TeacherServer.com
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!)
Gina is placed in a difficult situation. I am sure she will experience hardships being a white girl in a primarily black school. On the other hand, many people living in society deal with a similar situation in their own lifetimes. It seems like the poem being read at the assembly was not directed to her, so I do not think she should be concentrated about her acceptance in the learning environment based on the feelings shared in the reading. The student teacher should focus on her internship in the school and she needs to be concerned with learning about the students to help them acquire the material that is required by the curriculum. Gina has to be aware of the feelings that exist between the races, but she must realize that people will judge her based on her own actions and thoughts.