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!) I do not think she should worry that this poem would have a negative effect on her as a teacher. I think your sister can use this poem as a great learning tool. This is definitely a difficult issue to discuss because emotions can run extremely high with this topic. I think it would be a great experience for your sister to share her thoughts on the poem and how she was moved. She could then give the students she is working with an opportunity to share their thoughts and opinions on the poem.