG to her fifth graders-- there is a passively gay character in the film. No sexualization, no sex, etc., but the character exists, and is in the film for less than three minutes of the almost two hours of the entire movie. A parent complained, she is in trouble, and all of her students are being interviewed about what they think about her as a teacher (that, in itself, is troubling...asking preteens what they think about a teacher's effectiveness and overall competence is a very biased thing to do). 

I've been in difficult situations with students in the past, mostly due to their own poor choices, but they are not mature enough to own up and accept the consequences (there was a huge issue regarding plagiarism, for example). 

Don't wonder for one minute why teachers are running a little scared these days. We need our jobs, we are trained to do them well, but one little perceived "slip up"-- whether it's valid or not-- can shift the trajectory of a person's career, endanger their welfare both financially and literally, and give far too much "power" to people (or children) who are not really competent to wield it.

And in related news, all public colleges in Florida are now under mandate to not even think about diversity or inclusion. The money they get from the state cannot be used to support hiring of teaching staff or build safety nets for students who are not straight, white, and otherwise acceptable in the now-autocratic fiefdom of DeSantis.

How did we get here? Fear, ignorance, and a yearning for a type of emotional/personal comfort that can only come when people are "othered." People are literally dying, and the net is getting tighter.

It's a dangerous thing the GOP is doing. 

Be safe,

C