Humans operate on “first impressions.” For those that are blessed with 20/20 vision,
individuals mainly make assumptions based on the outward appearance of people
they encounter. This includes but is not
limited to skin-tone. Young adults and
teenagers often have this blurred vision of making assumptions based on
skin-complexion. Assumptions based on skin-complexions often make individuals
of mixed races uncomfortable and could possibly appear as offensive. Our culture in America is diverse and our
outward appearances can be deceiving so I pose this question: how can
individuals, especially educators, avoid making assumptions and acknowledge
that complexion is not an indicator of one’s identity? In this blog post I will attempt to answer
this complex question.
As a teacher-candidate working in a diverse district and
school, I have come in to contact with mixed-races. Furthermore, growing up in a Hispanic
community, I have been guilty of making the assumption of student’s knowing
Spanish based on their skin color, and Hispanic last name. Back home, I spoke Spanish when I was around
my Hispanic friends and community members in order to make these individuals
feel comfortable speaking in their native tongue. I attempted to do the same
with individuals that appeared to have Hispanic origins due to their last name
and skin color. I did this because I
wanted to establish a positive relationship with these students. Never did I consider that I might have
actually offended these individuals until I came across the article
“Complexities of Complexion” by Nichole Berg.
Berg states her experiences with having a white outward
appearance. She is actually half
Mexican-American and is fluent in Spanish.
She outlines her experiences as being profiled due to her skin
complexion and states how assumptions regarding her identity have affected her
positively and negatively: “My
experience has led me to believe we do not have to choose one identity over the
other. Our various identities serve to make us the complex and unique people we
are today. And, engaging multiple points of view strengthens the one piece of
our identities we all have in common: co-creators of the future.”
Her experiences have enlightened me to avoid such
assumptions in my classroom. It’s only
natural to be observant of the outward appearances of students but we need to
be more observant of the behaviors of our students in order to get an accurate depiction
of their actual identity. As educators we need to ensure that our classroom is
comfortable and inviting. In reading
this article, I plan to observe a student’s behavior and interactions among
other students before I assume that they speak Spanish or any other
language. This is also just another part
of getting to know our students. When we
get to know our students, aside from their outward appearance, we understand
how they work and how they process information.
For my readers, I challenge each and every one of you (even if you aren’t
an educator) to take a step back from making assumptions based on the outward
appearances of individuals that you come in to contact with.
For further reading, explore this article and the resource
Teaching Tolerance
http://www.tolerance.org/blog/complexities-complexion
Mr Slattery -
ReplyDeleteThis post was so fitting for a day I had this semester. I fell symptom to assuming certain students were fluent in Spanish and made an outward surprised look to students who didn't look like they were fluent in it -- BUT WERE. A teacher's best offense is a good defense (to be utterly cliche), and students like to make hasty generalizations when innocent actions like outward surprised look seemed racist. In the panel last week with East High's Students Against Prejudice, it was eye-opening to walk into the classroom questioning what each student might be going through. Sometimes we may get lost in the planning and instruction side of teaching that we forget to take a deeper look at who we are teaching. Yes, some have IEP's and others simply go through the motions, but who are they at their core? Their book covers may say Tupac inspired but the "textual evidence" says John Mayer -- we would never know. It is too easy to stereotype everyone's "book cover," and I join you Mr. Slattery in your challenge to observe students (and people) beyond their exteriors.
I have had experiences as a teacher. I try not to assume that any student understands Spanish because of his or her last name. I don't know much Spanish, so I really don't have to worry about speaking it to a student who does not understand it. I have a student in one of my classes who I always thought was Hispanic becaue physical appearance, but last week he told me he was actually Italian. The conversation came up because he was attempting to select a topic for his research project, and I told him that students in other classes had selected organized crime rings in Mexico. He asked if he could do the Mafia because he was Italian. I enjoy discovering things like this about my students. On the idea of choosing an identity, I have student who is half Samoan and half African American. He looks far more Samoan than African American. Many of the students think he as Hispanic or Filipino. He is quick to correct them, and often refers to himself as being black. While I would have never identified him as being of that race, that is how he identifies himself.
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