My View on Racism & Discrimination

My View on Racism & Discrimination

By Chrissy

EDI 600 Psychological Foundation of Education

School of Education
Long Island University, C. W. Post
September 22, 2008

Race is a socially-constructed concept that has been around for decades, centuries, and possibly even thousands of years. While it would be idyllic for people to live in a “perfect” or “euphoric” world where race, ethnicity, and gender stereotypes did not exist, this is not a realistic situation in society. As Piaget postulated, people inherit the tendencies to categorize and adapt. These fundamental tendencies permeate both our physiological and our mental functioning. Based on these ideas, it is understandable that people will try and categorize themselves and others in order to make sense of their environment. Under these circumstances it would be comprehensible that individuals would categorize people into different races.

Within today’s classrooms, it is important to acknowledge that race and discrimination affect students’ learning in a variety of ways. The question is how do we combat these issues in a real and concrete manner that does not undermine the sensitivity and complexity of these concepts and issues.

The fourth class based on culture, race, and learning opened up my mind to a number of issues that are pertinent within the classroom, such as how we define true multiculturalism, how this affects learning, and how can we, as teachers, educate our students about race in an appropriate way.

In my opinion, multiculturalism is an understanding and acceptance that each race, culture, ethnicity, or gender has their own beliefs, values, and customs that should be respected and acknowledged. To truly create a positive multicultural environment, a community of respect is necessary. Teachers and students need to be aware that while each person is different, in terms of their backgrounds, races, socioeconomic statuses, and more, they deserve to be recognized and dealt with as an individual. Since discrimination can be very stigmatizing and emotionally charged, it is important to really research positive, productive ways to introduce multicultural themes into the classroom.

While taking a graduate course at Queens College, I had encountered a chapter in one of my texts that asked when is teaching multiculturalism too much. At first this statement confused me and took me out of my element. After contemplating it, I began to understand that teachers need to teach in a way that does not cause a class to separate further based on their differences.

Teaching an abundance based on individual differences, such as ethnicity, could have a negative effect by creating an identification with one race over a culminating experience which incorporates differences along with similarities. These are the issues that teachers need to analyze when introducing multicultural themes into the classroom.

With the cross-over activity, it was an important factor that students were able to cross back over to the safety side. It gave each student the perspective that while they each had different backgrounds, they all still belonged to a larger community of learners. The larger community of learners had their own backgrounds, experiences, and lives that made them individual. At the same time, they also rejoined the group and were able to feel the support of those around them.

Discrimination and alienation are constantly on the minds of children. These issues can affect the students physically, emotionally, socially, and cognitively. For example, if children believe that others are judging them based on their ethnicity, they may physically isolate themselves, harden their emotions, socially withdraw, and could possibly think less of themselves. All of these factors would work in conjunction to negatively affect a student’s learning. It is important to teach students and teachers that their actions and words have repercussions on others. With this awareness it is easier to find constructive ways to repair what has been done negatively and start fresh.

One possible way to teach multiculturalism would be to start with the complete opposite, homogeneity. For example a teacher may start off the beginning of a week by telling students that they have to do everything the same way. This exercise could include wearing the same clothes, learning the same lessons, writing the same stories, drawing the same stories, and more. After limiting their creativity and individualism, teachers could discuss how it made children feel to be the exact same way as others in their class. Questions to be discussed could be: If everyone were the same, how would people be able to “shine”? Was it fun being the same as everyone? Did it make things easier or harder? After analyzing these questions with students, it would be helpful to discuss how differences make people unique and special. This could then segue into several lessons based on each child’s backgrounds and what makes them special. In this manner, students would look at their differences as advantages, rather than hindrances or limitations.

The most important thing about teaching about culture and race is to find what works best for you as a teacher and how your students will react most successfully to lessons. In every effort we make it is to enrich our students and give them confidence and pride in who they are and what they will become.