My mother, an elementary school teacher, very recently attended a diversity workshop in her school district that included and relied on the cooperation of almost every type of leader and member of the community. They all gathered at the local high school and immediately dug into the issue of diversity in schools.
After learning about Brown vs. the Board of Education, the landmark Supreme Court case that allowed blacks to be integrated into white schools, I found some of the things that my mother told me, QUOTES from other teachers, to be really disappointing. The moderator asked the teachers what they thought about black and hispanic students. They thought that they were a) slow learners and therefore b) special education students c) behavior problems d) uninterested in school altogether e) products of single-family homes
All I have to say is wow. Sure, stereotypes are based in partial truth, but one cannot make an accurate and fair assertion about an entire group of people just based on the color of his or her skin. It's ridiculous. Unfortunately, teachers are the people who influence children whether we'd like to believe it or not. We learn from them, right? So it makes it that much more disturbing to see that teachers are almost willing to give up on Black and Hispanic students right away, because they've made a negative assumption based on color. Isn't that interesting? That is why, one teacher also mentioned, teachers are especially by surprise when they walk into an AP class or any other type of gifted program with a black student sitting down. Yet, when they walk into a special education classroom and see a sea of black and hispanic faces, they just "shrug it off" because it's the norm, right?
Honestly, it seems like Brown vs. Board of Education has weakened in meaning and purpose. I don't live in the deep south where racial tension runs high. I live in a suburb, minutes away from New York City. If this is how teachers are thinking and acting, aren't we still living in a country where "segregated education" is ok? Sure, we might all be sitting in the same classroom together, but if the teacher is only focused on her white students because she automatically thinks that they want to learn more than her black students, then it makes no difference. The last time I checked, teachers were supposed to be the thankless members of society who taught us because they wanted to inspire us, give us the gift of freedom through knowledge, provide us with the weapons of change for our generation... so the last thing they should be doing is teaching one way to a white kid and another way to a black kid. The classroom, of all places, should be an institution based in equality. This, America, is a problem.
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This turns my stomach! I can't wait for people who think that way to retire and make way for people with a more realistic view of the world! Unfortunately, I know they aren't all retirement age. It is disgusting how biased some teachers are, and how willing they are to sit mired in their biases. I mean, we all have biases, but teachers have a responsibility to examine theirs, try to understand them, and set them aside in the classroom! We are never going to close the achievement gap with teachers like that! Ugh!
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
You'd think that these negative stereotypes would increase a teacher's obligation to level the playing field-- to make a more concerted effort to inform and motivate. But I often forget people have their own prejudices-- the sort of prejudices that would prohibit this sort of empathy.
The Once-ler: Well, what do you want? I should shut down my factory, fire a hundred-thousand workers? Is that good economics, is that sound for the country?
I know no matter white or black education is different between school systems.
When I went to school the county had a different learning system than the city. It was totally different.
Published Author and Poet
Teacher Education Student.