We got a new comment from a new person back at G2A What's wrong with you. And I think it is worth a new post. :-)
"How does one determine if an action is racist or simply demanding a high common standard of behavioral excellence from all students and parents?"
- Am I mildly racist for expecting excellence from all parent(s) no matter their race?
- Are you mildly racist for expecting less from the parent(s) who are racial minorities?
I am pretty sure the kids want parental excellence no matter who their parent(s) are.." G2A"I imagine some students are disruptive with one teacher and well behaved with another. This issue is not so simple as you seem to think. And getting you to understand about cultural differences and cultural competence is clearly not going to happen. Getting a more diverse teaching staff would be one step in the right direction." Laurie"I don’t really know if a disruptive kid would behave better for a teacher of a different race." Molly
24 comments:
I caught a little of this yesterday... It may be related. Or not... MPR Race Discussions
EN The Race Connection?
Root How Race Matters
This is from the 2nd link...
"Racial differences between the teacher and student population can matter. In a recent study with my Howard University colleague, Dr. Mercedes Ebanks, I analyzed the response patterns of 8,986 students who completed the National Crime Victimization Survey: School Crime Supplement of 2009. We found that black students were less likely to perceive empathy and respect from their teachers and more likely to view the school as a punitive learning environment than white students.
White students' response patterns demonstrated a structure whereby teacher empathy and respect were central to students' academic success, school safety had no measurable influence on teachers' compassion for their students, and teacher punishment had no measurable impact on students' grades. On the other hand, black students' response patterns reflected a dynamic whereby school safety significantly diminished the overall level of empathy and respect that students perceived from teachers, and punishment from teachers significantly reduced students' grades.
These results suggest that many teachers may be operating under an implicit association bias, whereby on a subconscious level, they may view black children as security risks. Researchers at Harvard University have found that many prejudicial attitudes operate beyond our conscious awareness. Nevertheless, they can negatively influence our judgments and behaviors."
What I find interesting is that they assign the difference to the behavior of the Teacher...
Why don't they mention that maybe the black children see the world differently from the white children due to beliefs and perspectives that were learned at home?
My point being that if from an early age one is taught that people "will treat you differently because of your skin color", one may be sensitive to any perceived slight.
This one is somewhat interesting.
WAPO White liberals dumb themselves down when they speak to black people, a new study contends
at my school both 5th grade classes were somewhat out of control. Mid year one teacher was let go and one teacher left. The small classes were combined and given to a Somali teacher and the misbehavior has pretty much stopped. We also have some very strong Caucasian classroom managers and anecdotes don't prove anything. btw we have one other Somali teacher who also has few behavior problems in her class.
Any thoughts regarding if:
- the kids behave better for the Somali teacher or
- if the Somali teacher is more tolerant of their behaviors?
The kids behave better because she is one of those teachers with a powerful personality and the students listen to her and follow directions. Some teachers manage the class by being overly mean but that is not her style. Being Somali may benefit her slightly in managing a class but mostly she is just a very good teacher.
I think that was the point of the links I provided.
Race / cultural sensitivity may matter a little, but having great teachers matters more.
A lot of information to digest in these links. It sounds like matching race to student could be helpful in improving performance.
Getting back to behavior, it would be interesting to talk to minority kids that are not getting suspended and see what their experience is like in the classroom and how they are successful.
Molly
This is an interesting piece
Another...
Molly,
That would be interesting, maybe I could ask the girls to reach out to their non-white friends.
To give a little background, my youngest of 3 daughters is a Sr at Armstrong High School. Which they all attended. Previously they were at Plymouth Middle School. Current School Data
Both are pretty diverse and that worked really well for the girls, they had friends from various races and income levels. Given our focus on academics and rule following, and their not being very rebellious, the kids they hung out were pretty aligned with those priorities. Usually when we attended academic awards ceremonies their core friends were there also.
From what I understand after talking with them is that there are cliques like at all schools. The nerds, the jocks, the druggies, the ghetto folk, etc. However from their perspective it seemed more related to beliefs and behavioral choices, and not race.
Totally unrelated maybe. But when the Black Hebrew Israelites were yelling at the Black Covington student. Was the racism or belief differences?
So in summary, how does one distinguish between racism and different behavior expectations?
From what I heard, the Black Hebrew Israelites we’re yelling at the Black Covington student because he was Catholic or belief differences.
Distinguishing between racism and different behavior expectations can be tricky. If you lower expectations and say for example it’s ok for this group of students to be tardy every day then you are not teaching life lessons and this could be a form of racism. Thomas Sowell talks about this in his book “Discrimination and Disparities.
Molly
Thomas Sowell Discrimination and Disparities
Seeing "Hoover Institute" involved makes me wonder about this guy, but he does have quite a history
White Fragility was mentioned in the MPR piece
John, curious as to why the Hoover Institute makes you wonder about Sowell.
Molly
From past interactions with their views, I see them to have a right leaning bias.
Not as far Right as Heritage apparently but worth remembering when evaluating their documents.
Just like when I checkout Brookings Info or the Urban Institute
I often use the data published by all of these sources, but I am very careful to take their opinions and views with a large grain of salt. :-)
Since mys leanings land somewhere in the middle and I am an engineer, I tend to pick apart everything I read.
Both tribes seem intent on winning by crushing the other.... Though I usually vote GOP, lately I am pretty tribeless. :-)
John,
Thanks for clarifying.
Molly
Curious. I am wondering why, since we do NOT want to say black students (like white students) individually have different abilities to learn, why we cannot suggest that black teachers may have differing abilities to teach? Skin color is NOT a teaching qualification. I can see why "cultural competence" might help in an ESL classroom, but not at the expense of the ability to teach the core subjects NOR to maintain discipline in a "culturally competent" way. Muslim kids might not show respect for a female teacher, for example (just guessing).
I guess I can not say that this true...
"Skin color is NOT a teaching qualification."
Everything comes back to what the kids need to stimulate their desire to learn...
Does having educated professional role models who look like them help? I think that is what the above research revolves around.
I will agree with you this far, that all other things being equal (which they never are) or even almost equal, having a teacher that "looks like them" can help. Having someone that looks, talks and acts like them is not educating them into the mainstream of society.
Yes. The teacher needs to be capable and professional.
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