I'm starting a new teaching job this week. The modified year-round schedule means my students will arrive tomorrow. Part of my task yesterday was to arrange the names of these still un-met kids into the little boxes on a seating chart. Right now, my soon-to-be students are just names in a teacher's plan book, and this small window of time before the names on the page become "real people" is forcing me to confront some pretty uncomfortable truths.
You see, my new job is not in the lovely suburban high school where I formerly taught English literature. Instead, when I decided to return to teaching after a two-year hiatus of doing the whole stay-at-home-mom routine, I deliberately--for many reasons-- chose an inner city magnet school.
And in North Carolina, as in many places around the country, "inner city," while accurate, is also a euphemism for "poor and black."
Of course I'm not prejudiced.
Except---well, I am. It's hard in our culture not to hold stereotypes about groups of people with whom we have little or no direct interaction. We are pattern-seeking creatures; it's a survival skill. So when we have limited information, we base our conclusions on what little information we
do have, and TV and news reports tell me that when my class roster is made up entirely of names that seem clearly from the African- American tradition, I should look for gang members and teenage mothers to walk into my classroom.
A "mean world syndrome" has set up expectations of what kinds of habits, dress, mannerisms, etc. I should expect from my future students, as surely as I would have a different set of expectations if the roster listed nothing but "Ashley-s" and "Jennifer-s" or "Manuel-s" or Jose-s."
Is it TV's fault that these images come to my mind when I read down my class list? George Gerbner, who coined the term, "mean world syndrome," would say so:
Our studies have shown that growing up from infancy with this unprecedented diet of violence has three consequences, which, in combination, I call the "mean world syndrome." What this means is that if you are growing up in a home where there is more than say three hours of television per day, for all practical purposes you live in a meaner world - and act accordingly - than your next-door neighbor who lives in the same world but watches less television. The programming reinforces the worst fears and apprehensions and paranoia of people.
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The third consequence, and I think the most debilitating one, is the pervasive sense of insecurity and vulnerability. Our surveys tell us that the more television people watch, the more they are likely to be afraid to go out on the street in their own community, especially at night. They are afraid of strangers and meeting other people. A hallmark of civilization, which is kindness to strangers, has been lost.
From Reclaiming Our Cultural Mythology
by George Gerbner
This is not the first year I've had to confront my own prejudices in the classroom; it's just that with the population of the students I'll be teaching in this new setting, I've had to face them more directly. I've been rather surprised and ashamed at some of the thoughts that have crossed my mind this past week or so as I came to school each day to get ready for the start of the new year. Will my car get broken into? Do I have to lock up my purse in the school building? Will my favorite posters get vandalized?
Now, in previous teaching jobs, all these things have happened at one time or another in the buildings where I taught! But I can honestly and shame-facedly say that this is the first year I've worried about them, upfront. And why? Strictly because of the address of the school and the demographics of the students.
Sometimes these prejudicial expectations are subtle, and that's often when they are most dangerous. It's not racist to assume that because a student has a certain street address, she probably comes from a family without a lot of money. That's more based on facts--if you live in a low-rent area, chances are, it's because your family income is low.
The problem comes when we assume that "African American" or"low income" will translate into "low achieving." It's not racist to be sensitive to family economics when handing out lists of required classroom materials (Do I really need every student to have a certain kind of folder?) or to consider whether or not a student is likely to have internet access at home before giving an assignment.
What becomes racist behavior is then making the leap that because of an address, because of a name, because of skin color, there is a limit to the achievement and quality I can expect from this kid.
Prejudice and stereotypes, of course, go beyond color issues. In many ways, prejudice and bigotry inform many of the social and political stances we fight here in the name of Democratic causes and Democratic programs. Consider immigration issues, equal rights for gays to marry, raises in the minimum wage, etc.--- how much of our opponents' protests to these ideas are based on fear---fear that comes from stereotypes and prejudice? Or, taking a hard look in the Left hand side of the mirror, what kinds of stereotypes and assumptions pop up when someone mentions he's from the South? Or that she's a Christian?
So yes, based on limited information, part of me wonders how many of the Ja'Bron-s in my class will arrive dressed like thugs, wandering in to class late after trying to sell drugs in the hallways. How many of my Lakeisha-s will get pregnant this year? Because the statistics tell me that yep, at least a few of the young men and women who will sit in those seats this year will confront those problems.
You can't ignore the realities of the cultural, social and economic differences between me, a white suburban soccer mom, and the students I'll be teaching. But if our challenge as progressives is often to get people to see that yes, Iraqis love their children too, and yes, the gay couple next door to you mows their lawn every week just like you do and yes, the Mexican immigrant wants to have a safe neighborhood, too, then the challenge then for me, for all of us, is to see through the stereotype to the individual:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
So a week from now, will I be able to report on my model classroom and scholarly students? Probably not. But if I do my job right as a teacher, I'll have some cool stories to tell about kids: funny jobs that they held this summer, quirky collections they treasure, celebrities they have crushes on----all the dreams and idiosyncrasies and personalities that you'd expect from any group of friends or family members.
At least, I'm crossing my fingers and trusting that it will be impossible to reconcile the negative images that run through my head with the unique children I'll be responsible for, once I actually meet and get to know these "names" as people.
And isn't that what we, as progressives, want to see happen across the board with our policies? That when government can see the needs of individuals, and not pre-judge them as a group, it can better serve everyone?
Cross Posted at Street Prophets