In 2019, the U.S. Women’s national soccer (football) team wore jerseys honoring women for one of the games in the SheBelieves Tournament. Center back Becky Sauerbrunn wore “RBG,” for Ruth Bader Ginsburg. It was an inspired choice. What a leader to believe in: someone who blazed trails for women and served the public good. Someone who stood for equality and nondiscrimination. At 5’1”, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was not going to tower over strikers trying to head the ball into the goal, but her insightful comments and written opinions could cut through an argument the way the best midfielder could dribble around opponents’ legs.

In a February 2015 interview on MSNBC, Justice Ginsberg said: “I—try to teach through my opinions, through my speeches, how wrong it is to judge people on the basis of what they look like, color of their skin, whether they’re men or women” (Carmon, 2015). It reflects a belief system that honored the words that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke 52 years earlier at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in August 1963: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character” (Stanford University, n.d.).

Both of these quotes are at the heart of our TESOL education community, aren’t they? We teach because we believe in all our students and because we strive to give them tools—knowledge of language, content, and culture—for a better life. Although these two luminaries are no longer with us in person, we can honor their views and actions in our classrooms.

Another honoree during the game was Malala Yousafzai, “Malala” on Carli Lloyd’s jersey. She is the epitome of an education advocate. The value of schooling was so important to her that she risked her life in 2012 so girls could be educated in Pakistan. The youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (at age 17 in 2014), she has broadened her activism to promote the right to education worldwide. Her advocacy work continues, as does ours. A recent discussion on the myTESOL Program Administration community offers one example among many. TESOLers were sharing strategies for ways to secure academic credit toward graduation for English language courses at colleges and universities. These courses, as several argued, are not remedial; they are additive. English learners are learning a new language the way other students learn Spanish or Arabic and receive foreign language credit. Our colleagues are fighting for equal treatment for their learners, and our profession is strengthened by their efforts.

Let me close by asking who you would honor on the back of your jersey. Who do you believe in? Whose words and actions can you pay homage to in your lessons? And think about who believed in you. All of us have had at least one teacher who believed in us. Be that teacher for your students. Continue to speak up for civil rights, equal rights, and educational rights. Continue to care about your learners and their lives outside of the classroom as well as their aspirations within.

Rest in Peace and Rest in Power, RBG

References

Carmon, I. (2015, February 17). Exclusive Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg interview: Full transcript. MSNBC. http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/exclusive-justice-ruth-bader-ginsburg-interview-full-transcript

Stanford University. (n.d.). "I have a dream," address delivered at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute. https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/i-have-dream-address-delivered-march-washington-jobs-and-freedom

Deborah J. Short, PhD, is TESOL International Association president (2020–2021). She directs Academic Language Research & Training, LLC and provides professional development on academic literacy, content-based ESL, and sheltered instruction worldwide. She has led numerous research projects related to English learner education, codeveloped the SIOP Model, and served as series editor for several 6 Principles books.