A Personal Relection

Growing up in American society today, various practices and ideas are subconsciously installed in our minds and accepted without question. Many times, we don’t see how harmful these practices can be in education when we fail to recognize what we are actually doing. My experiences as a Philippino and African American female, I found out first-hand what it was like to be surrounded by situations where I was told my way was wrong, and had to let go of practices that were common in my own culture. If educators do not become more culturally responsive, they risk having a devastating effect on a child’s education and capabilities.

Many times, one hears of the difficulties of being educated as a person of color in a majority white school. However, when one is brought up very differently than the stereotypical African-American child, assuming that each child can be approached in the same way can be even more harmful. A teacher can be culturally conscious, but when the culture of a student is not 100% visually determined, or not done on a case by case basis, their attempt to address the child’s differences can serve to further harm the child in their education. Growing up, my family emphasized more of my Philippino culture, so I did not fit the stereotypical black one that people could see on the outside. Stylistically, I grew up participating in conversations that were a constant exchange; each person constantly giving feedback, finishing each others thoughts and sentences, and not waiting until one person was completely finished and then taking your turn. When I began elementary school, this is how I approached conversations, but after a while, this practice became discouraged and I kept receiving negative feedback when I did so. I had to relearn how to converse in the school setting, feeling that what I was doing was wrong, when in actuality, it all came down to a cultural factor.

Conversation content wise, I was brought up learning to speak eloquently and with a sense that “this is how an educated person speaks,” and not with the sense that “this is how you talk black and this is how you talk white.” So, when I was in school, teachers as well as peers were surprised by how I expressed myself and exceeded their expectations. Before I was even able to exhibit my abilities, I had already been judged and categorized to act and speak a certain way. I was confused when people approached me, assuming I would speak one way, and I received something extremely opposite. This attempt at categorizing me and not successfully being able to made it feel like I was at fault for something that should not be labeled as right or wrong. As a result, I began to hold back and speak less often, for fear of the negative feedback I would receive.

In addition to being Philippino and African-American, my education was also effected by my gender. As a female, there were many discrepancies between my treatment and expectations in the classroom compared to the males. As discussed in class, females were given significantly less attention, partially because expectations were already set higher, and the attention was seen as unnecessary. Teachers also tried to assist me with the “show me” style, which I adamantly rejected because I knew I learned and understood better when I could solve the work with minimal guidance. I also excelled early on in math and science; an area usually characterized as a strength in males. The reason for this could be because I grew up being educated and teaching early on in my father’s special education class that was predominantly male. As they learned different concepts, I was right over their shoulders learning along with them. Later on, I was teaching boys in the same way I had learned.

As much as I resisted certain practices towards females, some were inevitable. Specifically, in first grade, I would speak up to get attention because I wanted to prove that I was just as capable as the other students. Several times, I would overhear the teacher as a student to show that they understood something to her, but when I perked up and wanted to prove the same, I was told to be quiet and began being ignored or pushed aside. In Myra and David Sadker’s book Failing at Fairness, they call attention to the negative effects of females being ignored, which I am able to notice currently. When I became aware that I was expected to sit quietly and do my work, it became very difficult to break the strongly enforced habit. Even after enrolling myself into discussion-based classes today to break this routine, it is still a challenge. It does not matter how much I want to say something, something tells me that speaking up is wrong, and there is that subconscious fear of negative consequences should I do so.

Unfortunately, the problems I faced growing up are still very apparent and need to be addressed before we forget that they are problems and accept them without question. My younger brother, this passed year, received a progress report stating that he was in danger of failing with a C and a D. When my father contacted the teachers, their explanations for his unsatisfactory grades were that he was “just to lazy,” (which was later emphasized again at the end of a grammatically incorrect letter from an English teacher) and that he “simply decided to not do his work for a while,” according to his math teacher. My brother attends my same high school and is one of a couple black students in his class. Comparing the reactions of this teacher with my white and female peers who also had difficulty with the same instructors, it was clear that they were trying to assume certain things about my brother in connection with his skin color and gender.

My “lazy” brother was on the school varsity soccer team (that claimed the section title), a state traveling team (ranked nationally), the school track team (medaling at most, if not all meets), and also in the school marching band (ranked third in the nation). A lazy and careless student would not be actively involved in so many extracurriculars and a key component to each organization, but the teachers did not see this side of him and only made assumptions based on one small piece of subconscious biases they had projected onto him that had become socially accepted. My brother’s alleged decision to “simply not do his work for a while” suddenly became magic when the work mysteriously appeared in a lost group of papers the teacher had himself, which came with a quick apology and a higher grade. Both teachers were ready to sit back, satisfied with a failing student, assuming that he should not be held to high expectations. Both were also surprised by my father and brother’s persistence in wanting to solve the problem and didn’t anticipate the maintained high self-expectations.

My brother ended up with B’s in both classes, but one must be concerned for the other students who are in these classes being stamped with stereotypes of blacks or males, and even further encouraging the stereotypes as athletes. Villegas and Lucas cite that “teachers who lack sociocultural consciousness will unconsciously and inevitably rely on their own personal experiences to make sense of students’ lives,” which is what happened in the case with my brother. The potential danger that this apathetic, stagnant, and uncaring approach to teaching, and failure to address one’s own biases that have a negative effect on students is a crucial issue to address and not let by so easily.This case affirms what Villegas and Lucas point out when they say that “evidence suggests that many teachers see students from socially subordinated groups from a deficit perspective. Lacking faith in the students’ ability to achieve, these teachers are more likely to have low academic expectations for the students and ultimately treat them in ways that stifle their learning.” Had my father not advocated so adamantly for my brother, the ways in which my brother was treated could have easily held him back in his future potential. It is apparent that gender biases harm both males and females in very different, but equally damaging ways.
As I continue in my education and find myself wanting to become an educator myself, I must find some way to avoid making the same mistakes that inhibited my success in school. The biggest challenge may be that I grew up in a society where certain practices are made acceptable and subconsciously practiced daily, so it may be more difficult for me to recognize my own biases. Anthropologist Margaret Mead said, “If a fish were an anthropologist, the last thing it would discover would be water.” For this reason, it is so difficult for many to recognize their biases, even when they are pointed out, because we have accepted so many practices blindly that we forget to question, or fail to notice how and why we treat people differently. As a student aid, I am able to take a step back and observe first-hand how we exhibit our biases unknowingly, and be able to identify them. Only after I can recognize it in others can I more closely look for my own and make a conscious effort to avoid acting on any biases I may have constructed into habit. Also, learning from my own experiences, I must also make a conscious effort to avoid making assumptions as to character or cultural practices based on phenotypic features themselves.

One incident I have already faced in the cultural aspect was when I was teaching a first through third grade special education class. I was working with a student who was a native Spanish speaker learning the English alphabet. He would successfully pronounce and recognize the first two letters “A” and “B,” but when it came to the next letter, he would mumble and I would correct him by saying, “C.” After a few botched attempts and head cocks in confusion, I realized that every time I said, “C,” he interpreted this as, “Si,” meaning, “yes” in Spanish. Instead of repeating my mistake, I explained to him in Spanish that we would learn the alphabet, first, in all Spanish. Afterwards, we would move to English when he was ready. As soon as we made the switch, he was doing fine learning in Spanish. English was still a bit of a struggle, but I stopped sending mixed messages, and he understood that he had to code switch for different dialects. My mistake is reflected in the article on Ebonics. Once we made the switch, the student stopped resisting. In Lisa Delpit’s article “What Should Teachers Do? Ebonics and Culturally Responsive Instruction,” she states that, “The teacher must know how to effectively teach reading and writing to students whose culture and language differ from that of the school, and must understand how and why students decide to add another language form to their repertoire. All we can do is provide students with access to additional language forms.” Taking this approach benefited me and, more importantly, the student I was teaching.

The ultimate and unsolved question becomes, “How do we progress and move away from hidden and accepted biases that lead to harmful practices?” There have been many signs of progression with regards to addressing these different biases in education. Workshops specifically geared towards eliminating, or at least recognizing how serious and debilitating gender biases are presents a huge step in the right direction. Many are learning to break down stereotypes and letting go of gender roles that boys and girls should play in school, and also becoming more aware of teaching styles towards both. There are also workshops in places built on becoming more culturally conscious. Bridging Cultures is one workshop that teachers specifically on Latino culture and values of collectivism.

Simply recognizing what a bias or misunderstanding of a culture looks like is not enough to solve the problem. We must also inform ourselves from the child’s perspective and culture to work towards incorporating a learning style for students on a case-by-case basis. First, having faith in the child’s ability, then letting and encouraging what they know to be their strengths shine will work to their best advantage in the classroom. Ana Maria Villegas and Tamara Lucas write in “The Culturally Responsive Teacher” that it takes “a new way of looking at teaching that is grounded in an understanding of the role of culture and language in learning.” In this, we must also understand our own culture; what has become socially accepted and how we may ineffectively impose our own culture on others.