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!) Your student's response may not have been intentional but that does not mean it has a negative impact. Students often covet newly learned identities and circumstances, especially when the issue is one of great joy and pride. The question is really, if you had been doing a lesson plan on American Indians and the students had wished they were Indian, would it have affected you the same? WHile others have suggested that you should now show instances that instill pride in white people, I feel that the focus should be less on the race of the people and more on the social impacts they made as a human being, regardless of race. Focusing on people who have overcome strife, struggles, and discrimination of any and all kinds will take away the desire of the students to chance race and instead hopefully instill a desire in them to do something inspirational as themselves.