When Class Trumps Class

A recent incident at a local, elementary school basketball tournament evidences the painful reality that, even today, our society has not ridden itself of sharp class distinctions and the unattractive offshoots that come with them. My name is Daniel Balke, and I teach 4^th and 5^th grade at Church Rock Academy Elementary School, just east of Gallup. Though Church Rock is one of Gallup-McKinley County Schools’ lowest-income educational locations, we have an immensely talented teaching staff, passionate and experienced administrators, and, most importantly, enthusiastic, intelligent, and wildly capable young people. As a first-year student, I have found my calling in working to give my students all the opportunities I had growing up in an upper-middle income household and having teachers who gave everything they had to guaranteeing a bright future for me. In sum, as a 22-year-old, I’ve found myself in my students. They’re everything to me, and when they hurt, I hurt.

It was with great concern, then, that I learned of an unfortunate exchange between one of my fifth graders and the coach of the Red Rock Elementary School boys’ basketball team. After a hard-fought semifinal contest, in which a talented Red Rock squad overcame the best efforts of the Church Rock Bulldogs, team members formed lines to congratulate each other on a well-played game. Unfortunately, a Church Rock team leader, who also happens to be one of the top-performing academic students at our school, not to mention president of the 5^th grade, passed by the Red Rock coach without extending his hand for a handshake.

Clearly, we work to teach our students to be good sports in times of win and, especially, in times of defeat and were unhappy to hear that our young leader made the decision he did. Still, the behavior of the Red Rock Elementary coach, a role model for her players and ambassador for one of the best-performing (and highest per-capita income) schools in our district, was entirely unbecoming of a responsible adult. She approached our young player and derided him for his choice not to shake her hand, explaining that he was without manners or good judgment. Soon thereafter, the Church Rock boys coach found our young player in the bathroom in tears. He did not mean to insult the Red Rock coach or cause her distress. Even if he had, should we not expect a responsible adult to first come to another adult regarding her concern, rather than take her frustration out on someone who’s not even their teenage years?

Unfortunately, things grew uglier from there. Our player’s mother, learning of the Red Rock coach’s words and her son’s reaction, approached the coach to make her point. She lost her cool, and a shouting match ensued. While our parent was not correct in losing her temper, her objections were limited to the fact that the Red Rock coach had made her young son cry. It is difficult to imagine any parent not showing similar concern for their own child. Unfortunately, the Red Rock coach decided to take the exchange to an altogether despicable level. As tempers escalated, she referred to our mother as ‘uneducated’, an insult clearly stemming from the economic status of the Church Rock community and an elitist diatribe based in nothing more than unfounded suppositions.

What do we teach our young people when we assume people to be uneducated simply because of the color of their skin or economic position? Do we teach tolerance, acceptance, and a celebration of the unique backgrounds that characterize every family, or do we teach a dangerous complacency in the comfort of our own socioeconomic status and a disinterest in the plight of those less fortunate than us? I’ve lived in a comfortable economic position my whole life. I went to a prestigious university in Washington, D.C. But one of the most important lessons I’ve learned along the way is that there exists little correlation between economic status and one’s natural intelligence, but there exists a blindingly obvious connection between elitism and the perpetuation of appalling classism that prevents a more harmonious, understanding society from taking root. When class in an economic sense trumps class in terms of character, nobody wins. At Church Rock, we teach the importance class- I’d expect the folks at Red Rock to do the same.