Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Natural disasters and students

The concept of using natural disasters as a way of teaching students compassion for others is one which has promise. When a large scale natural disaster occurs, it dominates the news and captures the attention of people, at least for a while. I think about the Haiti earthquake, the tsunami in Indonesia, and Hurricane Katrina, all of which occurred during my teaching career. The staff of our school tried very hard to use these disasters as teachable moments for our students, and we began fund raising drives after each disaster. 

We were not very successful with the exception of the Haitian earthquake effort. To this day, we're not certain why that particular disaster struck a chord with our students. We don't have students from Haiti in our school, but we do have a large population from Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, which are of course close neighbors to Haiti. This likely explains the connection. 

Our students live in poverty, some of them in extreme poverty. I am not sure if this causes the students to be less aware of others in need, or they simply just lack the means to respond in ways more well off students are able to. 

Unfortunately, the only way to find out will be when the next severe headline grabbing natural disaster comes along. I'm not really anxious for that day to come. 
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3 comments:

  1. DSellepackSeptember 26, 2012 at 4:54 PM

    Eileen,
    I wonder if the reason why there was so much response to the Haiti earthquake is that the students could identify with them in more than one way? For instance, being from an area around Haiti and coming to the realization that the effects ofthe earthquake would be less if the people were more well off economically might make them relate to the incident more than if just one factor were present (proximity or social status).

    Sincerely,
    David

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    Replies
    1. Alethea's Sci LinksSeptember 28, 2012 at 6:50 PM

      Eileen,
      It appears that students made a connection because of the close vicinity of the disaster to their homeland. Maybe, you can integrate some natural disasters that have occurred in or near your state. This may provide them with a clearer picture of how natural disasters can happen nearby. By emphasizing the needs of disaster victims and how the daily conveniences that we take for granted become scarce or nonexistent, students may open their hearts to be more compassionate. It is amazing to me how natural disasters bring people together. I wish people would come together as a community and speak to their neighbors before a natural disaster strikes.

      Alethea

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    2. Eileen M.September 30, 2012 at 11:23 AM

      David,

      I did talk to the students about the differences between building codes in the USA versus other places and how people who are better off financially tend to be better prepared for disasters. So yes, that may have factored into it a bit.

      Alethea,

      I teach in Philadelphia which rarely suffers any kind of natural disaster except for minor localized flooding. Last summer we had our first earthquake of any significance in 100 years, and all it did in our region was basically startle people. So there really is nothing local to expose the students to, for which I am grateful.

      Eileen

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