Self-Expression Versus A Cry For Help

One of the first ideas Hobbs mentions is the delicacy with which we need to approach students' self-expression. She gave the example of her son, who wrote a violent screenplay that included gunfire and standoffs (Hobbs pg 94), and was sent to the guidance counselor because of the nature of his writing.

This is something I, myself, have found to be a challenge. I tend to hold back, when giving creative assignments, in an attempt to avoid a situation that would break the student-teacher trust relationship. Because my inner-city students come from very tough backgrounds, different from mine, in an area where violence is known to occur, I don't know what is acceptable and what is "guidance counselor" worthy. I could, theoretically, end up sending over fifty students to the guidance counselor for their pieces of self-expression. How would my administrators react to that? They'd probably tell me to stop giving out those types of assignments.

When a student is given an assignment in which he or she shares personal information, when must a teacher intervene? How much personal information is a student allowed to share? How creative can a student be when they include themes of violence or sexuality in their pieces?

We try to allow students to self-express, but what if they come from the poorest city in the United States? What if they come from a place where their father is in jail and their mother works two jobs to support them? What if those students don't have any food to eat? What if those students walk to school along streets that were riddled with gunfire the night before? What if those students walked past a dead body on their way to school that day? What if those students had a friend who committed murder or suicide? What if those students had fathers who committed murder or suicide? What if those students are daily approached by recruiting gang members? What if those students are in a gang? What if all they know is violence and hardship? What can I accept from them when I ask them to self-express? Would it be right for me to tell them not to share those violent images-- would I be asking them to self-repress instead of self-express?