All children deserve a public school that serves them as they are.

About fifteen years ago as a professor I had a future teacher say to me, “I will never teach a black student, I can’t.” With a family deeply rooted in the KKK this student was 19 years old and conflicted. He had been taught (or rather he learned and internalized from life experiences) that his skin color awarded certain benefits (and those benefits were not to be shared).

In that moment with his honesty (and my shock) I was faced with a few challenges. The path I chose was to have a conversation about what being a public school means. I focused on the goals of providing access to free and equitable education, on unifying diverse populations and embracing different perspectives and values, and preparing every child to access a fruitful future (whatever that may be).

The reason I chose that path is not because I agreed with his stance but I had to show him that I was not there to advance an agenda but prepare him to teach. In order to do that I had to model that it is not my job as an educator to uphold my own belief systems but to teach so that all children may learn.

If that means that I (or you) as a teacher have to leave some personal values, priorities, beliefs, and limitations aside so be it.

It is after all public education.

I never did find out if that young man entered the classroom as a teacher. But I think about that event a lot. Especially today when we are reentering a time in our civil…