Hospitality
Time to consider another aspect of school community being like a family.
Good families exercise generous hospitality.
How do we, as teachers, welcome students into our classrooms? How do students ensure a welcoming environment for each other?
Do our students experience hospitality or hostility? The prefix “hos” means stranger. Being hospitable means welcoming a stranger – the stranger becomes a guest. Being hostile means being opposed to or rejecting a stranger; the stranger becomes an enemy.
Henri Nouwen’s book “Reaching Out” is based upon the Biblical Christian concept of hospitality. In one of the chapters, he addresses how hospitality should be something that exists between teachers and students.
When speaking of the relationship between teachers and students, Nouwen points out that the teacher is called upon to create a space, free of fear, where student and teacher can have a creative exchange of ideas, and where the students can grow and develop. He encourages the teacher to help students see that their own life experiences, their own insights, their own convictions are worthy.
Nouwen reminds us that hospitality is based upon acceptance, not hostility, especially the kinds of subtle hostility, which makes fun of newcomers or puts the newcomer into embarrassing situations. I am personally ashamed of my first couple of years of teaching. I practiced sarcasm as a means of control in my classrooms. I mistakenly thought that behaving in this way would elevate me above my students, that I would be seen as superior. I now sadly reflect upon the fact that I created hostility and insecurity, an unsafe environment for young and vulnerable people.
Thankfully the Lord can redeem our errors
Blessings
Brian
Reference:
- Nouwen, H. (1986). Reaching Out. Image Books/Doubleday.