The Calculus and Quotients of Social Illiteracy: Equations of Race, Responsibility & Critical-Ethical Literacy in Schools

2020 ◽  
pp. 001312452096208
Author(s):  
J. Kalonji Rand
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Critical Literacy ◽  
White Students ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
White Teachers ◽  
Critical Whiteness Studies ◽  
Antiracist Education ◽  
American Students ◽  
Critical Whiteness ◽  
Critical Literacy Pedagogy

Should students in public schools learn to think critically about racial (in)justice and social (in)equity? The results of a recent mixed methods survey for educators revealed that a significant number of teachers did not believe they were responsible for helping their students develop the skills to critically analyze and respond to social injustice. Quantitative data showed that most of the educators who responded unfavorably, self-identified as “White” teachers of mostly White students; while most of the White teachers of mostly African American students held the opposite belief. Qualitative data provided some context for the rationales informing the divergent beliefs of these White teachers. Utilizing a combination of grounded theory and coding methods, I explore, illustrate, and analyze the responses of both sets of White teachers in an effort to illuminate and contextualize their articulated beliefs. Then, I interrogate the findings in light of their emergence along racial strata, using insights from scholarship in Critical Whiteness Studies and Critical Literacy/Pedagogy. Then I discuss their implications with reference to Robert Starratt’s “Virtue of Responsibility” and current theories of antiracist education. I conclude with a call for improving the educational experiences and societal outcomes of all students by naming and disrupting social illiteracy, championing critical-ethical literacy and encouraging an antiracist ethos.

A Case for Decentering Whiteness in Education

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 19-34
Author(s):  
Jamie Utt
Keyword(s):  
Critical Race Theory ◽  
White Students ◽  
Students Of Color ◽  
Ethnic Studies ◽  
Traditional Curriculum ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Critical Whiteness Studies ◽  
Cultural Wealth ◽  
Critical Whiteness ◽  
Social Studies Textbooks

Ethnic Studies undermines and challenges the racism inherent in dominant education systems by centering identities and epistemologies of people of Color. While much focus has been paid to the damage done to students of Color by White teachers and the White standard curriculum, this paper addresses the intellectual and material benefit White students disproportionately gain from this curriculum. Through a mixed-methods empirical study examining social studies textbooks and standards from Texas and California, the author argues that the standard White canon acts as a form of White/Western studies that directly privileges White students. Critical Race Theory, Critical Whiteness Studies, Pierre Bourdieu cultural reproduction, and Tara Yosso’s community cultural wealth provide theoretical frameworks in calling for a broader implementation of Ethnic Studies programs and pedagogies while calling for reform of traditional curriculum and standards that act as couriers of dominant capital for White students.

White Teachers, Racial Privilege, and the Sociological Imagination

2016 ◽  
Vol 54 (10) ◽  
pp. 1462-1488 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan Crowley
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
White Teachers ◽  
Sociological Imagination ◽  
Race And Racism ◽  
Structural Racism ◽  
Critical Whiteness Studies ◽  
Racial Privilege ◽  
Critical Whiteness ◽  
Personal Experiences

The author draws from critical Whiteness studies and the sociological imagination to show how three White preservice teachers in an urban education program used personal experiences with racial privilege to understand structural racism. These stories depart from portrayals of race-evasive White teachers who struggle to engage with critical perspectives on race and racism. The participants’ stories—which openly critique meritocracy and color blindness—not only demonstrate possibility, but they also raise concerns about the use of personal experience by dominant groups and note how considerations of White privilege do not necessarily lead to an understanding of how one is complicit in the reproduction of White supremacy.

scholarly journals Disrupting Whiteness Within Academia: Examining the Experiences and Understanding of Whiteness Among White Students Attending Ryerson University

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danuta Gawron
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
White Students ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Whiteness Studies ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Critical Whiteness Studies ◽  
Qualitative Research Study ◽  
Telephone Interviews ◽  
Critical Whiteness ◽  
Insight Into

This narrative qualitative research study explored the experiences and understanding of whiteness from three full-time white students at Ryerson University (RU). The theoretical framework draws from Critical Whiteness Studies (CWS) and Critical Whiteness Pedagogy (CWP). Based on existing literature on whiteness, this study utilized semi-structured telephone interviews with the three participants. The participants were randomly selected through recruitment posting and flyers on social media outlets such as Facebook. Data analysis included a thematic and structure of the narratives of the participants. The findings provided insight into how these white students at RU define whiteness and how they understand whiteness demonstrated in academia and, lastly, whether they have perpetrated or fought against whiteness within their academic institution. The results indicate that whiteness is not easily defined, and academia is incorporating diverse perspectives. This paper concludes with implications and discussion on future social work, followed by the conclusion. Key words: Academia, Critical Whiteness Studies, Critical Whiteness Pedagogy, colonialization, gender, whiteness, white students,

Becoming White Teachers: Symbolic Interactions and Racializing the Raceless Norm in Predominantly Black Schools

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-222
Author(s):  
Marcus Bell
Keyword(s):  
Effective Teachers ◽  
White Teachers ◽  
The United States ◽  
Critical Whiteness Studies ◽  
Predominantly Black ◽  
Black Schools ◽  
Interview Method ◽  
Critical Whiteness ◽  
Symbolic Interactions ◽  
The Invisible

Under the banner of critical whiteness studies, scholars from across the disciplinary spectrum have spent the past several decades investigating whiteness and white racial identity, both in the United States and abroad. Of the numerous findings, perhaps none is more pervasive than that of white racelessness: the idea that whites do not see themselves in racial terms but instead think of themselves as just normal. This article complicates white racelessness by examining whiteness that is spatially situated as the racial minority. Using an inductive interview method, the author interviews 32 white teachers who currently work in urban, predominantly black schools. Despite previous socialization as the invisible norm, white teachers were effectively racialized by repeated and continuous symbolic interactions with black students and their families. Through a multistep and mutually reinforcing process, teachers went from thinking of themselves as the invisible, raceless norm to seeing themselves as the hypervisible, racial other. Findings also show that white teachers devised ways to navigate their personal racial identities, all while trying to remain effective teachers to nonwhite students. The experiential loss of white privilege is also discussed.

scholarly journals Disrupting Whiteness Within Academia: Examining the Experiences and Understanding of Whiteness Among White Students Attending Ryerson University

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danuta Gawron
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
White Students ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Whiteness Studies ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Critical Whiteness Studies ◽  
Qualitative Research Study ◽  
Telephone Interviews ◽  
Critical Whiteness ◽  
Insight Into

This narrative qualitative research study explored the experiences and understanding of whiteness from three full-time white students at Ryerson University (RU). The theoretical framework draws from Critical Whiteness Studies (CWS) and Critical Whiteness Pedagogy (CWP). Based on existing literature on whiteness, this study utilized semi-structured telephone interviews with the three participants. The participants were randomly selected through recruitment posting and flyers on social media outlets such as Facebook. Data analysis included a thematic and structure of the narratives of the participants. The findings provided insight into how these white students at RU define whiteness and how they understand whiteness demonstrated in academia and, lastly, whether they have perpetrated or fought against whiteness within their academic institution. The results indicate that whiteness is not easily defined, and academia is incorporating diverse perspectives. This paper concludes with implications and discussion on future social work, followed by the conclusion. Key words: Academia, Critical Whiteness Studies, Critical Whiteness Pedagogy, colonialization, gender, whiteness, white students,

Community-based? Asian American Students, Parents, and Teachers in the Shifting Chinatowns of New York and Los Angeles

2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 99-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benji Chang ◽  
Juhyung Lee
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
Asian American ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Asian American Students ◽  
Education Experience ◽  
American Students ◽  
Community Organizers ◽  
Holistic Vision

This article examines the experiences of children, parents, and teachers in the New York and Los Angeles Chinatown public schools, as observed by two classroom educators, one based in each city. The authors document trends among the transnational East and Southeast Asian families that comprise the majority in the local Chinatown schools and discuss some of the key intersections of communities and identities within those schools, as well as the pedagogies that try to build upon these intersections in the name of student empowerment and a more holistic vision of student achievement. Ultimately, this article seeks to bring forth the unique perspectives of Chinatown community members and explore how students, families, teachers, school staff and administrators, and community organizers can collaborate to actualize a more transformative public education experience.

Creating Critical Literacy Praxis: Bridging the Gap between Theory and Practice

RELC Journal ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 003368822098266
Author(s):  
Tsung-han Weng
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Critical Literacy ◽  
Classroom Environment ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Teaching English ◽  
Speakers Of Other Languages ◽  
Literacy Implementation ◽  
Critical Literacy Pedagogy ◽  
Literacy Research

Although research in critical literacy has long been conducted in English as a second language contexts, a modicum of critical literacy research in English as a foreign language (EFL) contexts in which English is seldom used outside the classroom environment has also been undertaken. This article aims to discuss the introduction of critical literacy in the Teaching English to Speakers of other Languages (TESOL) profession, which has been neglected by TESOL researchers and practitioners in EFL contexts. The article reviews and synthesizes the existing literature by providing conceptualizations of the critical literacy approach to TESOL, examples of critical literacy implementation, and the benefits and challenges of implementing critical literacy pedagogy. The article concludes by calling for more critical literacy research in EFL contexts.

Social Distance Evaluations in White and African-American Students

1995 ◽  
Vol 80 (2) ◽  
pp. 478-478 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Lee Hoxter ◽  
David Lester
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
African American ◽  
Ethnic Group ◽  
Asian Americans ◽  
White Students ◽  
Social Distance ◽  
African American Students ◽  
The Other ◽  
African American Adults ◽  
American Students

Among 241 college students, both white and African-American adults were less willing to be personal friends with people of the other ethnic group than with people of their own ethnic group. African-American students were also less willing to be friends with Asian Americans than were white students.

How Teachers and Schools Contribute to Racial Differences in the Realization of Academic Potential

2012 ◽  
Vol 114 (7) ◽  
pp. 1-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tina Wildhagen
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Racial Differences ◽  
Hierarchical Linear Modeling ◽  
White Students ◽  
African American Students ◽  
School Level ◽  
Racial Gap ◽  
American Students ◽  
Academic Potential

Background/Context The fulfillment of academic potential is an underdeveloped area of inquiry as it relates to explaining racial differences in academic outcomes. Examining this issue is important for addressing not only differences in the typical outcomes for African American and White students but also the severe underrepresentation of African American students among the highest achieving students. Whereas other studies have operationalized lost academic potential as unfulfilled expectations for educational attainment, this study takes a different approach, measuring whether students earn higher or lower grades than the grades predicted by earlier tests of academic skills. Students whose grades are equal to or exceed those predicted by their earlier test scores are said to have fulfilled their academic potential, whereas those whose grades are lower than predicted have not realized their potential. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study This study finds that African American high school students are less likely than their White peers to realize their academic potential. The analyses test several explanations for the racial gap in the realization of academic potential, focusing on the students themselves, their teachers, and their schools. Research Design This study uses hierarchical linear modeling to analyze data from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002. Conclusions/Recommendations The results suggest that teachers perceive African American students as exerting less classroom effort than White students, which accounts for a substantial proportion of the racial gap in unrealized academic potential, even with several student characteristics held constant. At the school level, there are larger racial gaps in unrealized academic potential in segregated schools and schools with strict disciplinary climates. Strikingly, the negative effect of strict disciplinary climate exists net of students’ own receipt of disciplinary actions. That is, the negative association between strict disciplinary climate and the realization of academic potential for African American students applies to African American students regardless of whether they themselves have been in trouble at school. This study reveals that characteristics of schools that lack immediately obvious racial implications, such as a school's approach to student discipline, may be just as harmful as overtly racialized inequality within and between schools.

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