Teaching about Racism

[jenninca]

OK, I have a situation to throw out at you here.

Every week, my class has a class meeting. We discuss whatever's on our minds (last week it was the tragedies, the week before it was their talking problem, etc.). This week, one child came to me and said he wanted to talk about racism. He thinks one of the class's other teachers is racist because the black kids get in trouble more often than the white kids.

I know the kids in question, and I know the teacher. It's not racism. It's that the kids in question are the ones that are quite often not doing what they were supposed to do.

We had a long discussion about how people make impressions of each other. I tried to get them to see that teachers get impressions of kids that are hard to change, but that didn't seem to sink in too well. Fortunately, we had to break for specials (I was running out of ideas), but we're continuing to talk later. Any brilliant thoughts on how to get them to see that they're getting in trouble because they're doing something wrong and not because they're black?

Cindy

[slick4591[$]]

Cindy,

I seem to get this a lot with my job, but usually from the parents. They walk up and say "The only reason you're doing this is because my child is ___________."

I just turn around and walk to the filing cabinet and start pulling files. I then show the parent the stack and start saying "white kid, hispanic kid, asian kid and so on..." Followed by "No discrimination here. We treat all delinquents the same."

I only get yelled at one outta five times.

[KateTPZ]

Cindy - your students are very lucky to have a teacher who cares so much. I have no real ideas for you, unfortunately. With my own boys (only 2 - far different from a class full!) I'll often try to draw comparisons between kids with certain hair colors, eye colors, or tall kids/short kids, for example, to explain racism and perceived racism. I'm not sure that'll help, but it's a thought.

[Workingmomof2]

What a tough situation. It would probably be easier if it were coming from a parent, and Slick's approach would work.

Talking directly to a child though - and I'm not sure how old the kid is - you have to be a little careful. It's never clear how much is coming from the child or from the parents. I think the straight forward approach (a modified version of Slick's) is the best - IMO - talk to them about following rules, and that while you aren't in the class to see exactly what happens, that this teacher is known for being strict about following the rules - and that race/religion/gender etc. aren't factors - just whether or not the rules are followed. You might also add in that it's very hard for someone to evaluate what's really happening as an outside third party, and if the students are feeling like there is a problem they shoudl address it directly. That's where you have to be careful though as you don't want to imply the kids are lying, which they may not be - but they may just seeing the level of discipline and drawing conclusions.

Sadly, there are a lot of people in positions of power who *do* make evaluations and treat people - children or adults - very differently depending on their skin color. Or religion, or sex, or sexual preference, or whatever. It's nice to have an opportunity to influence things the other way, and you're in a good position to do just that

Did that make any sense at all?

How old are these kids?

What if you gave them some homework? Have them keep a log of who gets in trouble and why. Have them also record when kids who don't get in trouble are doing things wrong. Also have them check if the teacher is looking away when the kids who aren't caught are doing wrong things.

It could be that the kids are right and some kids aren't getting reported. However, what it might be is that the kids who aren't caught only misbehave when the teacher looks away or is busy with something else. That doesn't mean that the teacher is racisst. That simply shows that at least some segment of the polulation has learned how to act up without getting caught.

I think it's cool that your students trust you enough to discuss this. Most kids wouldn't want to say anything for fear of the information getting back to the other teacher.