Beyond the Textbooks By Maisie Rennie
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ith a bold stroke, a student quietly rebelled in fostering inclusive learning environments. Junko Aoki, a teachthe classroom, defying educational norms. Class er of over 18 years, has made it her goal to continue to nourish began with them revising old assignments, red No 2. pencil her students’ minds and create a fun and engaging classroom the only tool allowed. Mechanical pencils were strictly forbid- despite cultural barriers. den, yet the plastic shine of a young student’s mischievousness caught her, the teacher’s, eye. They were not holding a red pencil. Instead, a brand new mechanical pencil, the flashy kind the Living in a rigid social structure or social bubble often color bright blue with a retractable eraser was gripped between creates an environment that one might not even realize they are their fingers. She didn’t yell, nor did she comment. Despite having broken the rules, the student’s act of defiance, disguised participating in. Social bubbles can be described as “the natural state of as compliance, was ignored. The next day, she heard the student affairs for human beings. People seek out similarities in their gasp when the papers were redistributed. With trembling hands, the troublemaker scanned the paper, their eyes widening marriages, workplaces, neighborhoods, and peer groups. The in surprise as they were met face-to-face with the teacher’s score preferred sociological term is ‘homophily’—similarity breeds of approval. They glanced up to look at the teacher, only to be affection” (Thompson). This feeling of seeking out similarities met with her knowing smile. The next class, the student arrived causes “bubbles,” or groups of people to stick together because with a new red pencil and sharpener, marking a subtle shift in of their similar ideologies or characteristics. These bubbles can exist on smaller scales, their defiance. In societies characterized by strict social hierarchies and but can also be seen on larger scales–such competitive educational systems, being versatile is essential to as whole countries. Depending on where you live, providing effective education, working around the bubble, and
Adapting to the Bubble