Teachers Expressing Racism in Public Schools? That's Not New...
Teachers Expressing Racism in Public Schools? That’s Not New…
The irony is almost comical.
The New York Amsterdam News released an article discussing how a teacher was fired due to racist comments she made. The teacher stated that “African-Americans were lazy[and] Hispanics were working class[and] white people could no longer afford to live in New Jersey”. She also said that “Asians were smarter and economically savvier than anyone else”(Townes)
This article is from August of 2013. Now you’re thinking, “a teacher would never say anything like that today”, and that is where you are wrong.
In November of 2022, a white, middle school teacher in Texas told his students, "he was “ethnocentric” and thought his race was “superior,” he attempted to explain his position by arguing that he was hardly the only person who held such a view."
If saying this statement in the first place wasn't bad enough, the fact that he tried to defend it makes it worse.
Teachers and staff in schools have racial biases when it comes to students whether it is voluntary or involuntary.
When you think of racism in public schools, you probably think of students being racist to each other. This is unacceptable by itself, but it becomes even more of a complication when teachers are being racist to their students. They might not even realize they are doing so, but that is part of the problem as well. Rowhea Elmesky and Olivia Marcucci said it best: “The key difference is they verbalize those negative views in less obvious ways…”
Caucasian Teacher Yelling at Black students
One way that teachers can express racial biases without realizing it is stereotyping. Teachers tend to stereotype students while discussing their families. Focus groups were formed to discuss culture, experiences, and classroom discipline with teachers and students. Teachers who participated in the focus groups had conversations that had micro-aggressions in them that they probably didn’t even notice. A conversation that was had was about how some student’s parents are too busy working to look after their students. A white teacher at the school was talking in regards to what their ex-vice president( a Black man) had said about when he went to school when he said, “‘Maybe they didn’t have such a successful high school experience, so they don’t have the tools that some of the other kids-we still have a few of them, fortunate to have a number in my classes’”.
This is a large racial stereotype. To have the mindset that students of color today are misbehaving because their parents didn’t have a successful high school experience is outright wrong. There could be many other factors as to why children are misbehaving including mental health issues, a medical disability, or quite simply if they are having a bad day. To jump straight to blaming their parents is racist if they know it or not.
Teacher’s biases also affect their decisions on discipline and class placement. It has been proven by research that “black students are less likely to be placed in gifted education classes and more likely to receive exclusionary discipline(such as detentions and suspension) when they have white teachers”.
I have witnessed this firsthand in my own personal experiences. Students of color get harsher discipline than white students when it comes to the same punishment. It shouldn’t have to be said that all students should be treated the same, even when it comes to punishments. This is another simple way that racism creeps into the education system.
Some teachers also “have far lower expectations for black students than they do for white students, which can contribute to high school graduation and college enrollment rates”. To expect lower or higher of a student because of their race is in fact racist. All students and teachers should have their own personal goals for what they want to achieve. To have these expectations of a student because of their skin color is completely idiotic and is making us regress as a society.
A common micro-aggression that I have heard too many times to count from teachers is “Oh I love your hair, is it real?” or “Your hair is just so beautiful. I wish I had hair like that, I wouldn’t know what to do with myself!”
Let’s think about that for a second. It seems like these are compliments that someone should just accept and move on with, but there is a backhanded insult thrown in there. To ask someone if their hair is real or not is none of their business to be frank. It also makes the assumption that they are incapable of pulling off that hairstyle without it being fake. Teachers should simply say “I like your hair” to make the student feel confident in themselves and leave it at that. To ask if it is real or not makes the student second-guess their appearance on a day to day basis.
Even though their intentions might be good, “good intentions are not enough”.
Some might say that teachers don’t know that they are committing these “subtle” acts of racism. To be fair, some teachers honestly might not know what they are doing. It could be “normal” in their environment so they don’t see anything wrong.
It is time though to learn what is right and what is wrong.
These misdemeanors should no longer be happening. Teachers should be educated in different cultural backgrounds so they know what is acceptable to say or ask and what is not. Some “districts have started to hold trainings that aim to make their teachers aware of their conscious biases and reflect on how to change their behaviors in the classroom”(Will). This is an excellent and necessary first step to prevent these biases.
Simply being educated and aware of personal preferences and biases will create a better learning environment for everyone. Students of color will feel more included and understood if their teachers know more about who they are and where they came from, and teachers will be able to view all students equally without unconscious(or conscious) biases clouding their judgment.
Schools love to preach about diversity, equity and inclusion, but it isn’t until the staff is following this as well as the students that we will end up making changes for the good in the future.
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