Dr. Erik M. Hines
Jesus refers to the individuals who think they were doing the right thing, such as helping people and feeding the poor, rather than doing performative things, such as discussing what one would do to help people or implementing policies that are counterintuitive to assisting people. For example, Black students in P-12 schools tend to be suspended at higher rates than their racial peers and the belief is that this discipline will teach Black students a lesson to behave in class. Often missing is educators having compassion and understanding the root cause of students’ actions that shifted to them being disciplined to implementing restorative justice measures.
Moreover, given the current socio-political era of anti-DEI, faculty and other university personnel have been losing funding, positions, and operational units that support research and programming that help the most vulnerable student populations to thrive and attain optimal outcomes in higher education and in their personal lives. As Black Eyed Peas eloquently stated in their Grammy nominated and multi-platinum song, “Where is the love?”
On one hand, as a society, we claim to care about each other. On the other hand, some citizens believe that helping those who differ from them is a zero-sum game, and that it results in receiving resources based on arbitrary characteristics rather than merit. With the aforementioned in mind, we discuss compassionate pedagogy to understand the needs of students in P-16, especially given the current climate and rhetoric around education.
