"Home Codes:" What are We Leaving Out?
By Joselli Deans
On the morning of the twelfth day of the Institute, a participant said to me, “I wish I could talk about God in the classroom.” I assume she said this to me because I am the only one that teaches theology in a Catholic school setting in our cohort. I can talk about God. Nevertheless, I understand how she feels because when I taught at Temple University and when I was an adjunct at Bryn Mawr College, I felt silenced. We have been discussing this silence over and over again, as something we need to turn into empowerment for our students as we teach literacy for social justice. If we are supposed to include and give agency to our students to use their “home code” as Bob Fecho calls it, and to understand and also function in the “power code,” aren’t we leaving something out?
The separation of church and state was instituted in the Constitution to give religious freedom. I think most Americans, including me, treasure this important liberty. I am not arguing against that. I am not trying to proselytize either. Another teacher in the conversation said, “There is religion in the educational system, anyway.” I agree with her. Some mainline Protestant values and practices, as one example, underlie aspects of American life. The most prominent in my mind is the Protestant work ethic which fueled capitalism. We also still have written on our money “In God We Trust.” So God, theology, and religion are essential to every worldview, whether they are acknowledged or understood, so why isn’t the American public educational system dealing with it? Why are teachers silenced from talking about it and how does it make our students feel? Is religion a bad part of home code?
You may ask how teachers could bring up religion without imposing views, judgements and particular belief systems. Again, I am not talking about teaching a faith tradition. I am talking about why teachers should stop avoiding controversial topics of discussion, including God, that can lead our students to think more critically about our world. There are very theoretical, philosophical and even scientific explanations about the existence of God. This does not involve choosing the Buddhist God, over the God of Islam, over the God of Christianity and so on. It simply sets the stage to argue about the existence of God. Alcoholics Anonymous incorporate a higher power in its program. I have not researched this yet but I do not think there are ongoing issues concerning that. The discussion of God may keep some individuals away because they are uncomfortable with that idea. Nonetheless, around the world eighty-four percent of people believe there is a God (Washington times, 2012) and eighty-nine percent of Americans do (Pew Research, 2014).
Please be clear that I am not suggesting that anyone start teaching religion in their classrooms. To paraphrase a presenter, “Don’t lose your job.” Opening up this area of study needs further development and inquiry. Educators need to ascertain if there are teachers in nonreligious settings already including this dialogue. What do they do? Teacher practice from nations that have religious freedom through acceptance of multiple faiths need to be studied as well. How do they deal with multiple faith “homes codes” in a classroom without ignoring them in the curriculum or while dialoguing with their students? Parents need to be brought into the conversation to decide whether such an addition to classroom learning should be approached or not.
I cannot discuss all of these issues in one page. Nor have I done the research to confirm some of my ideas. What I am suggesting is that if teachers are not addressing the issues of God on some basic level, we are not completely honoring the home codes of our students. Perhaps if we did, then there would be less wars, bullying or disrespect for those of another faith. Maybe then we would begin to have religious tolerance and understanding from an early age—especially in the classroom where students may be exposed to many different cultures. What do you think? Isn’t this worth some thought and dialogue?
Joselli Audain Deans is a theology teacher at SS. John Neumann and Maria Goretti Catholic High School. Joselli joined the Philadelphia Writing Project in 2016 attending the Invitational Summer Institute.