Black Vs. White: The Educational Dispute

 

Racism: The belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races.

   

 

     Being in the 21'st century we are very used to the integration of not only black and white students co-existing and co-learning, but we have also become accustomed to their educating teacher counter parts. So why is it that due to "liberalistic" ideas and ways that people of different cultures besides white must feel silenced and unheard? Well in Deplit's "The Silenced Dialogue" shed goes into detail her beliefs of why this is and her experiences within dealing with it.

    In her writing Deplit mentions five different aspects that she calls "The Culture of Power". One that really stood out to me is "Those with power are frequently less aware of-or at least willing to acknowledge- its existence. Those with less power are often more aware of its existence." (Deplit, 24)And this really helped give me a better understanding of what the reading was trying to portray. For instance in a mainly predominant white school, where almost all the educators and students are of white descent, black or any multicultural educator/student would have little say in the way the school was run. And all though many schools believe in the "equal say" policy where everyone is supposed to be able to voice their opinions, people who are not of the majority are often silenced, and usually unknowingly by their fellow co-workers. Another quote that I felt really made this piece came from an upset parent stating "My kid's know how to be black-you all teach them how to be successful in the white man's world." and this continued into the idea that "many of the 'progressive' educational strategies imposed by liberals on black and poor children could only be based on a desire to ensure that the liberals children get sole access to the dwindling pool of American jobs" (Deplit,29)So from this I wonder is it possible that perhaps through silencing the idea's of black or different cultural ideas white liberalists have created an educational system that teaches one not to survive in the world but instead on how to survive in the "white-man's world" and by doing so creates an unfair disadvantage to the children of colored or poor backgrounds. And finally Deplit states that when teaching "Two qualifiers are necessary, however. The teacher cannot be the only expert in the classroom. To deny students their own expert knowledge is to disempower them." (Deplit,33) And by being the only teacher in the room it would enable he or she to have the upper hand, therefor creating a gray area in which knowledge is given to those who are seen as privileged or deserving.

     It is through this idea of empowerment between not only teachers and students but between teachers and fellow teachers that different multi-cultural relationships are strained and people are silenced. If instead people focused more on the ideas of equality among all, then perhaps situations would not be so bad today.

     The following link describes some of the multi-cultural connections between students and their teachers. http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2014/09/the_teacher_wars_book_provides_more_evidence_that_teachers_of_color_matter.html