March 31 - April 6 Chapter 2,
continued.
I apologize for my lateness in posting a discussion. Please know that this is the most flexible of flexible online book studies. :-)
Reflecting upon the misinformation of students of color sabotaging their education due to peer pressure: is this prevalent thinking in our suburban school districts? How might we determine this and how do we influence change?
I hope I am on target with the group on this. Let me know if you want to post a question for the group. NS
I apologize for my lateness in posting a discussion. Please know that this is the most flexible of flexible online book studies. :-)
Reflecting upon the misinformation of students of color sabotaging their education due to peer pressure: is this prevalent thinking in our suburban school districts? How might we determine this and how do we influence change?
I hope I am on target with the group on this. Let me know if you want to post a question for the group. NS
Our ISD mission statement explicitly states our goal to make certain that every student succeed toward ‘life in a dynamic global environment’...what do we need to know to make that happen? What is our level of focus?
ReplyDeleteCan we influence change by providing open discussions that we are committed to the success of every student with an open dialogue of commitment to students that historically have not succeeded on the same level as white students? I look forward to talking with Rosann and Emily about this. I found a (2002) NY Times article, 'Why Are Black Students Lagging' included both sides of the argument; students sabotaging their education/students more engaged and driven than their white counter parts... We look to the experts who clearly find data to support differing opinions/solutions. What does this mean for us as we look to create positive and meaningful change?
I like the idea of open discussions. If students of color heard us talking openly about unconscious bias, sterotypes, racism, academic data etc..., they would know they had allies. Allies are key to anyone who is not in the dominant group. Also, giving students a language to talk about their experiences is huge. Language is empowering and if they are empowered, they will engage more (if not already engaged).
DeleteTotally. I liked this passage from the chapter: "The coupling of more subtle forms of discrimination with a color-blind discourse on racial inequity has made it more difficult for people to know when discriminatory practices are at work." The big key is open discussion, and lots of them.
DeleteThere's a great documentary called American Promise about two African American boys in a NY private school that is predominately white. The boys start out on full scholarships because they're identified as gifted in Kindergarten, and by the end of elementary both are struggling socially and academically, despite having highly-educated, supportive, affluent, academically-focused families. There's this scene where the two families finally get together to talk, and invite the handful of other African American families from the school. The conversation is basically hours of "You too? I thought I was the only one." It's so easy to blame individual students or families (and for those individuals and families to blame themselves) when we aren't having the conversations and aren't seeing the patterns. Having conversations with students allows them to see that they aren't alone in their experiences, and allows us to expose harmful patterns that need to be corrected.
I wonder if we do have this misperception about our Latino/Hispanic students. According to our OSPI discipline data, Latinos score a 2.3 -- meaning they are disciplined over twice the rate that they represent in the total student population. (Washington state's overall score for Hispanic discipline 1.2, so ISD is doing worse than the state.) A score of 1 means that you are disciplining students at a rate proportionate to their representation in the total student population. I do know in IVE, the Hispanic kids are some of the most clean, best dressed, respectful kids. So something must be happening by high school. I have heard comments about Latino kids -- their families don't value education, they only want them to work in their family restaurants etc... I would say our unconscious bias about Latinos affects the way we treat them, and perhaps many of them feel like they don't really belong in Issaquah and this shows up more in middle and high.
ReplyDeleteHi Rosann. I wish the authors had addressed other student groups as well. I feel like they focused on black vs. white because of the original study that was done. Like you, I feel Hispanic students are characterized a certain way due to misinformation and biases. I was hoping the authors would have addressed this issue head on as well. Thanks! Amy
DeleteThis is an interesting point. And honestly, you're making me think about the PD we've been providing on individualist/collectivist families. I know that at least one middle school has made Latino/Hispanic family outreach a huge focus, and provided some PD to staff around it. It is true that we explain that collectivists tend to be more family-centered, putting the needs of "we" ahead of the needs of "I." I could see how this could easily feed into the stereotype you mention above - that Latino families don't value education (because family obligations come before academic obligations) and only want to work in family restaurants (perhaps at the expense of attending class or finishing high school). I'm wondering how we can carefully craft the PD we provide to accurately explain differences that may lead to misunderstandings, without reinforcing stereotypes.
DeleteI also agree. I find that our cultural make up in Issaquah is rarely addressed. I also find that the socio-economic diversity in Issaquah - and its impact on different racial groups - has an impact that is not fully understood.
DeleteI remember hearing this theory before - that black students do not want to be successful out of fear that their peers will look down on them - but I don't remember where. I am so glad that the authors addressed this head on to dispel this myth that hurts a whole population.
ReplyDeleteIt was unfortunate that the authors just looked at the black and white students and that it seemed that they did not address other groups as well. I would like to know what they would have found had they interviewed Latino/Hispanic students, Asian students, and other student groups. I would like to think that the result would be the same - that all students want to be successful in school and that their parents encourage them in their educational endeavors. I wish that we had this information as well because I feel other groups are also viewed potentially negatively in terms of educational aspirations due to misinformation.
Rosann, Emily, and Amy,
ReplyDeleteI also wonder about our misperceptions and general lack of understanding about our Latino/Hispanic students in Issaquah and how this fits into the studies noted in the text. Some things I wonder about:
The role of home language and language dominance vs. language minority status within a larger population and how that affects student academic performance in English and behavior (i.e. if a student comes from a home language and culture that is actively preserved in the "new" culture, what effect does that have on academic behaviors in English?) I'm thinking about how the use of Spanish as a home language or other language is increasing in the U.S. among both new immigrants but also among established Latino communities, families in which children were born in the U.S.
If you belong to a language group with a strong sub-culture within the larger white culture like this, might we see increased or decreased engagement in the dominant "white" culture? In a way, it's validated and there is strong support for its use in the sub-group. But maybe not in the dominant culture? Just thinking about the political landscape around immigration and all of the messages that that has sent our Spanish -speaking children. How does that affect academic engagement and outcomes, etc.?
When I think about our growing Chinese and other Asian student populations, there is a big difference in rate of learning English and general academic outcomes, as well as educator perceptions and assumptions...not to mention a different status in the political landscape. YET, both Spanish speaking and East Asian cultures could be described as collectivist cultures, couldn't they? So what else could explain these differences in school outcomes and more negative perceptions of Spanish speaking students?
I truly do believe that all of these students and families want to be academically successful, and trust our school system to do the best we can for them. So what can we do as educators to better support our Latino/Hispanic students as well?
It's so great to read all of your thoughts here and I'm proud to be part of this team! One thing that might be missing is the fact that most of our teachers are white. Jill and I have had discussions about how different our experiences might have been in the more diverse districts we've worked in if we were black, Hispanic, Asian, etc. It took me a long time to build trust and yet my black and Hispanic teacher friends say it didn't take long for them - although that didn't always mean much in the long run. I wish we could recruit more black and Hispanic teachers - we'd learn from them and our kids might not feel as isolated.
DeleteI think this thinking is prevalent in our suburban school districts and have heard this expressed in many teacher lunch room discussions. I think that this type of thinking takes the responsibility away from our school system and places it on students and families – definitely a more comfortable place than on our shoulders as educators. Taking the responsibility back and understanding that the sabotaging is actually happening with our system – not outside our system – is a huge paradigm shift and would result in making real progress in improving outcomes for students of color.
ReplyDelete