Home | How It Works | Stats Login | Register         Case: White Intern in a Black inner-city school My sister, Gina, who is a young White girl, started her student teaching in a predominantly Black school in inner-city America. She initially approached her job with optimism and purpose. However, she began to experience her first doubts with the presentation of an emotionally charged poetry reading at an all-school assembly. The poem painted a picture of the oppression of the African Americans by the European American majority. My sister was moved by the poem and accepted the historical truth of its message. At the same, she said she wondered what educational effects of the poem were and whether it would affect her legitimacy as a White teacher in a Black school. She talked to me about her experience. I am an experienced teacher, but I could not answer whether poems like that have any educational value, and whether or not my sister should worry about her legitimacy as a White teacher. I don't what she should do in this specific situation. Solution: (Rates are posted for this solution!) Having been placed in a similar situation myself throughout my student teaching experience, I came to embrace the historical truth to such oppression, also presented in the form of a poem at an assembly honoring Black History Month. I hid behind my own skin color, too afraid to speak up or really admit how I felt about the situation. I felt bad for sure, but I also couldn't help it. It wasn't I who had done anything wrong, nor really them who have been oppressed, but rather distant ancestors and relatives. I do believe that poems have educational value. Some individuals really adhere to these to find truth in a message and they can really take on a very invoking impression. My advice for her would be to have the racial discussion with her students about race. In other words, have students learn about her background and she learn more about theirs. It is truly a disservice to those students who may go through life having hatred in their heart for what another European descendent has done.