Is schooling equitable?
When we look at our current school system, we would hope that we can confidently say that all our students get treated the same and have the same schooling experience. Unfortunately, for students of color, that is just not the case. The school experience for children of color is drastically different than their classmates who happen to be white. In the article Why We Need Black Teachers, it states that although students of color are expected to make up about 56% of the student population, teachers are still predominantly white. The problem with this is that when children of color are being taught only by white teachers, they are being subject to isolation in the classroom, more severe punishment than their white classmates, and constant surveillance from their teachers (from How School Systems Make Criminals of Black Youth). Rita Pierson explains that teachers need to be able to connect with their students in order for them to learn, saying "no significant learning can occur without a significant relationship". If these white teachers are treating the black youth like they need to "try harder", are not as capable, and have more behavioral problems than their white classmates, how do we expect them to learn? If we do not encourage students of color that their voice matters, we are not truly connecting with our students. Currently, our school systems are still not equitable for our students of color. We must do better to ensure that our Black and Hispanic youth are given the same opportunities as their white classmates.
Hi Willow! I loved your response and all of the information you included. I agree that equality is the hope but not a reality and we need to work better. I think we can do this not only with more black teachers but more inclusive white teachers. As a white female teacher I know that I am going into a field as the majority and I cannot change this fact but I hope to immerse myself in my students culture more in order to prevent such a harsh color line. I have been learning in another class that it should not be the job of students and their families to immerse themselves in my culture but the other way around. In doing this I can create deeper relationships which like u mentioned is so important to children's learning. In order to create deeper relationships with students we need to create topics of conversation and allowing students to talk about themselves will boost confidence.
ReplyDeleteHi Willow! I want to start off by saying that I thoroughly enjoyed reading your blog post! I love when I can read something and immediately tell that a lot of thought and effort went into what I am reading. That is exactly how your post made me feel. One thing that you said really stood out to me and it is that equality is a hope and not a reality. This sums up that equality is something that we as educators are always going to be working towards. I also really enjoyed Rita Pierson's video. It made me think about my own experience as a preschool teacher. She said that students do not want to learn from someone who they have no connection to, and I have seen the evidence to that in my own classroom. My students are always eager to learn about something that connects me to them, and although they are only two, I think that this information applies to all students.
ReplyDeleteHello willow! I actually really loved your response and the topic you chose to focus on because i can relate to it on a deeper level. All throughout school majority of my teachers were white even when I lived in a majority black neighborhood. I did feel like there were harsher punishments as one of my elementary schools still paddled kids who misbehaved or for any various reason. I got paddled once for not being in dress code because I had lost my free dress pass. I also loved the part where you said teachers and students need to connect for learning to maximized and black students can't possibly be learning either that they should know without enough black teachers. Thank you so much for your response!
ReplyDeleteHi Willow, I completely agree with you. So many black students are being ignored and wrongfully punished in classrooms. We as teachers need to recognize that there are these inequities among the students and try to do our best to fight it. Students need someone who is there for them, they need to have a teacher that cares and is there to help them in any way they can. This cannot happen when the teacher holds the black kids to a different standard than all the rest. Our students of color deserve to have the best experience that they can in a classroom. How can we help spread the word that these students need help getting the treatment they deserve?
ReplyDeleteHi Willow, I agree I think that if we are constantly discouraging kids of color and only reprimanding them by saying they need to try harder, they will always feel discouraged and not learn. They won't want to learn. I agree we need to be teachers that are able to connect with our students and form a relationship that is healthy and constructive in order to create students that are hard workers and want to learn..
ReplyDelete