Is Schooling Equitable?
Schooling is not equitable here in America and I don't believe it is equitable anywhere else in the world either. One reason is the existence of systemic racism. It exists just about everywhere humans inhabit. Some places are better than others, for sure, but it is woven into societies across the globe. How can something be fair, when the very society that it is built on is constructed with only part of the story, or a story that is assigned to someone, doesn't actually belong to them. Chimamanda Ngozi's video “The Danger of a Single Story” (2009), explained this idea so well. Our societies are built on assumptions of other cultures that are not as prevalent in our own. I think if we looked for the similarities we all had, vs. the things that make us different, we would see that many our assumptions as a society or group of people are indeed invalid.
Honoring individuals backgrounds and culture by incorporating them into lessons is truly where that 'single story' and systemic racism begins to fade, and children begin to participate and learn. This is just part of making the classroom a safe and comfortable environment. Dr. Love's Ted Talk brought fascinating evidence that this does work! And it ties beautifully into Rita Pierson's Ted Talk on creating an emotional, human connection with students. Creating confidence and showing you care is another vital piece of making the classroom an optimal learning experience for all children. So, while schooling in general is not equitable, your classroom sure can be!
Hi Christel,
ReplyDeleteWhat a great way to sum up the question! I especially love your final line. We can make our classrooms equitable and, really, it starts with small steps like this. Hopefully if we all develop classrooms of equity, it will spread until we do reach equity on a broader scale! I also found Chimamanda Ngozi's video to be very enlightening, especially when she talked about how even she had fallen for a single story view when she went to Mexico. None of us are going to be perfectly equitable all the time, part of the human experience is to fall short, but if we develop the mindset to always be open to new information and are able to incorporate it into understanding the people around us, we are heading in the right direction! What is important is that we model this kind of open communication with our students so that we can perpetuate an equitable school environment.
Thank you for reading my blog, Katy. Yes! Teachers modeling this kind of open communication is essential in moving towards more equitable schooling.
DeleteHi Christel! Your post was very eye opening and to the point. I think you really captured everything we’ve been learning from this module, especially the part where you explained how something cant be considered fair if were only telling/hearing one side of it. That really resonated with me and I agree because in order for something to be truly fair, all voices must be heard! Another thing you wrote that stuck out to me was about how instead of picking out the things that are different between others cultures, identities, ethnicities, etc are different, we could really highlight instead how they are all the same, or contribute to life in equally valuable ways. It made me think about how we have the set days or times to teach or bring awareness about parts of our history like MLK day, or black history month. And while I think having those moments set aside is very honorable and necessary, why cant we incorporate those lessons from those points in history throughout the whole school year? We as teachers may not have full control over the curriculum we teach, but like you said we definitely can try to make our own classroom as equitable and inclusive as possible!
ReplyDeleteThank you for reading, Faith! I appreciate your insight to my blog.
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