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In schools today, the majority of teachers are white, middle class, and female. This is almost completely opposite of the diverse population of students in schools across America. The article aimed to explore educator’s beliefs and practice as well as antiracist pedagogy. For the purpose of this study and our discussion antiracist teaching is defined as “educator as an ally, an advocate for students of color, and a much-needed anti-racist role model for students” (Lawrence & Tatum, 2004). The article described the importance of antiracist training for teachers as well as providing multiple opportunities to understand race and racism in a wide range of contexts. Racism is both learned and unlearned and as educators it is important to self-study, self –reflect, and take action in a cyclical manner. The study intended to understand this and why educators fail students of color. The authors did this by addressing whiteness, racial knowledge, and failure in the context of teacher preparation programs.
The author’s of this study are interestingly all white women who play different roles in a teacher education program. Their program enrollment is very similar to most teachers in the US – white, female, and middle class- while the surrounding areas were culturally diverse and economically poor. The study was made up of two parts – a focus group and a self-study. The focus group was made up of current and graduate students of the teacher prep program. The self-study participants were the three authors. After open-ended discussion, themes that emerged in the focus group guided the methods and analysis of the self- study aspect. The study found that teacher’s beliefs and practices reinforced white racial knowledge, during talk about race there is lack of white participation, and teachers miss many opportunities to address or interrupt racism in the educational context.
Reflecting back on this article, I realized how many connections I have to many of themes in this article. For example, I went to a private high school in Richmond, VA that was predominately white. I also attended a private college that is predominately white. My teacher preparation program was almost 100% white females where these issues were not addressed. I honestly did not realize aspects of my white knowledge until I began my teaching career. My students are very diverse culturally and racially and come from low socioeconomic homes. I began to grapple with the reality of race and racism right in the county I grew up in. Honestly, I felt ignorant that I didn’t realize it before. This ignorance has driven me to ask questions even if it might be uncomfortable in an attempt to stop the role I had in perpetuating this system of oppression.
Another thing I found interesting in this article was that the authors challenge teachers and educators to self-reflect on their white knowledge, their own beliefs and their practice. As a white female from a middle class neighborhood I can relate to how challenging this can be. The authors do an awesome job in their self-reflection on how to confront being white and failing students of color. It is important to realize that you are necessarily a bad person; these ideas and educational pedagogy are rooted deeply. Most teachers come unknowingly to the profession not knowing they hold these biases. As a white educator, I need to first admit the white privilege and the complexity of racism in schools. Just like our students, I need to truly understand the difference between race and racism. We need to break this model of “unreadiness” to engage in antiracist pedagogy not only for our students but staff as well. Instead of silencing conversation because it’s uncomfortable or awkward, structured opportunities should be created where we are taught how to communicate about race. This article made me realize how detrimental silencing these types of conversations can be and how important it is for educators to confront whiteness in their teaching.
Carly, I found your summary of this article to very thorough. It is true that white, middle class, females represent a majority of teachers in the field. As an African American male, I represent the most underrepresented demographic of teacher in the United States. One of the key issues with students of diverse backgrounds, particularly students of low socioeconomic status and color , is that their teachers often do not look like them nor understand the background that they come from. This lack of cultural awareness can lead to bias both international and unintentional. I witnessed this first hand during my own teacher training program.
During my introduction to education course, I will never forget one particular discourse we had on cultural awareness. One of my white, female classmates actually asked the group how do speak to black inner city children. Imagine my shock and slight anger when I heard this. As the sole black person in the room, I countered her statement with how do you speak to white children? The entire group grew silent and looked visibly confused when I countered. I explained that as educators we will work students from cultures different than ours. We all have some sort of implicit bias in our world view. However in order to effectively reach them, we must take the time to learn about and incorporate their cultures into our practice. My counter created an awkward tension that caused some of my classmates to not speak to me as openly as they did before this conversation.
Despite some of the hurt feelings in the room, it highlighted the importance of engaging in the conversation of race and culture with current and preservice teachers. As someone who has attended schools that were predominantly minority, mixed cultures, and majority white, it helps me to understand the issues from different perspectives. So for me, I see this antiracist pedagogy as a way to bridge the divide culturally. Ultimately, the onus is on the individual teacher to make that first step towards confronting this issue. Regardless of their race and cultural background.
Carly—
I wish that in today’s society this was to include other categories of bias. I understand that race is still a huge area of concern but until we actually start teaching/talking/ and learning about what really happened from all perspectives nothing will change. Because no white student participants were available how could the researchers reached out to get other participation from white students and colleagues. Most people don’t want to feel uncomfortable so they stick to what they know. I have personally taken steps to become uncomfortable with certain questions. I find that people want to answer questions when they realize that the questions are curiosity based. Going through the same program as you, I had noticed early on how little diversity there is education. I wonder if the policy and practice within educational programs need to ensure that future teachers have a variety of teaching experiences and partner with more diverse schools to open the eyes and minds of those attending.
Carly,
You did a nice job not only summarizing the article but analyzing and making connections to it as well. This is a very sensitive topic in the world of education, and as stated in the article, rarely discussed. I am a firm believer that the most critical job of a teacher is the ability to build relationships and relate to the students you teach. As an African-American student who has attended predominantly white schools my entire life, I have never had a teacher who was not white. I also now teach in a setting with majority white, middle class females in a school with a diverse population. As both a student and teacher I have experienced all of what is described in this article, both bias and nonbias, antiracist instruction. The answer to this is, as you stated, conversation and better preparation of teachers to teach all types of students.