Middle School
Reconstruction in 2021 Of all the internet memes that have circulated since the beginning of 2021, one has stood out in particular. It was a cartoon of Doc admonishing Marty McFly in front of the DeLorean to “Never set it to the year 2020.” For those of you who aren’t familiar with the film “Back to the Future,” the DeLorean is a time machine. Though many of us would not feel the burning desire to revisit 2020, it is impossible to ignore the growth that came from such an eventful, yet beneficial year. The year that was hailed to be the best yet, where we would all have “2020 vision,” turned out to be a year full of loss on many levels. The loss of jobs, loss of businesses, loss of trust, loss of certain freedoms, and above all, the loss of too many lives, are only a few that plagued last year. Time and time again humans were forced to fight fires, and I’m not just referring to the wild ones. However, despite all of the devastation and desperation, it is important to recognize the value in what was gained. As 2020 marched (or rambled) on, the world saw statues topple, institutions being uprooted and movements, such as Black Lives Matter, gaining more momentum in the fight for “Freedom, Liberation, and Justice” (blacklivesmatter.org). These events, along with many others, forced many a school administrator and educator to rethink their curriculum and the way certain teachers are teaching. Though the American Section had already made many steps toward improvements in diversity and inclusion, the Middle School History Department needed a clearer course of action. To ensure that a department and its curriculum are diverse and inclusive is on-going and ever-evolving work. Especially following the litany of racist, unjust events in the spring of 2020, one of the department’s objectives for the
next school year was to highlight the contributions of Black, indigenous, and people of color through more conscious and purposeful celebrations and lessons throughout the year. This was the beginning of a transformation with the objective of these elements becoming fully integrated at each level of middle school curriculum, all year long. Maya Angelou couldn’t have said it better when addressing the very fact of having such intentional celebrations, “Won’t it be
A YE AR L IK E N O OT H E R
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