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  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!)
It's good that your sister understood the historical truth of the poem, as oppression in our country is an important issue, and an individual's reaction to this oppression should be allowed to be expressed through art. Poems like that definitely have an educational value. However, I do not necessarily think that an all-school assembly with the cultures of the oppressor and oppressed present is a very wise time for this type of expression. However, as a student teacher, she does not have as much say as a staff member would, so I don't think she should confront the situation with the administration. I think she should just take this as a learning experience and a reminder that as teachers we face difficulties from many different areas.