They’ve done their own research and listened to the arguments from both sides of the modular housing for the homeless divide.
In today’s world of instant gratification and apparent allergy to even clicking on a headline, teacher Lincoln Lew’s Grade 6 and 7 class has been burrowing beneath the surface of the aforementioned controversial issue.
With Richmond city council preparing to make its final decision Thursday on whether or not to site 40 modular units for the homeless on Elmbridge Way, the Walter Lee elementary students have been doing homework of a different kind.
As part of the students’ annual debating skills and persuasive writing curriculum, Lew deliberately chose the story that has been making the news for the last few months in Richmond to plant the seeds of critical thinking.
And although their articulate essays showed a clear majority (about 70 per cent) in favour of the project going ahead, a point-scoring debate, according to Lew, produced a much closer result at the central Richmond school.
“I assigned which side of the debate the student went in to, no matter what their thinking was on the matter,” Lew told the Richmond News.
“As long as I felt they were making a persuasive argument, they got a point. It was a narrow win for the ‘build it’ side.”
One of those students, Noya Telias, who’s in Grade 7, said she’d heard a little bit about the modular housing debate in the news before being asked by Lew to dive a little deeper into the subject.
“(The essay) was difficult to write, because I really didn’t want to put false information in there; I looked at both sides of the argument and at some statistics,” said Noya.
“I think they should build it. There are a lot of safety concerns; I can see what (the ‘no’ side) are talking about, but the homeless people are already there, and schools are already there.
“If there was going to be any danger, I think we’d know about it by now. As a student myself, I’m not scared of these (homeless) people.”
Noya’s classmate, Mathew Knapp, said he had several conversations with his parents to get his head around the issue.
“I think city council should approve it; they need to put themselves into the shoes of the homeless people and how they would feel if they were denied of an opportunity to get a home and get off the streets,” Mathew told the News.
“The ‘against’ side is making a lot of weird safety arguments; the RCMP is involved in the screening process (for the homeless) and if they thought there was any real danger to the public, they wouldn’t be putting them there.”
Nathan Zhao actually imagined himself as being homeless and, in the context of such a person posing a danger to the public, argued “they’re under supervision and, if I was let in (to the project), I wouldn’t do anything bad to anyone, I would be grateful for having a home.”
While Abhishek Parikh said he spent a lot of time focusing on the arguments from the “no” side of the issue, as those were the ones he found the most interesting.
“I think everyone needs a second chance, they need some help and (city council) should do it; there would be lots of support for (the homeless) there,” he said.
“What I don’t like is the concerns about this from the residents (on Elmbridge Way) about their home prices. That shouldn’t be a part of it.”
Overall, Lew said he was pleasantly surprised at the depth of many of his students’ essays.
“There were some very well written pieces with lots of extra research,” he added.
“I don’t think anyone’s mind was changed (after the research and debate), perhaps some of their convictions are even firmer now.
“And some of them likely hear what their parents are saying and that likely has some effect, as well.”
Lew said he often chooses controversial issues, as they are the ones that lend themselves naturally to encouraging the students to think for themselves.
“Two years ago, we debated whether Canada should allow Syrian refugees into the country,” he said.
“We saw the (modular housing) issue in the newspaper and there was so much conflict in it and it was so local that I thought this would be great for the students to get into.”
As for city council’s looming decision on Thursday, Lew and his students — now that they’re fully invested in the issue — will be keeping a close eye on the Richmond News website to close off their own debate.
