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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!) Gina's response to the poem is natural. Being a white teacher in a predominately Black school has given me similar moments of doubt when Black History month comes around in February, but it's something we have to embrace and move with. Knowing that Gina is making a difference and using her skills to help better people who have been oppressed over the years should make her proud. The actions of the past cannot stifle our future. Gina needs to embrace the past and use that to fuel her desire to because an even better teacher. Regardless of what color our students are, their ancestors have been impacted by other nationalities in some part of the past. This would be no different than a white German teacher doubting if he/she is qualified to teach students of the Jewish religion. It's not about the color, it's about our impact in the world today. |
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