In chapter 17, I struck with the following quote from psychiatrist Gloria Powell, "when peer acceptance is dependent upon how white-like one is, then education becomes a subtractive process, a relinquishing of cultural self-identity. Black students in predominantly white settings are often living bi culturally, straddling at least two worlds: black and white" (267). This quote immediately made me think of the high school I attended, as it was predominately white, with a few African Americans attending due to Chapter 220. I never even considered for a single second, what it must be like for the African American students to be coming to my high school every morning, until the tables were turned. Northwest Secondary School, (my middle school placement) is for the most part all black. I've been there a month and I've seen a handful of white students, and about 20 Asian students; even the administration is mostly black. I'll admit that at first I was intimidated, since this was the first time I was the minority.
But I have to say, at my school, race isn't much of an issue. Students and teachers treat everyone the same, which is awesome, because I know in some places that isn't always the case. What's interesting about this though, is that the students don't give other students a hard time about being black, rather, they give themselves a hard time. Many of my black students repeatedly make comments quietly to themselves or through their journal entries about how being black can really limit their success in this world, and that they need to work twice as hard as anyone else to really succeed. Hearing and reading these statements really upset me, because my students are only twelve, thirteen and fourteen years old and they already have fallen victim to the stereotypes out there. What makes it even more upsetting is that I see many students use this "stereotype/issue" as an excuse/reason to not even attempt work. My co-op tells them all the time how important school is and that the fact that they don't do their work is the real reason why they may not succeed-not because they're black. I don't' know, I guess this chapter made me realize how hard it may be for some of my students who are not confident in themselves and their skin color.
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5 years ago
5 comments:
I know what you mean about 220 schools. My high school was 220 and we had a few black kids at our school and like you I never really thought so much about it. Then one day I was talking to my internship coordinator about the racial make-up of my school and I said something along the lines of "well all the black kids sit together in the cafeteria." and she gave me the book "why all the black kids sit together in the cafeteria" and it opened my eyes to a lot of things that maybe you never realized growing up in a suburban, monoculture area. that same year at my school there were more expulsions and disciplinary actions taken due to racism then ever before in our schools history.
It also surprises me the very young kids that i work with that already have such negative views of their race. Kids at the age of 6 will say to me things like "well my no one in my family went to college, so I won't go." This identify forming begins early in life and if we don't focus on anti-oppressive education, then what sort of self-image will our kids have by the time they reach middle/high school (that is if they stay in school).
I agree that it is definitely troubling that sudents as young as you described are already feeling the affects of being 'black' in a white society, and it's sad but probably true that they will have to work harder. I find the problem especially troubling when I read things like the fact that some students are ostricized for getting good grades because they are "selling out." What do I do as a white teacher telling a black student that it's for his/her benefit to do well in school without comming across as simply "white"?
I think that these students are conditioned at an early age to think that everything is going to be harder for them. I guess my question is why do we do that to them? If you were told day one that everything in life was going to be twice as hard for you, don't you think that you would have started giving up at an early age too? I mean I do realize that they are going to have some things that will be more difficult for them because of their race, but I think that we just start pounding it into their heads so early and way to frequently.
"What makes it even more upsetting is that I see many students use this "stereotype/issue" as an excuse/reason to not even attempt work."
This quote from your posting is an issue I find incredibly troubling. And your coop is right in saying that it is because of not doing work, rather than skin color, that results in a poorer academic future. Kids need to start being exposed at a young age to the opportunities that an education will provide for them. And they need to be exposed to the positive rather than the negative aspects of their culture. Instead of the jail popuulation, let's talk to these kids about the percentage of black people in the workforce, in their own school's administration, in entertainment. Yes, these (the jail thing) are statistics we must face, but positive exposure needs to start happening so our students focus on what they CAN do, not what they can't.
Yes surely it must be tough for one to have to live a double-life. I have noticed the same thing in my currins 100 placement, that race is not so much an issue as it is sometimes in suburban schools. Well this is how it appeared to me, anyways. I have no way of knowing what the students and staff say behind closed doors. In any case, it is true that many African Americans have to work twice as hard due to the racial stereotypes that persist in the work place today. As Americans, we are among the worse when it comes to rights for workers. For example, in France they do not necessarily discriminate based on color. In contrast, American employers say that they don't when they clearly do.
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