Home | How It Works | Stats Login | Register         Case: I Wish I Were Black! As a teacher of 5th grade students, I try to make sure that my students have a good sense of all the people and cultures that make up this country. Last couple weeks, I paid special attention to the African American people who have made significant contributions to the US. We read a book written by Walter Dean Myers. We have studied scientists, writers, and political figures. Students were very engaged and interested in the content. Yesterday something happened that puzzled me. Three of my White students told me that they wished they were Black. This was not my intention when I planned all my lessons on contributions of African Americans. How should I address this issue? Solution: (Rates are posted for this solution!) I believe the first thing to do is to talk to the students privately who made that comment to find out why they made that comment. It is possible that your lesson is not the source of these feelings. Perhaps their other teachers have emphasized the contributions of African Americans and have neglected other cultures so that the students feel the way they do. It is also possible they have been taught to feel white guilt because of all of the "bad" things white people have done to other groups. Then I would begin to explore the work of various people from different social, cultural, and race backgrounds. I think it might also be beneficial to discuss that biologically there is no difference between people of different skin tones and that what matters is what a person does with their life.