Read the article by Dorinda Carter titled "On Spotlighting and Ignoring Racial Group Members in the Classroom" http://www.tolerance.org/tdsi/asset/spotlighting-and-ignoring-racial-group-m.
Professor Carter lists discussion questions at the end of her article. I'd like to pose some slightly altered versions of those questions for our discussion here.
1. Agreeing with Professor Carter's conclusion that "flexibility" is the answer, how have you maintained "flexibility" in your classroom or workroom?
2. Can you give an expample of when you recognized that racial spotlighting or racial ignoring was happening and what you did or didn't do to respond?
3. What do you most struggle with concerning racial spotlighting and/or racial ignoring?
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Comments
Recognizing hurt vrs help
What I most struggle with is recognizing when acknowledging racial identity is helping versus hurting.
Professor Carter seems to say that when the student wants to be recognized for her race (when it's affirming) then acknowleding race is important to identity and learning acheivement. However, recognizing race when a student feels that race is irrelevant to their perspectives on the topic can be hurtful (racial spotlighting).
I find that seeing when the hurtful is happening (by students or by myself) and engaging to better manage the situation is a serious challenge.
An example, in my BUS101 course we read and discuss an article "The Truth Behind the Bling" published by the University of Chicago Business School. The article talks specifically about "conspicuous consumption" differences along both racial categories and economic or income categories. Students are required to read the article in advance and answer a series of questions based on learning objectives from the textbook (the focus is in marketing concepts).
On the day they submit their papers, I lead an in class disussion and response to the article. We always have a lively and engaging discussion (We talk about both race and class - but for the purpose of our dicussion here I will focus on race-realted issues). Sometimes students respond to questions specifically from their personal experrience as a person of color and recognition of their race is important to the validation of their perspective. A student's response is sometimes like, "I know this because I come from this community and have personal experience with the topic at hand" therefore "my opinion is more valid than yours because you do not come from this community". Recognizing race and affirming the experience as valid seems to be important in this case. Ignoring or claiming that race has no affect on experience or perspective would seem to fall into the "racial ignoring" category.
Other times student's respond in general to the article and seem to want their perspective accepted as valid irrespective of their racial identity. I do my best to understand when acknowleding race is important and when it's irrelevant. I am careful not to call on students to speak to their experience as a "person of color", but I have acknowledged or highlighted trends in how persons of color versus white persons respond to certain questions. That is, I have pointed out how race-based experiences might affect someone's perspective or views on certain topics or questions.
Professor Carter's article is a great reminder to be hyper-aware of when recognizing race can help and when it can hurt. However, I'm not sure that I'm 100% successful in recognizing which is which. I think it takes not only practice but also some kind of practical feedback or evaluation. I'm not sure how to get that feedback. Any ideas?
The Mine Field
Thanks, Stacy, for starting this discussion. The article by Ms. Carter was very thought-provoking, as was your discussion of what you try to do in your own classes to ensure that students of color are helped rather than hurt.
I have given what Ms. Carter said a lot of thougth, and I have come to the realization that I have been guilty of racial ignoring for a long time. I think I have always been worried that I would offend someone if I brought race into my discussions. Even when we discuss stereotyping and prejudice in my social psychology classes, I have always tried to make sure that we don't focus only on race; instead I present and discuss the material in general group terms. After reading Ms. Carter's article, I wonder if this is the wrong way to go.
Ms. Carter states that the key to avoiding spotlighting or ignoring is hyperawareness and flexibility. I certainly will be thinking about these concepts when I am teaching this semester and hopefully in the future. I am not sure I fully understand what she means by flexibility however. I think she's trying to say that for any given discussion in the classroom, I have to make quick decisions about whether to address race or not; I need to ascertain whether students of color could benefit or be hurt/offended by this. I can try to do this, but I know that I will not please every student of color. I cannot read students' minds!
Perhaps the best thing for we teachers to do is to simply let students know that we are open to their thoughts and feelings about in-class discussions. We can encourage them to talk to us after class or during office hours, and that even constructive criticism is welcome. We could suggest that they let us know when there are issues, approaches, experiences that we have ignored. Perhaps reaction paragraphs to discussions should be assigned, and students should be encouraged to be honest and open and to write about things that perhaps they didn't feel comfortable bringing up in class. Admittedly, race may not be an issue for many of the students, but for those for whom race is important, it gives them an opportunity to address and express.