When the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other Black Americans rocked the nation in 2020, Benjamin Arthurs felt a need to promote change and find ways to amplify diverse voices.
Arthurs, an English teacher at New Albany High School, looked to his students to consider innovative ways to investigate social issues in the classroom.
“As a white male, I have been a lifelong ally – but admittedly a performative ally,” Arthurs says. “I was tired of being complacent. I needed to figure out what I could do. I can’t control national or state legislature, but what I can do well is teach and work with young people. I asked what I could do in my 20 square feet.”
Photos by Ray LaVoie Photography
Arthurs has long worked to ensure that his classroom is a safe space where all students feel supported, including students of color and LGBTQ+ students, but he wanted to do more. In conversations with students, Arthurs discovered a mutual interest in learning about and righting inequalities not covered by common curricula. So, he set about creating a new elective course to give students the chance to learn about topics important to them.
As he began to develop the program, he consulted professors at The Ohio State University, Miami University and Columbus State Community College, and he came to the conclusion that the answers he and his students sought were in the realms of sociology and anthropology – both subjects outside of his teaching qualifications. But, while he might not have the academic background, he knew he could help students teach themselves.
With support and assistance from Principal Ken Kraemer and former Deputy Principal Amy Warren, Arthurs built a new class in record time. He sought and incorporated feedback from the African American Parent Network in New Albany and kept his compass pointing toward what he had heard from the students themselves: that they wanted a more diverse, less Eurocentric education. The resulting course is unlike anything the high school has seen before.
Synergy is a project-based learning class that empowers students to take agency in their education as they research social topics of personal interest. The course challenges students to expand their knowledge through academically sound research and synthesis.
“Following project-based learning was paramount for me because I’m not an expert in everything that’s ever happened in Black history,” Arthurs says. “I’m still learning too. It’s important to create an atmosphere and environment for students to have academic freedom of inquiry to research what they want.”
The first month of the class is spent guiding students through college-level anthropology and sociology textbooks that teach how to critically think about human behavior and cover many of the social drivers that students will come across in their research. The course walks through concepts such as microaggressions, code switching and hegemony and objectively scrutinizes the history of the current power dynamics in our society.
In the second part of Synergy, Arthurs encourages students to ask bigger questions. In this part of the course, students choose a topic into which to dive deeper. The course culminates in presentations to community members and leaders in which students offer concrete recommendations for how to combat specific injustice or inequality within the community.
Student topics thus far have included what it means to be a Black man in America, teenage mental health in schools and Native American rights – topics that, without Synergy, the students would not have been able to study.
Arthurs’ role in Synergy is to foster an environment conducive to learning and teach students how to be critical and successful researchers. The course is designed so that any educator, no matter their core subject, could lead it. The students drive the topics to be learned and provide feedback and support to each other as they use professional research methodology to find the answers they need to better understand the world around them.
“Whatever they’re interested in and want to pursue with academic rigor, I will support,” Arthurs says. “I’ll help them hone their topic based on the research that’s out there. I want my students to thrive and blossom and own their learning.”
The first semester pilot of the course included nine students. Sign-ups for the second semester almost doubled that. The elective course is open to all students with no prerequisites or honors requirements. Arthurs encourages any student who is interested in learning about social justice topics such as racism, cultural appropriation or the LGBTQ+ community to consider enrolling.
“Again, I’m not the expert in all of these subjects,” Arthurs says, “but in a classroom, I can provide the environment and structure for (students) to find the sources they need. I can help provide an authentic learning experience outside of the normal curriculum.”
Justice on the Page
Arthurs’ push to promote diverse voices extends to his regular English courses, where he strives to teach literature that’s relevant to students today, often through diverse perspectives. On his must-read list right now: The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabelle Wilkerson. The Pulitzer Prize-winning book casts a human perspective on the almost six million Black people that made up the Great Migration from the South to the North over a 70-year period and the impact their move has had on generations since then.
Taylor Woodhouse is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
