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!) First, I would ask the three students as a group why they said that. Ideally, this group discussion would be conducted while the rest of the students are engaged in directed individual work. Depending on the students answers, I would possibly schedule a more formal meeting with the school counselor and the students' parents. This meeting would be individual in that the three students and their parents would have separate meetings with me. Regardless of how the students respond to my initial question, I would communicate my actions with the students to the students' parents immediately following the informal question in the initial group meeting with the three students. I imagine that the students made the comment due to all of the interesting facts and events they had been studying.