Have you ever felt like a teacher has done something unfair towards you? If so, did you speak up for yourself? In the interviews I conducted, I discovered that the majority of Lincoln students do not speak up to their teachers, even when they feel unfairly treated.
I think that there is a connection between students being treated unfairly and teachers not hearing them or realizing it. This comes from a combination of students not speaking up for themselves and teachers not providing the space for them to.
As a student, I am constantly hearing complaints from my classmates, and so I became curious as to why the students weren’t saying something.
The interviews I conducted ultimately led to a series of reasons for why this issue exists: students feel distant from their teachers and are heavy with feelings of fear, shame, and denial.
Here are a few comments from students who have had this experience:
Mia Smith (11th): I felt like [my teacher] was shaming me, and I felt like if I went up to talk to him, he would continue to shame me instead of it going anywhere.
Polk Barker (11th): I have never said something about it because they will most likely deny it which will make it worse.
Julia Coco (11th): Because it was uncomfortable and awkward, and he was a very scary teacher.
Anna Foss (12th): I wouldn’t say anything. I would just think it in my head that its unfair, but if I said something I would be scared that they wouldn’t like me.
Sam Roberts (10th): I can’t stand up to [my teacher] because where am I going to go from there? I didn’t want to talk to her about it because it just felt unfair and there’s no way I could’ve changed that.
Joseph Hall (10th): It’s kinda hard, because I was already trying to stand up for myself to appeal for my grade and I got shut down and I didn’t really know what to do so I couldn’t really do anything.
Laurel Yi (11th): I just felt like she wouldn’t have done anything about it but that’s on me for not trying to talk to her.

All students should be able to talk to their teachers about what they feel is unfair without being scared. Here are some things that we as students think teachers should utilize when receiving feedback.
Appreciate and be open to student feedback. For example, if a student were to gain the confidence to come talk to you for help or how they feel about something occurring in your class you can be calm and grateful towards the student for feeling comfortable enough to talk to you.
Remember that students can be nervous. It is important to remember the power dynamic between teachers and students and how that affects the courage it takes for students to talk to you.
Be accessible. It is also helpful to have ways for students to access you with questions. Something you can do to support this is have an anonymous question box in your classroom as a tool for students.
The overall takeaway for teachers: please encourage students’ voices so we can be active in our own environment and learning!