Dear current and future teachers,
You have chose one of the most noble, one of the most underrated and one of the most difficult professions in the world. No one understands the intricacies and truths that go into teaching unless they are a teacher themselves. I applaud you for choosing a momentous career and staying with it, despite the commitment and struggles attached.
This isn’t a letter to talk about the stereotypes of teachers or the issues we face for our students and ourselves. Those things need to be talked about, but I have something equally pressing to address.
According to the Boston Globe and New York Times, 75% of teachers from elementary school to high school in the United States are women. 82% of all the teachers in the United States are white. That’s an overwhelming number of white female teachers.
I’m a white woman. Many of the students in my teaching program are white women. Many of the amazing teachers I’ve had over the years have been white women. However, race and gender, as well as all aspects of our cultural identities, influence the way we teach children.
Many people wish that culture and identity, and then identity and education, could be separated in the classroom. But because we can never learn, take in knowledge or express ourselves without also taking our experiences, thoughts, ideals, backgrounds and beliefs into consideration, it isn’t possible to teach empty facts without aligning them to who we are and where we come from.Image courtesy of IMfree
But, what we can do is make sure we are creating an inclusive, safe environment in which every student feels safe to learn, perform and express themselves. Tolerance is the simple acknowledgement of differences and then saying “I don’t see color” or “We are all the same here.” While this is a good place to start, teach your students the less accepted concept: to not act blind to differences, but to embrace their identities and to become excited, interested and introspective because of them. Let students feel comfortable talking about their place in the world compared and in relation to their classmates, rather than simply avoiding the conversation by insisting they’re all the same.
Respect and admire your colleagues that come from a different background than yourself. As a white woman, I understand that while I face gender discrimination, I also have white privilege. This makes my struggle different than women of different ethnicities and cultures. In a field dominated by white women, know that these educators have struggles as an educator that are different than yours. Talk to them about how they run their classroom and open conversations with their students. This generation is currently bringing the most non-white teachers to the floor in history, with more coming. This minority group needs to be heard, seen and treated as a legitimate group in the field.
Know your students. Each of your students comes with a different culture, ethnicity, orientation, family, belief system and value system. These things don’t just go away in the classroom; they become even more important there as students learn to navigate their newfound knowledge, information and ideas with what their identity’s foundation is built upon.
I’m not saying force every student to say their beliefs and background in front of the class, and then for the class to have an hour-long discussion on it. Not at all. Different students will be in different places of identity growth as they enter your classroom, and will most likely be in a different place of growth when they leave at the end of the year. If a student is not comfortable with having that part of themselves in the classroom, that is okay. But some students will be looking at the bigger questions of how their education fits in with their background, and that is okay too. Be ready to support and accommodate to both sides of the spectrum, and all the places in between.Photo Courtesy of IMfree
As an educator, help your students understand who they are and how what they’re learning affects the way they relate to the world. This should be a given; never stereotype, discriminate against or judge based off any aspects of a person’s culture.
You have the opportunity to change the way students feel about themselves and their world. Celebrate, embrace and show students that you care about who they are, where they come from and what they aspire to be.
Sincerely, A Teacher in Training