Some days are just a waste of makeup...
So yesterday I had to go to a conference on Positive Behavior Support, a program that my school is running. It's all about using Positive Reinforcement to effect a change in student behavior. I understand how it works, and totally support the program. However, we spent half of the morning on learning how to make a pyramid graph in Excel and the other half "discussing" (read: listening to a speaker drone on... Bueller, Bueller...) the discrepancy in the statistics for Suspensions. Um, definitely not positive, because (1) they gave us a handout that told us how to make the pyramid chart in the most idiot-proof language possible. It featured screen-captured pictures. My three year old could have followed it; and (b) they didn't tell us anything we didn't already know: the suspension rate for black students is disproportionately higher than that of white, hispanic, and asian students. What they didn't do was go into any detail (and they could have, believe me, they had the information) about why the suspension rate is so much higher. Are black students "targeted" or are they just disruptive?
It's always a sticky topic, racism. As a teacher of the pale persuasion, I'm always careful about equity - do I praise a student more because of their color? Are my academic expectations higher or lower because of color? Behaviorally, do I expect different things of the different races? Do I make more allowances for students of a certain race? All of these questions are tricky, because your first instinct is to say NO, unequivocally. Because, as a teacher, you're supposed to have the same high standards for everyone, regardless of their race, religion, or gender. Yesterday, however, we were exposed to a different view. One that I don't totally agree with.
There is a paradigm shift in Multicultural Education (oh, I can just hear Professor Plum and my friend and fellow educator Dave banging their heads now) away from the "equality" and "color-blindness" of yesterday toward "equity" and "self-evaluation" of tomorrow. We're supposed to look at equity now - no longer do we have the same standards for everyone, but we need to examine the students' culture and assist them in a culturally-appropriate manner to reach the standard. Reading from the slides, one should ask "Is my work contextualized in a bigger social picture than incorporates the history of oppression experienced by a variety of individuals and groups?" and "Does every student who walks into our schools have an opportunity to achieve to her or his fullest regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, socioeconomic status, first language, (dis)ability, and other social and cultural identifiers?"
Ok, here's the deal - NO, I don't contextualize and include the history of everyone's oppression. I do talk about oppression in North Africa when the French decided to colonize it, but that's because it pertains to my subject (I teach French, by the way). I talk about the German occupation of France during the Wars, but that's because it pertains to my subject. I don't talk about oppression in general, because it is not germane. When I teach children to conjugate verbs, I don't have to contextualize it into a bigger picture that incorporates the history of oppression (yeah, generations of schoolchildren have been oppressed and made to memorize verb endings...). And students who walk into our school all have the same opportunities. People who don't work in education often don't realize the variety of programs offered and accommodations made for students who don't fit the traditional mold. The opportunities are there waiting for students to take advantage of them. It only takes a parent to ask or a teacher to recommend.
But I digress. Here's the deal: you can certainly tell me that racism exists. I won't cavil. But I don't think that you can tell me to treat students differently because of the history of oppression in their culture. How do I know what their culture is? Not everyone that looks a certain way has the same culture. People are individuals. Children from the same parents and household are different - sometimes radically so. So how are you going to differentiate between cultures?
It all comes down to getting to know your students. This is not a new idea!!! Good teachers have been doing this for centuries. You don't have to cater to anyone's "culture." You don't have to spend any more time dwelling on the unfortunate circumstances of everyone's ancestors. What you do have to do, is get to know your students. Learn each individual's strengths and weaknesses. If a student needs extra help, offer that student extra help - you don't need to offer help to everyone that you perceive shares the same "culture" on the basis that it's part of their history of oppression. You'd be wasting your time and insulting the students who didn't need it.
I feel that this kind of outlook, although well-intentioned, only serves to cultivate the victim mentality in our young people. It gives them what they feel is a legitimate excuse to not try their best. It also irritates the crap out of most teachers. Why? Well ask yourself: why did most of us become teachers? For the money? Hah. For the glamour? Right. For the low stress level? Sure. For the light workload? Whatever. I can't speak for everyone, but I think that most teachers, like me, got into this profession because we genuinely care about young people and want to teach them what they need to know to succeed. A victim mentality will ill serve our students when they graduate and have to get a job. Can you picture me telling my boss that I can't possibly turn in my grades on time because my grandmother dropped out of school to get married when she was 16, and we don't have a great history of education in my family culture? Yeah, that'd fly.
I'm not saying that students should not get to know and honor their heritage. That is very important to me. What is beyond the pale, is to dwell on it so much that it gives students the idea that they can rely on that "history of oppression" to get them anywhere in life. Recognize it and honor it, but don't let it get in the way of your striving to do your best every day of your life.
So what was this diatribe saying about my day? I didn't feel that the conference yesterday was Positive. This was taking place at a Positive Behavior Support seminar, and it didn't address the positive. It brought me, and others, down. I felt like a part of the evil oppressive majority, holding others down, when all I ever strive to do is build people up. Am I oversensitive? Probably. But I'm honest. And this day was a total waste of makeup.
It's always a sticky topic, racism. As a teacher of the pale persuasion, I'm always careful about equity - do I praise a student more because of their color? Are my academic expectations higher or lower because of color? Behaviorally, do I expect different things of the different races? Do I make more allowances for students of a certain race? All of these questions are tricky, because your first instinct is to say NO, unequivocally. Because, as a teacher, you're supposed to have the same high standards for everyone, regardless of their race, religion, or gender. Yesterday, however, we were exposed to a different view. One that I don't totally agree with.
There is a paradigm shift in Multicultural Education (oh, I can just hear Professor Plum and my friend and fellow educator Dave banging their heads now) away from the "equality" and "color-blindness" of yesterday toward "equity" and "self-evaluation" of tomorrow. We're supposed to look at equity now - no longer do we have the same standards for everyone, but we need to examine the students' culture and assist them in a culturally-appropriate manner to reach the standard. Reading from the slides, one should ask "Is my work contextualized in a bigger social picture than incorporates the history of oppression experienced by a variety of individuals and groups?" and "Does every student who walks into our schools have an opportunity to achieve to her or his fullest regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, socioeconomic status, first language, (dis)ability, and other social and cultural identifiers?"
Ok, here's the deal - NO, I don't contextualize and include the history of everyone's oppression. I do talk about oppression in North Africa when the French decided to colonize it, but that's because it pertains to my subject (I teach French, by the way). I talk about the German occupation of France during the Wars, but that's because it pertains to my subject. I don't talk about oppression in general, because it is not germane. When I teach children to conjugate verbs, I don't have to contextualize it into a bigger picture that incorporates the history of oppression (yeah, generations of schoolchildren have been oppressed and made to memorize verb endings...). And students who walk into our school all have the same opportunities. People who don't work in education often don't realize the variety of programs offered and accommodations made for students who don't fit the traditional mold. The opportunities are there waiting for students to take advantage of them. It only takes a parent to ask or a teacher to recommend.
But I digress. Here's the deal: you can certainly tell me that racism exists. I won't cavil. But I don't think that you can tell me to treat students differently because of the history of oppression in their culture. How do I know what their culture is? Not everyone that looks a certain way has the same culture. People are individuals. Children from the same parents and household are different - sometimes radically so. So how are you going to differentiate between cultures?
It all comes down to getting to know your students. This is not a new idea!!! Good teachers have been doing this for centuries. You don't have to cater to anyone's "culture." You don't have to spend any more time dwelling on the unfortunate circumstances of everyone's ancestors. What you do have to do, is get to know your students. Learn each individual's strengths and weaknesses. If a student needs extra help, offer that student extra help - you don't need to offer help to everyone that you perceive shares the same "culture" on the basis that it's part of their history of oppression. You'd be wasting your time and insulting the students who didn't need it.
I feel that this kind of outlook, although well-intentioned, only serves to cultivate the victim mentality in our young people. It gives them what they feel is a legitimate excuse to not try their best. It also irritates the crap out of most teachers. Why? Well ask yourself: why did most of us become teachers? For the money? Hah. For the glamour? Right. For the low stress level? Sure. For the light workload? Whatever. I can't speak for everyone, but I think that most teachers, like me, got into this profession because we genuinely care about young people and want to teach them what they need to know to succeed. A victim mentality will ill serve our students when they graduate and have to get a job. Can you picture me telling my boss that I can't possibly turn in my grades on time because my grandmother dropped out of school to get married when she was 16, and we don't have a great history of education in my family culture? Yeah, that'd fly.
I'm not saying that students should not get to know and honor their heritage. That is very important to me. What is beyond the pale, is to dwell on it so much that it gives students the idea that they can rely on that "history of oppression" to get them anywhere in life. Recognize it and honor it, but don't let it get in the way of your striving to do your best every day of your life.
So what was this diatribe saying about my day? I didn't feel that the conference yesterday was Positive. This was taking place at a Positive Behavior Support seminar, and it didn't address the positive. It brought me, and others, down. I felt like a part of the evil oppressive majority, holding others down, when all I ever strive to do is build people up. Am I oversensitive? Probably. But I'm honest. And this day was a total waste of makeup.
posted by Peevish McSnark at
9:37 AM
1 Comments:
Fabulous post, Bronwen. (Can you tell I'm enjoying catching up with the blog?) My brother teaches high school agriculture (horticulture, animal studies, that sort of thing) and it's a vocational program so he probably gets somewhat different students than you do, but he complains about similar things, particularly with respect to the school administration.
Irritating case in point: A couple years ago, his class was busy doing some plant cuttings and one girl had some money stolen from out of her purse. A witnesss saw who did it (a black student). Now in the family in which my brother and I were raised, a)everyone is treated equally regardless of race and b) stealing is always wrong. The problem is, the administration wouldn't punish the student because, in their words "the money was not being guarded, so in 'their' culture that's ok." Excuse me? I don't care what culture you are in (or may come from), stealing is wrong. I think that making excuses for a race because of "culture" is almost the equivalent of setting lower standards for them, which as you said is hardly the way to encourage success.
Just my 2 coppers.
-
Melstra
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Anonymous, At
3:29 PM
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