Blog #2: Race & Ethnicity

The issue of ethnicity and race, and especially the role it plays in the educational setting, can be a very touchy subject. As the text mentioned, many teachers claim they are "color-blind" in that they do not see a student's color or treat them differently because of their race. To many educators, there is a consensus that race "shouldn't matter" or "doesn't matter." But despite what we want to see or not see, whether we claim to color-blind or not, race and ethnicity do and should matter. Simply ignoring students' differences only strips them of their identity, racial, ethnic, or otherwise. Harry A. Blackmun, former Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, once said, “In order to get beyond racism, we must first take account of race. There is no other way. And in order to treat some persons equally, we must treat them differently.” With that being said, I think we must find the balance between treating students differently but also fairly.

This school year, the district I work in hired someone to come in to do trainings specifically targeted on how to work with African-American students. He was brought in after statistics showed a larger percentage of African-American students were being put in alternative education settings, were being referred for more behavioral problems, and were lagging behind in academics. I was very open-minded about the training, and hoped to learn something from it. But what I hoped to be a productive and educational experience turned out to be something much more different. First of all, the person who conducted the training first came in prior to and interviewed teachers and students; but only the African-American students. I thought this was odd considering African-American students comprise less than 13% of the entire district’s student demographic makeup, and only 7% at my specific campus. I felt like if you’re going to ask students how they feel about racism in their school, it would only be fair to ask students of all groups how they feel. They large majority of our students, 68.75% are Hispanic, yet this study was only focusing on African-American student perceptions. The way the interviews conducted seemed odd, but some of my colleagues were even offended by this. They thought we were not getting a true picture of student perceptions of racism in the schools, only one group. Furthermore, the training was so focused on treating the African-American students differently that it almost neglected all other students. It seemed to focus on how this one group of students is so different, and they must be treated very differently, not how we can address the diverse needs of all our students. For me the training just seemed biased and it was uncomfortable, and other teachers also expressed feelings of frustration, offense, and discomfort. I’m glad my district is aware of racial issues and making efforts to train teachers to deal with those issues, but I was disappointed to find that this specific training, overall, was anything but productive. I left wondering, What can we do to make sure we are treating and teaching all students in a way that will yield the highest student success? How can we create a classroom environment that feels welcoming to students of all races and ethnicities? 

For me, I think of race as a person’s physical appearance and ethnicity as his/her national origins. I believe that a person’s race and ethnicity are part of his/her overall character and culture, but they’re only a small piece of the puzzle. When I look at a student, I see his/her physical race, it may make we wonder about his/her ethnic origins, but there is so much more to a person than those two factors. As teachers, we must see each student as an individual with unique characteristics, interests, learning styles, and cultures. We cannot treat all students the same because they are all different, but rather than be judgmental about differences we must learn to embrace these differences and teach the students to do likewise. Each student has something very special that they bring to the dynamic of the classroom. They all have their own stories, ideas, and perspectives on the world around them. Ignoring race and ethnicity will not make it go away; we must recognize it for what it is and use it as a way to celebrate individuality among our students. I think it’s very important to have open conversations about race and ethnicity with students because more often than not we can learn something from them. As time passes, each generation has a new perspective, understanding, and meaning of race/ethnicity and as teachers it is our duty to create a safe learning environment where students can talk openly about this and other issues of culture and diversity in the classroom.