Two representations of black masculinity are widespread in society and school today…as a criminal and as an endangered species(320). They are seen as mirror images, either way they are responsible for their fate(323). This is a harsh depiction of boys just wanting to be boys. Unfortunately for black boys, the color of their skin necessitates that their actions be seen as actions of deviant adults by a lens that is and has been altered by affluent whites for centuries.
The status quo won’t change anytime soon, what can change is the way that we treat students, regardless of their race, gender, or socio-economic status. As teachers we owe it to the children, as well as their parents and local community to be as fair as possible when dealing with discipline issues. Over the last few weeks we’ve witnessed numerous presentations that highlighted good techniques, based on a number of studies, to deal with children. We could research what psychologists and sociologists have said over the years on the topic of student-teacher relationships, but in the end I think I’ll just treat everybody as I would like to have been treated as a middle schooler.
The golden rule is more important to me than what these studies could ever recommend. I was once a student and I think I can translate that knowledge into molding the minds and attitudes of children at that very tumultuous time of their life. No two kids aren’t the same, but we do need to see them through the same unbiased lens.
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Yes, this is a very similar aspect which I took out of the article. Our system tends to highlight the negative aspects of students, as seen in schools where academic tracking dominate. In particular, African American and any student of minority status for that matter, students are often the largest portion of those students who are shown injustice in their education. We need to make changes, but the question is where do we start.
ReplyDeleteI talked about this in my post as well. Students need to be viewed as individuals, separate from their skin color, economic status, etc. Many of you have probably read the article by Peggy McIntosh about white privilege. She argues that black males especially are seen as representatives of the entire population of blacks. What they do or say is seen as characteristic of all black males. This is poisonous everyone but especially in the classroom. Everyone is an individual and needs to be treated that way.
ReplyDeleteya the golden rule pretty much seems like the way to go. The only problem i see though is that I see a conflict with saying that every child needs to be treated equally and then saying that every child is an individual. In the little classroom experience I have had so far, I have observed that different kids need different treatment to stop them from doing unwanted behavior. some you can solve by giving them a look and others you have to walk over to them and yell. I think the main point is to treat kids fairly and not like delinquents.
ReplyDeleteI think you hit the nail right on the head. We can spend all day examining this study or that scholar, but in the end, the decision of how to discipline one's students is extremely personal. I realize that teachers are not able to exercise complete autonomy; certainly there are certain aspects of the "system" that foster discrimination, but what really matters is the collective actions of individual teachers. We must also be skeptical about how these studies report their findings based on the conduct of "teachers". We're not talking about teachers; we're talking about people. One is not, or at least should not, defined by the particular role he/she occupies. What's lacking in those who don't properly discipline their students is commonsense, not a lack of information.
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