Commentary: Issues of curriculum and bias
In many schools curricula intentionally avoids discussion of structural racism and why teachers need to reflect on implicit bias.
In the text there is a reference to the book Lies My Teacher Told Me by James W. Loewen, (2007) published by Touchtone Books, division of Simon and Schuster.
Transcript
Greetings friends and colleagues, this is the Thoughtful Teacher Podcast: I am Scott Lee. I hope you are safe and well. As we continue to consider the problems of racial inequality in U.S. schools, I would like to discuss some practical matters. I was recently invited to conduct a workshop focused on approaching issues of race and inequality with students. It is not a new topic for me to facilitate, but it with recent events it is certainly both timely, but also difficult. In the past when I facilitated such a workshop, I have tended to only use the term “equity”, this time was different as I specifically used the terms “racism” and “structural racism”. There is a very specific reason for this, school administrators usually wish to avoid talking about race and the underlying reasons why social class has been stratified in this country. I don’t want to blame school administrators for this-their job is fraught with political minefields that make avoiding some topics the safest course of action. I also don’t want to get into the reasons for this now, but schools and school systems have a long history of avoiding such topics; if you would like to dive deeper into why schools avoid topics of race and social class start by reading Michael Loewen’s book Lies My Teacher Told Me. But the problem remains that there is a lack of will to discuss why we are where we are. This is a problem we are facing within our entire school setting.
I used to teach history and social studies (as well as exceptional education) and I am just as guilty as any teacher of not including the important things in the curriculum. Students can complete an entire K-12 school experience and never critically consider why slavery existed in the United States and some of our graduates might even think that no one was opposed to the institution until the US Civil War. Students could complete school and never realize that President Andrew Jackson committed war crimes while he was president. It is also possible that students could complete school without realizing that baseball was at least somewhat integrated until as late as 1887. There is rarely the mention of the Civil Rights Act of 1866-and yes that date is correct, federal civil rights legislation had been in place for 98 years before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed; it was simply not enforced. Many students never seriously study the purpose and effects of lynching and might possibly never even hear about the nationwide racially motivated violence of the Red Summer of 1919. It is also possible for a student to complete high school without knowing that for most of the 20th century Federal Housing Authorities required real estate developers and realtors to segregate neighborhoods as a qualifying requirement for housing subsidies. Without serious study of these and many events that are either under-discussed or not discussed at all in schools, we can never really help students to understand the context of structural racism that we still deal with today.
But improving curriculum content in social studies, civics and humanities classes is not the only thing that is necessary. As educators we need to all work on becoming aware of implicit bias and how it affects our work with students. Briefly, implicit bias is that set of attitudes and beliefs that we all possess, but are often unconscious in nature. Educators (as all people do) send unintentional social cues to students based on our own biases. How students perceive an educator directly affects the student-educator relationship. Everything an educator says and does will affect whether trust is built or voided. So, it is imperative that all educators learn about and internalize a thoughtful understanding of how each of our actions is sensitive to the needs of each student. This is not easy work, but educators around the country are doing it. The New York City Public Schools are facilitating professional development workshops for every teacher in the district and other systems are doing this work as well. Because high quality, trusting relationships with students is the only way that, as educators, we reach the goals we have for achievement. It just does not happen any other way.
I know this is lot to digest as we look toward a school year that is going to be turned upside down because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But the problems we are facing with race and equity for all students are not going away. As a matter of fact, these problems with race and equity have been with us for much of the history of public education, the difference is now there is no school board left in the country that can pretend that these problems do not exist. In addition to the various changes that are taking place in an effort to keep all students and all school staff safe during the pandemic, it is also time to advocate and demand for change regarding equity for all students. This means that all school stakeholders need to give voice that history, civics and humanities curriculum content is currently inadequate. Many teachers, as well as myself, have voiced this in the past, but now the public’s greater interest will make it harder for policymakers and their lobbyists to ignore. More importantly, as a profession we need to say that we will individually understand and hold ourselves accountable for becoming more aware of our own implicit bias and do our part in improving practice regarding implicit bias. In addition, we should demand that professional development reflect this need and that policy at the school and system levels will change. We must say that social justice, improving equity and eliminating structural racism will not be an afterthought but will only follow student safety as primary goal of every school improvement plan and professional development plan.
Our communities are counting on us and more importantly our students must have these changes if we really want them to be successful and hopeful for their futures.
This is the Thoughtful Teacher Podcast, I am Scott Lee. Once again friends and colleagues stay safe and stay well. Let’s not sit on the sidelines.
This has been episode number 15. The Thoughtful Teacher Podcast is hosted and produced by R. Scott Lee who retains copyright and is responsible for content. Transcript and notes are available at our website thoughtfulteacherpodcast dot com. Underwriting and sponsorship opportunities or other inquiries may also be made on our website thoughtfulteacherpodcast dot com. Please follow The Thoughtful Teacher Podcast on Twitter @drrscottlee
