Whose are told and whose remain in the margins?
I believe we can assume whose stories are being told and whose are not. Racism and discrimination, while not as terrible as it previously was is still alive and well. We see in the changing demographics how the trends for racism and discrimination against groups such as LGBTQ+ community are decreasing, however, even on a personal level we still see this discrimination. I, as a Mexican American woman, have experienced racism. While it was not as scary and traumatizing as some cases, this still affected me today. The fear of not knowing the judgment someone is going to give you based on the color of your skin is terrifying. However, we see these problems deeply rooted in our society. Schools with higher POC populations tend to have lower funding leading to a cycle that repeats poverty. This is very sad because we hardly hear of these types of situations and those who did not grow up in these schools or areas will likely never understand the cycle that continues. So, we'll continue to hear the stories of white and rich students excelling in schools and going off to good schools while impoverished students will have to continue a cycle of poverty. Obviously, there is a way out for these students, however, it is harder and less accessible. For instance, in order to afford a good college, or even any post-high school education you'd have to work jobs that take away from schooling.
Hi Erika,
ReplyDeleteI guess my big question then is what we can do as future teachers to pull these students back out of the margins and help them succeed. I know from my own experience it's important first to be aware of people on the margins. I am part Mexican too but I'm white passing and so I was treated differently than even other members of my family who had darker skin or thicker accents and I remember it deeply troubling me. It's definitely something that's deeply rooted in our society, as you said, but I think we have some power over how we maintain our classrooms. Some of us will end up teaching at lower income schools and while it may be impossible for something like outright rebellion of rules and mandates, we can give our students the same opportunities to excel for the short time we have them. I absolutely believe, however, that we have to break away from the cycle and see them first.