Something that I wish more researchers, educators, and scholars would study and write about is the socialization and assimilation process that students go through during their “education”. For all students, this is a very difficult time and process. Recently I’ve spent a bit of time reading and analyzing how African-American students manage this period of time in their lives. One of my all-time favorite articles is one by Signithia Fordham called, “Dissin’ ‘the Standard’: Ebonics as Guerrilla Warfare at Capital High”. In this article, an aspect of the issues that Black students go through is examined and discussed. Specifically, Fordham extricates “the way in which the speakers’ discourse style convey meaning and both conceal and make manifest a perception of power”. Many academically “successful” African-American students lease “Standard English” during the hours of school and then return to their home language after school is out (code-switching); on the contrary, most academically “unsuccessful” African-American students choose not to lease the mainstream version of English—choosing to use Ebonics (African America Vernacular English (AAVE)) and resist that which has been deemed the “Standard”.
At some point, I will definitely have to write a paper on this subject, if not a book. In order to avoid assimilating and succumbing to a discourse and system that they view as oppressive to them, many African-American students choose resistance to the “Standard”. This resistance is perceived as their only means of power and the vehicle to stay true to one’s self. Both “successful” and “unsuccessful” students are navigating through this web of ascribing to dominant culture’s idea of success while attempting to stay true to one’s self and group[1]. There are huge identity issues being contemplated and at stake here. Few of the students that are going through this know, understand, or can begin to intricately articulate this experience. But make no mistake about it, this is real, being experienced in schools and campuses nationwide, and there isn’t a student that doesn’t have to “choose” allegiance to their people group or “the system”.
What I would like to write about in detail some day is how one can remain connected to the Self, one’s group, and simultaneously do well academically. Because students of color almost exclusively are forced to leave their culture and group identity at the front door of their schools, this entire issue is exacerbated. This should not be happening. Students should be able to go to school to learn and acquire the problem solving skills they need in order to reach success in their eyes and influence their community in positive ways. Students of color are often preoccupied with finding a middle ground of how to navigate through school and not lose who they are.
Quoting Fordham, I attempt to illustrate how different groups of students cope:
“…while resistance is the common weapon the high- and underachieving students use in constructing a Black (school) identity, the specific ways they resist do not converge and are noteworthy…the high achievers resistance is manifested as conformity to school rules and practices in order both to achieve academic success and to negate state-supported claims of Black intellectual inferiority…the underachieving students resist the larger society’s claims of Black intellectual deficits through avoidance. Avoidance includes lack of attendance, tardiness, refusing to study or participate in class, disobeying clearly established rules of conduct or behavior, and so on…sadly, the underachievers’ refusal to lease the discourse practices that they view as foreign or hostile to their own identity is influential in marking them for academic and social failure”.
It is sad. These students are trapped—there’s no way out. Where are they going to go where their existence isn’t dominated by mainstream (in this country Anglo) norms, values, curriculums, social systems, etc…? Many of these students would rather fall on their swords as it were, than succumb to being another pawn or puppet in a society that oppresses them. I can’t blame them I just wish I had the platform, along with a plethora of others who are aware of this, to provide vehicles out or through this web of social failure.
What’s likely worse is that FEW teachers in this country are aware of this. Even many teachers of color, who are also products of this society and eurocentric teacher education programs, think that children who behave in these manners are just bad kids, disabled from experiencing disjointed homes, and culturally deprived. Educators are oblivious to the fact that this immense struggle is going on in children from elementary through higher education, so they see “bad” behavior and write it off as personal deficiencies. EEERRRG!!! These children are subconsciously asking for help.
[1]“…because members of the African American community have been indelibly marked by their ancestors’ enslavement, the descendants of those Americans have incorporated into their cultural practices an organizational structure that celebrates group rather than individual achievement” Signithia Fordham
I agree that the educational system plays a big role in the assimilation of different groups. It is neccesary for us all to decolonize and to accept (and admit) that we all play a part in reinforcing the dominant culture’s accepted behaviours and language. One thing that everyone can do to avoid reinforcing this is to question ALL research. The educational system is built on empirical research that enforces dominant standards of the group or person doing the research. Governments spend alot of money on research, as do Corporations and special interest groups, (even Universities). This means that we must always be weary of the information that we process and share, we could be reinforcing a colonialist or oppressive idea without even knowing it. A great book to read is “Decolonizing Methodologies” by Linda Tuhiwai Smith. She explains the need for indigenous research, not just in cultures that have been colonized, but in groups that have been oppressed and marginalized. Language is part of ones culture, and to research it from an alternate veiw or culture, has an “othering” effect- like watching ants instead of people.
Slatinsky made an in-depth comment. Something that jumped out at me when I read the statement: “The educational system is built on empirical research that enforces dominant standards of the group or person doing the research” is how this works in the field of education, specifically, in teacher education programs. Pre-service teachers invariably go through a process called observations. This is typically during or prior to one’s student-teaching experience. This is also when potential educators are supposedly getting acclimated with “urban children” or students from “diverse backgrounds”.
Teacher educator Beverly E. Cross, in her timely and thought provoking article, New Racism, Reformed Teacher Education, and the Same Ole’ Oppression, succinctly states a few of the foibles with this widespread tragedy labeled “observation”:
“In reformed teacher education this plays out, for example, through subtle forms of subordinating racial minority groups as objects of study and critique in order to advance the educational and professional goals of white students through such practices as field experiences, one-time visits to urban schools, video tape observations inside diverse classrooms, one-on-one child study of a minority student, interview of a minority parent, and a home visit of a minority child. Each of these teacher education practices uses systems of power to dominate racial minority groups who are not empowered to flip the gaze back on their white observers. As a result the power to gaze on another and to reach conclusions without having the gaze be multidirectional normalizes the group that has the power to look and not be seen, grants them the power to describe others as different or aberrant, and allows them to dominate as they see fit for their benefit”.
Corroborating with Slatinsky’s statement that so-called empirical research, carried out in the manner that in does (without the gaze being multidirectional—able to be flipped onto the observers), reinscribes dominant standards, norms, and values. Anything outside of this discourse is then seen as deficient, aberrant, inferior, and lacking in some manner. And the student-teaching field experience/observation is designed (by the same dominant group of course) to provide a rich and meaningful growth opportunity.
Instead, as Cross openly rebukes, teacher education programs often reinforce previous inequalities or produce new racist stereotypes:
“through white professors [and institutionalized professors of color] directing their students to put minority groups under observations as tools of their own advantage, transmitting the belief that whites can understand minority groups from an arms distance through reading and observations, teaching white students that they can actually understand another’s reality with little direct contact with them, lack of examining power differentials and unearned power and privilege, and lack of examining the contradictions in the roles of institutions”.
Unfortunately I must run off to work now but I will be back to finish this thought soon…
Hey Matt! I like your new blog site.
Something I have found while working with kids who are not the ‘norm’ is that they have the same needs as any other kid. Often it is the teacher who is failing to communicate with these children. These children can have any number of issues in their lives that are influencing their behaviors. I wish teachers would start responding to these percieved ‘negative’ behaviors in a more compassionate way. I find that these children are extremly bright and capable. These are kids who need guidance and adults they can trust. How can a kid trust an adult who doesn’t even want to know who he really is, let alone accept him for who he is? It is awful and frustrating that teachers do not routinely analyze their own roles as a cause to the children’s ‘negative’ behaviors.