Today in a staff meeting we spent almost two hours doing courageous conversation work. Courageous conversations is Seattle Public Schools label for talking about race and working to overcome the achievement gap. It’s hard because when talking about race, it is really easy to talk about class and special ed and all sorts of other factors. The truth is that if you look at it through the lens of race, it doesn’t look good. I don’t have the exact numbers, but something like 7% of the black and brown kids in SPS passed the 7th grade math WASL compared to like 55% of white kids. Statistics like that make it clear that something about being black or brown makes it difficult to succeed in Seattle Public Schools.
I don’t mind using black and brown and white in my language, as long as you know that I am talking about people of color. In groups in public, I usually use “European American” for white because it just a reminder to myself that white people are the dominant culture and that white does not mean transparent. Even though for white people who live in a dominant white culture, the white culture appears transparent.
What I am about to say is radical among educators. The problem is not the kids and it’s not their parents and it’s not their level of poverty. Those things don’t help any students become school savvy scholars and so can easily become scapegoats of a racial achievement gap.
The problem is that most teachers in SPS are white and that for most white teachers like me it takes more effort to teach kids of color. It requires that teachers go the extra mile to connect to their parents and cross the boundaries of fear around relating to a different culture. Race can be an added chasm between students and teachers. It may mean that I have to go the extra mile or two for a kid to help them or give them more attention or (gasp!) get to know them.
These things are scary for white teachers like me because I grew up in a white mono-culture that is dead set on maintaining the status quo. This culture of fear thrives on the idea that some people are like me and important and some people are not like me and are unimportant. I’m not saying that is my life view, I’m just pointing out the atmosphere I experienced in Bellevue in the 1980’s. (Can you tell I have some frustration with dominant white culture?)
I have around 10 kids of color out of 140 and I can tell you that I am not perfect. Being righteous like this reminds me that there are 4 or 5 of those kids that I have not taken the time to reach out to and make a better connection. I got my wake-up call this week when I entered my grades and noticed that, statistically, my kids of color are not doing as well as my white kids. I’ve only been here a few weeks, and I can only take partial responsibility for their grades, but I can tell you that I have gotten my wake up call. I can’t save the world or bridge the achievement gap for all the black and brown kids in the USA, but I can do more to support these students in my class in the next five months I have to teach here. I don’t want to be part of the racial achievement gap problem, I want to be part of the solution.
I’m not an expert on race, so I am reminding myself to speak from my personal experience and to avoid judging others.
For those of you who know me and have been in conversations about race and school, you know that I feel passionate about this issue. During the school-wide meeting today about race, I felt like I helped bring the conversation of race around to the issue of race and the dominance of white culture here at the school. One of my colleagues approached me after the meeting and said something to the effect of, “Wow, you’ve only been here a few weeks and you had the guts to bring up the issue of race in a conversation about race. You’re not afraid of getting fired are you?” He meant it as a compliment to my lack of fear around issues of race, but I took it as a warning. There are those out there who do not think the achievement gap is worth changing for and will never change their teaching styles to bridge the achievement gap. By bringing up the topic of race in a conversation about race, I fear that I may be branded here at my new school as someone who rocks the boat.
Latest Comments
RSS