“How to be anti-racist without being anti-white?” p. 30
This I find hard to understand in my own views. He is white! How can he be anti-white? It’s almost as if he is the one that wants to tear his own skin off or dye it darker complexion.
I haven’t really had any instances like this other then when I was in high school and college. I was a member of the softball team and I was going to college for physical education. There is a stigma/stereotype that all the members of the softball team are lesbians and then there is that same stigma for female physical education teachers. I am not a lesbian, but I am also not anti-gay. To me it is their own personal choice. I do have some friends that are gay and or bisexual although I do not really agree or believe in it I do think that in their defense some people can’t help who they love. So this does not completely correlate but this was the only connection I could make. I feel that what I was trying to say as that sometimes because of this stigma/stereotype at times I was afraid to admit that I was a member of both groups because I didn’t want people to automatically think that I was gay.
“I don’t understand all this talk about differences. Each of my little kindergarten students comes to me with the same stuff. It doesn’t matter whether they’re Black, Hispanic, or White, they each have a brain, a body, and a family. They each get the same curriculum. I treat them all alike. And yet, by the end of the year, and as I watch them move up through the grades, the Blacks and Hispanics fall behind and the White kids do better. They all start with the same basic equipment. What happens?”
In my own teaching experiences I have seen this as well. It can be looked at in a few ways. But the first thing I feel that the teacher needs to realize is her assumption that “they come with all the same stuff”. That’s not completely true, because the teacher has to realize that yes they all come with a brain, but that is about it. They don’t all come with a family or at least the type that she is thinking of, each child is different in their own ways and there are a lot of things that determine how they are different. Depending on their race, ethnic group, religion, their home/family life, all take part in who they are and how they are going to learn. I could continue to go on and on about this topic as I feel so strongly about the need for teachers to get to know their students.
“We are tempted to cry out “Enough! I know this story and I don’t want to hear it again.”
Sometimes/a lot of the time I feel like this. As whites we don’t have a “white history month” yes there are many holidays that whites celebrate that many other cultures don’t, but these are the same for other cultures too. I know these are controversial topics but as I see it sometimes the white race is the one that’s fading out and they are actually becoming the minority and the ones that are being discriminated as well. I just feel like everyone needs to come to a halt I feel like sometimes others are looking for a reason to say “well that’s because I am ____________” or “I did not get the job because I am a women, because I am black, because, because, because…really anything can be put into that blank. It is just so hard for society to look past all these things. I feel like attempts are being made to change things but some people are causing the issues to stay the way they are.
Essence Extractor Ch. 3 & 4
As educators we need be role models to try to erase all the stereotypes and help all students thrive and become adequate members of society. Work towards social transformation.
Idea Illustrator Ch. 3 & 4
Speaks for it self :)
Interesting…?! Right?!
I feel that this picture shows the melting pot idea of America and the idea of ‘teamwork” everyone working together striving for everyone to get along.
I was really struck by the Kindergarten passage as well. I think that the teacher is sweetly naive in her statement- she have this dream that all kids need to same push to success and that some do and some don't. The trouble is there is a lot of background reasons for the success. I think that, like you said, as a teacher you have to know your students.
ReplyDeleteI work at a city school right now and the dynamics are interesting. I have one a white child who's mom is in jail, a hispanic child who has a rat and bug infestation in his house, another white girl that sits in the corner and pretends to be invisible and a bunch of other students (of a variety of races) that sit and work as a team. What I'm getting at is that I can't say, all my black kids are like this....and all my hispanic students are like this......
As teachers it's our job to know our students and understand how their own unique experiences and learning habits shape who they are. This is how we stop racial prejudices, looking at our students as individuals instead of as large groups of race..
Your passage about ENOUGH makes a ton of sense, at least to me. I am also tired of hearing this. Your points about not celebrating a white history month or other holidays is something I have thought about as well. Its almost like if I stood up and screamed "I'm white and I'm proud!" I would be dragged to the nearest public circle and stoned for being a supremacist.
ReplyDeleteIt kind of does pain me, to be open and honest, that we are not allowed to be publicly proud of being white. This book is trying us as teachers to understand our white identity to learn to be accepting to other groups… fine, this is a wonderful concept and should be on every teacher's agenda.