We Need to Talk about Racism

I got involved in a Twitter conversation yesterday that got me thinking about some of the main biases we have as educators and how we don't even know we have them much of the time.  They cover everything from how we think teachers should dress to what strategies we prefer to use to the decisions we make about students.

Let me get a couple of things out of the way first:

• Especially in the United States, we teach and learn within a racist system that was founded in racism and still hasn't done the hard work necessary to change and root that out.
• Many of the strategies we see in American education come from that racist history.  Some strategies reinforce the dominant white culture, and some are more inclusive.  
• Due to conservatives running things in most states and on the federal level (as well as Democrats falling for much of the corporate, conservative line when it comes to education), our schools are more segregated than ever.
• The United States has one of the highest child poverty rates of the industrialized nations.  Poverty during childhood leads to trauma and has all kinds of effects on the developing brain (Here is a great resource for learning and understanding more about this and its impact in the classroom).  More children of color are poor than white children, especially First Nations children, black children, and Latinx children. 
• Poor students of color are more likely to attend segregated schools with high poverty rates than white children.  This is due, in large part, to racism keeping the racist system going.

Due to the fact that we are still dealing with the fallout of colonialism and slavery and that our education system is a part of the overall systemic racism endemic to life in the United States, we need to talk about what that can mean in the classroom.

Let me be clear: using the best strategies and classroom setup for our students so that they have the best chance to be successful is what we professionals are supposed to do.  It is not our primary job to reinforce the system.  Our primary job is to teach the students we have, not the ones we wish we had, and to provide the right kind of learning environment they need to be successful.  If we teach in a way that works for one culture but not all of the cultures in our classroom, then we aren't teaching our students correctly.  Using a particular teaching strategy just because it is what we grew up with or because we personally like it is not enough: we need to reflect on our teaching practices, why we use the ones we do, and whether or not they are the best strategies for our particular students.

One argument I have run into repeatedly from teachers is that we have to get our students ready for the real world, so that means we should teach in this way or that.  While I agree with that argument at its core (we need to get kids ready for the real world), I disagree with how it is usually implemented in the classroom.  We don't need to toughen our students up.  Our students have grit in spades, thank you.  They need their classrooms to be safe, supportive learning spaces, not harsh spaces filled with microaggressions.  Students of color need safe spaces in which they can grow and learn and ultimately develop the skills and knowledge base they need for the real world.  They live in the real world already, and their families work hard to teach them those survival skills.  Our job is to teach them the rest in a supportive environment.

Another common argument is that, if we change our teaching strategies so that they work better for our students of color, culturally responsive teaching, we are babying our students and being racist by having lower expectations.  Culturally responsive teaching (CRT) done right is not being racist: it is providing that safe, supportive environment in which our students of color can best learn.  That isn't racism, reverse racism, or privilege.  That's good teaching.  CRT does not mean lower expectations at all (students are still expected to work hard, get good grades, behave properly for the given situation), just that students get the strategies they need to have the best chance of success.

Let's look at one strategy for maintaining order in the classroom and seeing which students understand the directions or material and which don't: eye contact.  In the dominant white culture in the US, it is a sign of disrespect not to make eye contact with a teacher so as to show that one is respectfully listening (i.e. "One, two, three, eyes on me").  This is not the case for all cultures.

For example, in the Diné Nation (Navajo), it is a sign of disrespect for a student to make direct eye contact with a teacher.    When white teachers do not reflect on their cultural biases and learn about cultural differences, they can do a real disservice to their students and their classes when they force Diné students to make eye contact.  The students don't want to be disrespectful, and so many end up feeling torn.  Requiring students to act in a disrespectful manner just because your culture says otherwise does not help lead to positive outcomes.

It is similar with autistic students; it can be physically painful for autistics to make eye contact, so when a teacher requires it, that teacher is causing their student pain and possibly triggering a fight/flight/freeze response and an increase in adrenaline, which we know hampers the creation of neuronal connections in the brain.  It seems like such a little thing, but making eye contact is a cultural thing, not a required behavior for life and definitely not if it keeps a student from learning the needed skills and material.

We teachers use many strategies that, ultimately, are rooted in the culture we come from.  It is not our job to demand students conform to the dominant white culture: it is our job to provide a safe learning environment for all students.  Little things, from requiring eye contact to using proximity (another culturally based practice to modify student behavior) can actually be microaggressions and create a negative learning environment.  

CRT is not about lowering expectations, babying students, or engaging in reverse racism: it is about using the best strategies for our students and providing the environment they need in which to grow and learn best.  We teach students, all students, and it is wrong to force students to conform to the dominant white culture's preferred strategies and cultural norms because it can impede their learning and teach them that they aren't safe in their schools.  If we truly want all of our students to succeed, we will engage in the necessary self reflection and use CRT to better teach our students.