One of my professors told us that as a teacher, you WILL cause harm at some point in your career. You will say something hurtful to a student or grade unfairly or make a harmful assumption. You learn about these things and try to avoid them, but if you teach long enough you will do something that’s harmful to a student. It’s a numbers game. It’s inevitable.
And that’s why it’s important that you learn how to react in a healthy and productive way! The example she gave was from her own teaching — she had an assignment where students made a presentation with photos that showed their relationship with math over their life (I studied math education). A trans student reached out and told her that they were uncomfortable using pretransition photos. In response, she changed the assignment! By the time I was in her class, it was “make a presentation with photos and/or memes” — a small change but definitely more inclusive!
I think this illustrates why it’s important to say something when you experience microaggressions. I, a trans person taking this class, had a more positive experience because a different trans person spoke up a couple years before.
But also, I think that harm is inevitable outside of teaching too. I think that if you have friends or family or interact with people regularly, you WILL hurt someone eventually. And you have to be comfortable with that possibility in order to respond in a healthy way.
