Storming of Capitol leaves teachers in La Salle, Bureau counties with difficult conversation

“I have every confidence that if they continue to think and talk like they do in class, they will move in the right direction. I feel that strongly about how my students present themselves.”

—  Kyle Tutt, Streator High School civics teacher

Streator High School civics teacher Kyle Tutt said he’s used to handling the difficult topics in his class because there are so many of them recently on the national stage.

The storming of the Capitol Building in Washington last Wednesday is just another difficult topic he’s had to address in class.

“The first thing I do when these topics come up is to make sure the kids feel comfortable,” Tutt said. “I’ll start with an open question. ‘How do you feel?’ Our conversation starts there.”

Tutt said there are students who will be more vocal than others, but the general consensus among his students is that they all believe in what’s right, and they’ll take the opportunity to talk about what they think is right when given that opportunity.

Jennifer Manning, who teaches civics courses at St. Bede Academy in Peru, said she approached the events by asking her students what the violence solved. She wanted to impress upon her students that having different beliefs is OK, but it’s important to understand how to act upon beliefs.

“Nobody in the classroom is going to think exactly the same,” Manning said. “It’s OK to believe what you believe in regards to one political party over another. ... The answer is never violence.”

For Tutt’s students, he believes it’s important for him to be open with not only how he feels, but also how the people around him feel. This allows students to see perspectives outside of their own.

“One of the perspectives kids were asking about is how do other people inside the United States feel about this?” Tutt said. “Students taking other perspectives into account allows for a meaningful, productive discussion because kids want to talk about it in a civil manner. When you allow them a safe environment to open up, they tend to open up.”

Manning’s students began asking similar questions after she started by backing into the conversation.

“ ‘What is this all about?’ ” Manning said her students were asking. “ ‘Is there an actual reason they’re rioting?’ We worked backward from it. We talked about the different things that have been happening in the news and how tensions and emotions have been running high.”

Manning said they looked back at the elections and the differences between the candidates with the idea that liking one over the other is OK, but then they added layers to the conversation.

“Each of these layers we kept adding got us to a point where we see the emotion, and it’s difficult to step away from the emotion,” Manning said. “There is so much we can do with our words, and we could all learn to work together. Unfortunately, that takes time and persistence, and a commitment.”

Tutt said it’s difficult to handle burnout on topics with his students because most of the adults he talks to are just as burnt out. It’s something he tries to work into the conversation.

“When they understand that I’m burned out or that somebody they knew is burned out, they can sympathize or empathize, and when you empathize, you can be more successful as a group,” Tutt said.

Tutt said he often tries to create games and trivia surrounding the topic manner in general because it breaks the students out of the mundane routine that can come from showing up to school every day.

“We’re doing everything we can for the students to make sure they’re not only getting the best education possible but to help them become better citizens,” Tutt said. “They don’t want to see these things occur again, and they’re taking this opportunity to learn, see what has been done in the past and really develop ideas to help them make better decisions in the future.”

Manning and Tutt both said their students handled the conversations properly and respectfully.

“I made the comment to my students that they are the next wave of voters, and they’ll be the ones that are voting in our next election,” Manning said. “I have every confidence that if they continue to think and talk like they do in class, they will move in the right direction. I feel that strongly about how my students present themselves.”

Conversation isn’t always natural, especially when students are having it remotely.

“We definitely discussed [last] Wednesday’s events. Unfortunately, I don’t get much back from the students when everyone is remote. A few of them offered some comments, but not much on their end,” Princeton High School Civics teacher Patrick Smith said.

“This year has been interesting, to say the least. I wish I had more time in class to go over everything I’ve wanted to and still get through our classroom material, but it’s just not possible. I do, however, think it is important to have conversations about what is going on in our government, particularly when it’s as consequential as an election or the events of Wednesday.”

While he doesn’t think his students were necessarily confused, Smith said, he’s not sure they understood the possible magnitude of an event like that.

“We actually started discussing what the purpose of the joint session was on Wednesday before any of the chaos happened, because I wanted to make sure they were aware of constitutionality of the joint session,” he said. “[Thursday] I went through the events chronologically: discussing Pence’s public statement and then showing them video clips of McConnell’s speech on the floor before the hearing began and Trump’s speech at the rally. Then clips of mob action, and then Trump’s speech from the Rose Garden that he posted on Twitter.”

Smith said his portion of discussion was to try to convey the constitutional discussions involved; the importance of misinformation, as those involved at the Capitol were not aware of what the Constitution says about what happens Jan. 6; and the severity of the event in general – definitely the physical damage but also symbolically – as far as what the Capitol means to our republic and its institutions.