When Gary enrolled in her class, my friend Mary was warned that he had an attitude problem. But on his first day in her high school basic art class, she soon realized that Gary's main problem was the attitudes of certain other students.
She noticed some of the other boys were unkind to him: sneers in their expressions, shoves that were a bit too sharp to be friendly, harsh laughter. She quickly made it clear these bully tactics were not escaping her notice nor were they acceptable in her classroom. The offending students toned it down when Mary was around, but all semester Gary's would-be tormentors gave her more trouble than the so-called "attitude problem."
When left in peace, Gary began to open up a little. He revealed a quiet sense of humor and a gift for drawing. He joined the art club and began to find friends among the other art students.
The next semester he took a more advanced art class. As his skill in drawing grew, so did his self-confidence. When a local business organization announced an art contest, Mary encouraged him to enter. When he won a cash award for second place, the whole art club celebrated.
They were cleaning up after a meeting when Gary confided to her that he thought he might be gay. The announcement was not a surprise to her, but she knew it had taken a lot of courage for Gary to speak up.
"I did my best to be encouraging," she told me and another friend when we met for lunch later.
Jo, a language arts teacher, smiled and nodded. "Knowing someone has your back is crucial," she said. Jo told us about a girl who came out in her creative writing class.
She explained that she had carefully designed the class to mimic the best kind of writers' critique group. The focus is on being supportive and helpful, so that all of its members can grow and succeed. As they each shared their own creative work, the students developed strong friendships that endured beyond the classroom. A little more than halfway through the semester, one of her brighter poets had chosen Jo's class as the first place she ever told anyone about her sexual orientation.
Creative work requires both the courage to risk putting one's project in public view and an open mind to think of new ideas. Arts classes often are places where students who are different in some way can find more acceptance, but a class in any subject can offer a haven for the "different one," if the teacher is alert to the possibilities and help students find a supportive group.
Gephardt teaches private art classes in Kansas.
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