Chapters 4-5

            Howard starts chapter 4 with a story. His son’s best friend was killed in the gorge of the Rio Grande River, the next summer his son got a job as a white river raft tour guide. He then relates being a teacher to being a river guide, “a guide must be familiar with the nature and location of these holes and respect their power. On the river of diversity; the holes are a metaphor for the dynamics of White dominance” (pg 70). We can contribute towards the healing process in many different ways; Howard discusses these four; honesty, empathy, advocacy, and action.

            Honesty is a big part of facing any problem, especially racism. We have to start learning to question our previous assumptions, and realize that we are limited because we have culturally conditioned perceptions of truth. “Empathy is a healing response because it allows us as Whites to step outside of dominance, to see our social position in a new light, and connect with the experience of others who see the river of diversity from a different perspective” (pg 77). Relating it back to the river rafting analogy, he says that we can’t really understand what it’s like to be another race, nor can they really understand what it’s like to be white, however we can go on parts of the journey together, we can share a boat, and through that we can see parts of the river through each other’s eyes. As teachers we have to be advocates of our students regardless of what race they are, however particularly students of other races. Howard says that as leaders in the White community we have to take up the responsibility of undoing White ignorance instead of waiting for other racial groups to do it. I feel like this is extremely true, especially considering that as Whites we have been the cause of so much racism, we should be the first ones to try and right the wrongs, which also falls under action. Action is possibly the most important thing in trying to undue all of the racism that has happened over the years. We can talk about trying to change things or being advocates but unless we actually do something about it, it means absolutely nothing. It’s not our fault that we were born White, however this means that we are responsible for how we react to racism and dominance throughout our schools and communities.

            The next chapter is about going from social dominance to social justice. Howard says “In spite of the past, however, it is my conviction that White dominance is neither inevitable nor invincible” (pg 86). White dominance isn’t permanent, it can be changed, we can do something about it, and it doesn't have to be that way. Especially when we do the four things he suggested in the previous chapter. First things first though, we have to look inside ourselves, we can’t dismantle the “legacy” of white dominance without looking into our own personal role in perpetuating justice.

            This for me came as no real surprise, I just had never really thought about it this way. As a Christian I believe we should do all of those things anyways. I believe that God created all children equally and should be treated as such. As a Christian we should be honest, empathetic, advocates, and take action for all the children who need it anyways. That’s what God wants for us to do in order to be good Christians. I always knew he wanted us to do those things, I just never thought about them in the context of children of different races in schools so it was good for me to see it in that light.

            I see this take place in my novice placement quite often. It is a classroom with multiple children from different backgrounds. A majority of their parents don’t speak English to communication with them is somewhat difficult, especially when there is communication between the teacher, the student, and the parent because most of the students don’t speak English very well either. Therefore there are many communication gaps and we as teachers sometimes get frustrated that the students or parents can’t understand. As the teacher we have realize that it’s not our fault they don’t speak English fluently and maybe it’s our fault that we haven’t tried to communicate in more efficient ways. We have to be advocates of the students when this happens because they may have tried to communicate with their parents but they just didn’t understand, and we can’t take it out on the kids. These are just some of the many ways I see this played out in my novice placement.

Chapters 1-3

            In what I’ve read so far there has been a significant theme: white dominance is a “highly selective poison that continually steals the lifeblood from those people who have not been marked with the genetic code of whiteness” (19). Racism is perpetuated through ignorance, dominance, and privilege, and because of those things whether we realize it or not, being white has given us opportunities that we have taken advantage of that other people haven’t had just because of skin color. Being white is like carrying around an invisible knapsack of things we can cash in every day. These things range from big social injustices to small things as well, like when getting band-aids not having to worry about them matching our skin color. This also comes down to how students are affected educationally. At one point Howard talks about a kindergarten teacher who couldn’t understand why some racial students fall behind because they all come with the same “equipment”. However that’s not the case, all students may have the same physical equipment but white children don’t have to deal with the discrimination of society. They are at a huge advantage that has come because they are white. For instance, Native American children were removed from their families, placed in boarding schools, given western haircuts, and punished for anything they did that was traditional. “An attempt to ‘bring the infidels and savages living in those parts to human civility’” (pg. 46) was how their treatment was described. Later Howard says “The stated intention of the policy was to ‘kill the Indian…and save the man” (pg. 46). White kids don’t have to deal with any of that discrimination, or anything close for that matter. So how do we as white educators, get past the students’ mentality that we, as white people, are the cause of their disadvantage? Unfortunately the answer is we can’t. As white people we can’t rightly ask them to let go of all the discrimination that we have put them through and expect them to just let it go.

            Even though we have a history of discriminating and obliterating other cultures and minority groups we cannot simply face these issues and move past them. If we do that we will be plagued with guilt and only be left feeling worse about the situation. “If we do not face dominance, we may be predisposed to perpetuate it” (pg. 30).The solution is that as educators we can no longer ignore the cycle of racism that’s taking place. We can no longer feel uncomfortable facing these issues in light of the fact that we may be the only white person among our students. To be a good educator you not only have to face the bias, strive for change, realize privilege, and move on from it but you also need to accept that as a white person you have a culture and it too, is important to you and who you are much like it will be for your students.

            In my aiding placement I have many students who are first or second generation immigrants, whose culture is extremely different from mine. I don’t try to ignore what’s happened in the past; however it’s not as if I celebrate it either. If something ever comes up in a lesson or in a question, I address it as a teaching opportunity. That’s one of the things I love about history, it gives us a guide of “do’s” and “do not’s” from our past. Just today I mentioned something about slavery and how African American’s culture thrived in the south. They clung to their culture because while being enslaved it was something they had during a time where they barely had anything. It was something that couldn’t be taken away by their white slave masters. No I’m not proud that white people enslaved other races, but it happened, we learned from it, and now we can teach about it from an educational standpoint and address it.

Introduction

              Malcolm X once said, “we can’t teach what we don’t know, and we can’t lead where we won’t go.” That is where the title of my book comes from. I am reading Gary Howard’s book We Can’t Teach What We Don’t Know, which is about Howard breaking down barriers and going to places that are culturally diverse from his own, in order to lead us as we go through them ourselves.

           

              In his introduction he quotes Pedro Noguera who says, “Does American society truly value all of its children?” The fact that someone has to even ask that question is sad to me as a future educator and simply as an American. I chose to read this book because going into the education field today is a lot different than it used to be. America is heading in a direction where our nation, and therefore our schools, are going to be made up of such a rich mix of different cultures, and so many white educators are unprepared in how to teach them. As a future educator I believe we need to know how to embrace these students for who they are as individuals and be able to successfully teach those who are culturally different than us. I’m hoping this book can further my understanding of diversity in the classroom and how to better educate these students. We are all God’s children and all have the right to get a quality education, and my hope is that this book will give me a better opportunity to do that.

Here is the APA citation for the book.
Howard, Gary. We can't teach what we don't know: White teachers, multiracial schools.