Do I Have the Full Picture?
In this week's module we covered the importance of being taught in school the "full picture". When we are overlooking the history of our country we are leading our students to ignorance and dysconscious racism. In our module we learn from Joyce King that dysconscious racism "describes the habits, perceptions, attitudes, and beliefs that justify racial inequality". In our world today, there are so many micro-aggressions against people of color that are a direct result of dysconscious racism and not understanding how harmful these actions are. In our classrooms, are we teaching only a part of the full picture? In school, I never learned about the awful persecution and colonization of Native Americans. Many are still taught to believe that Native Americans "died out". In museums they often place the Native American exhibit next to the dinosaurs and other extinct species. Why? Because we are taught a part of the full picture. We are not taught that Native Americans were forced into submission by white Europeans to abandon their culture.
In the video we watched, "I Didn't Learn This in School", Victoria emphasizes the fact that we are often not taught the full picture. She explains how children in school are not taught the truth about the story of Ruby Bridges; that she was constantly threatened and persecuted just for being a person of color at an all white school. Crowds of people would protest desegregation by parading a black baby doll in a coffin. People would shout slurs at her as she walked into school. And the most surprising part: that this only happened 62 years ago. Why are we not taught about that? Why are we allowing people to overlook the history of oppression that people of color faced? When we are not teaching the full picture in our classrooms, we are choosing to walk in privilege and ignore the suffering that people of color have faced for generations.
Hi Willow, I really love your post. Before this unit I was unaware of the term dysconscious racism. I hadn't ever heard of the story of Ruby Bridges. Its baffling to see how much schools don't teach students regarding the history of people of color. It's easy to stay ignorant to these facts, as teachers we need to teach our students the full picture, we can't let this ignorance continue. Like you said these events happened only 62 years ago, there are people that are alive from that time, they are affected by these events, and we aren't even learning about them. As teachers how can we make sure that our students are learning about these events? How can we collectively make a change to the school system so that these topics are talked about and taught?
ReplyDeleteHello Willow, I enjoyed reading your blog about this topic. I agree that schools do only teach part of the picture, and maybe sometimes none of it. There are so many cultures/stories out there that are completely ignored because they don't fit the 'perfectly white American' mold, even though they are a part of America's history. Even though it isn't being talked about, not talking about it can also lead to ignorance. I really liked how you brought up the story about from video. It really makes it sink in for readers that this isn't just something that we believe is happening but there is in fact proof that this has happened in the past and more in the present. The only thing I want to know is what are some thing you would include in your curriculum that would open the doors to have more a better picture of the world around us?
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