Letters to Educators
Education is facing its biggest challenge yet by balancing both health and education priorities. Teachers are becoming vloggers, parents are becoming teachers/tutors, students are becoming confused and unmotivated. Although it has been almost six months in quarantine, we have to remember that school has not always been this way. Despite our strange circumstances, it is important to remember how education leaders have shaped who we are, teaching valuable lessons, applicable inside and outside the classroom setting.
Erica Horn
She/Her
Special Education, Elementary Education
Seattle Buddhist Church
I would say how Buddhism has influenced me as an educator, well just in general, the two parts of Buddhism that are the most meaningful to me are the Golden Chain and the idea of interconnectedness. I feel like as a teacher, those two things are just right there. It’s been really important to me to see the impact I have on other people and teach students to recognize their impact on others. So whether that’s how they carry themselves in the classroom or words they use in the classroom, or in their personal lives. For example, the part of the Golden Chain where it says, “be kind and gentle to every living thing.” I think that’s something I try to embody in my life in general, and so that bleeds over as my role as an educator, even virtually. My training as a Special Ed teacher has trained me to look at behavior in a different way as most educators. When I have a student who is having a difficult time, I tend to look as a student has an unmet need: what are they trying to communicate through their behavior, how can I support them, how can I teach them to have a more socially appropriate response. I think that is different from some educators because I think traditionally behavior is looked at as, “this kid is misbehaving, there is a consequence.” I do think that situation happens a lot. I think a lot of teachers view students as acting out or throwing a fit. That’s not how I view it - I view it as an unmet need. Once the student is ready and depending on their developmental level, after the situation is over, talking with the student with the impact with the environment around them, whatever it might be. Buddhism has influenced how I have interacted with my students and colleagues. The idea of interconnectedness and everybody having an impact on each other is really important to me. I try to go into teaching with a mindset of how I can be beneficial to all of my students or my colleagues. I ask myself, “How can I have a positive impact on other people today?” I try to teach my students that their actions and words have an impact on those around them. In my letter to my students and colleagues, I would say: “Be kind to each other.”
Marley Kazumi-Uyemura
She/Her
Japanese Major, Asian American Studies Minor
Nishi Honganji
During my senior year of high school, I was failing my AP Statistics class because I had a lot of things going on, like being the Southern District president and getting my Girl Scout Gold Award and applying to colleges. Failing an AP class was something I definitely didn’t need. Back then, I was more hesitant to ask for help in classes. Especially since it was an AP course, I felt there were a lot of standards for me to uphold. I felt like I shouldn’t ask for help. “I could handle it.” As time went on, I realized this couldn’t continue and I had to swallow my pride and ego. I went to talk to my teacher and said, “I am struggling and I don’t know why.” So it was at that moment, I didn’t know how she would respond because I did have trouble paying attention in class and things like that. When I talked to her, she actually told me I could take my tests before classes start during zero period, without anyone there. When I did that, I went from a D to A in a semester’s time. She said nobody had done that before. I was like, ok cool. I realized the problem wasn’t necessarily the fact I didn’t understand the content. I had test anxiety. What I learned from this, is not only that small act of compassion put me on a better track for my grades, but it also taught me a lot about myself as a student and how to treat other people. I started to look at people with more compassion and understanding. A lot of times, we don’t know if someone next to us is going through something really difficult in their lives. Whether it is during COVID times or not, compassion, big or small, could really change somebody’s life. For her, it could’ve been a really small gesture because she was already there early. I wasn’t getting any handicaps or extra time. I was just getting fewer distractions. That was my introduction to mental health and how I treated myself. My outlook on life was a lot different than it is now. I was very much an optimistic person. It wasn’t until that moment when I realized that I should pay attention to the signs of anxiety and reach out for help because people are compassionate. There are open-minded people who will understand your situation. All in all, I learned that a small act of compassion led me to be a better student and person. As a person, it made me become more aware and sensitive to what other people are going through. I learned the importance of introspection and self-reflection. If I didn’t have that first experience of struggling, it opened the door and reflected that there was a lot going on. That little moment involved my grades, but also so much more than that. I would like to thank her. It was a pretty difficult point in my life, to say the least. I put a lot of stress on myself that year. To have teachers that support you and care about your dreams and aspirations, gives me a lot of faith in educators. Thank you for opening my world a little more.
Kellie Lee
She/Her/Hers
UCLA School of Dentistry
Sacramento Buddhist Temple
After my senior year of high school, right before I started college, I attended the YAC retreat in Sacramento. Rev Bob and Rev Patti always emphasized the idea that although all of us from the YAC 11 group came from different backgrounds, temples, places around the United States, but we all came together on the similar commonality of Buddhism. I didn’t really talk to a ton of people that weren’t around my age before, but I started relating to people that were younger than me and older than me because we shared the common interest of Buddhism. It was really interesting to learn from all of the reverends and senseis there. YAC taught me that I can relate to others based on things that I don’t really think about in my normal life. I guess that kind of carries over to dental school. A lot of people that I’ve met in my class, at first glance, I don’t really have much in common with them because they’re from different backgrounds, stages of life, and places around the world. But we are all able to come together under one common thing, which is dentistry right now. We all just have the same passion of wanting to help people and provide great smiles for everyone. Working hard together, trying to learn about teeth and all the different specialties and everything. I think that’s really cool that a bunch of people can come together and learn about something that brings us all closer to each other. It relates to my current education for sure, but this is definitely something that I will carry with me throughout life. Knowing that even though I may not have something immediately in common with someone, there are other ways that I can relate to them. If I wrote a letter to Reverend Bob and Reverend Patti, I would definitely thank them for educating me about something that I didn’t realize before. I think that it was really important that I learned that I can relate to a ton of people in different ways than I would’ve thought of. I don’t think it’s something I would’ve recognized on my own because sometimes it’s hard for me to find commonalities with other people if it’s not just out in the open and obvious. I am really thanking them for the guidance they have shown me.
Allison Shibata
She/Her
High School Student
Seattle Buddhist Church
We watched this movie in dharma school called Osama, a 2003 movie that follows this pre-teen girl who is living in Afghanistan. She needs to dress up as a boy to work and support her family, who’s escaping the Taliban. It gets really difficult when she is drafted into the boy’s military training school, and later discovered and put on trial. She was supposed to get the death penalty but gets married to this old guy. This isn’t a movie I would normally watch because I like Disney and “happy” things. But it did bring up a really good discussion. Ron’s purpose for playing this movie was to show us what’s going on in other countries. He played this around 9/11 to show us the horror of the Taliban in Afghanistan. He also wanted to show us a lot of things haven’t changed, since when Shinran was alive because there are still oppressed groups, like the focus of this movie: women. The reason the main character had to dress up as a guy was to work because it was illegal for women to be out and about without a man. An activity he had the high school students do was mix us around the classroom, “you go over here, here, here.” In the end, he mixed us around some more so that we ended with the girls on one side and the boys on the other. He said, “you can go to school, you can’t, but you can go. You have to listen to me because I am a man.” This was kinda how it was when Shinran was alive because women didn’t have the same freedom as men. Education wasn’t prioritized for women, and neither was access to religion. Ron helped us from a Buddhist perspective, we need to take action and stand up for what we believe in. We also have to see how we have progressed and appreciated the opportunities we have now. I would like to say thank you to Ron for opening my eyes to what I have in life and realize I’ve taken a lot of things for granted. After watching Osama, I started to read the news, something I did not do before. There are things I don’t know about that will impact me. I also started reading books, not just romance books, but actual books on social issues and movements. I started getting more involved: signing petitions and helping educate my friends. I wanted to thank him for that.
Audrey Seo
She/Her/Hers
Dharma School Teacher
Mountain View Buddhist Temple
I was drawn to Buddhism because at its root, it’s simple. It’s not difficult to understand. The lessons are really about being a good person and realizing that we are all interconnected in some way, shape or form. I think that in light of the pandemic, I think that it’s really come to light how interconnected we all are. I think that the nature of each individual person’s character is always there and you’re born with it. Outwardly we can try to be more friendly. In times of stress, we might be more stressed. I think that if I were to be able to tell my dharma school students not to judge people for things that are happening right now because we’re under a very high pressure situation today and it’s not necessarily reflected in people's true nature. The face that people are showing right now may not be truly who they are, so we should not judge or place them in categories. I think one of the easiest things for my kindergarteners to understand is gratitude. We try to tie something about gratitude into things we do. I don’t see myself as a leader or a teacher necessarily, just trying to be an example for my students, for the kids, former students or anyone I come in contact with. Just try to be a good citizen, just be kind. That’s what I strive to do everyday, both in class and at work.
Sydney Takeda
She/her
Physiological Science Major at UCLA
Sacramento
He was my Organic Chemistry professor. He taught me a lot about compassion. For one, he told us how easy it would’ve been for him to record the lectures and move back to India, but because he is so dedicated as a professor and to us, he thought it would be best to stay in LA. By staying in LA, he said, he would be providing the best education for us. O Chem is a really difficult class. The first midterm he was super lenient: 24 hours to complete it, open notes, or whatever. However, one student uploaded it onto Chegg, which is the website with the solutions. Obviously he found out. He didn’t tell us for like two days. He sent this really long email telling us about this big scandal and that he felt bad about it. He thought he didn’t do enough for us, to the point where people were resorting to the Internet. Before every single test, he would give this big speech saying, “I am so proud of you guys. You are gonna do well. I am so grateful to be teaching our future health heroes.” This man said this every single test or when someone said something bad about themselves! His overall grading philosophy was compassionate where he would give a super challenging test, but grade easy. On the first midterm, to be honest, I bombed. On the second midterm, I got 113% because his grading was super lenient. He taught me a lot about compassion. I would like to thank him for sacrificing so much because he didn’t move back to India to be with his family during this uncertain time, in order to be in the same time zone to teach us. I want to thank him for making sure we were safe and healthy. He was so compassionate with everyone and their circumstances because when the cheating scandal happened, he said he didn’t know what was going on in our lives. No hard feelings. He wanted to figure this out and make it better for everyone. In addition, I want to thank all teachers for the experiences that have shaped me into who I am today.
