This post is written by 起点传媒member, Christina V. Cedillo, PhD, and Dr. Cedillo’s student, Kimberly S. Covert, University of Houston鈥揅lear Lake.聽
With thanks to and
Those of us from minority backgrounds often fail to see ourselves in our school texts, let alone have opportunities to engage with the kinds of knowledge that meaningful representation makes possible. By that we mean representation that transcends mere depiction to encourage meaningful engagement with and reflection on diverse experiences and ways of knowing. As educators we must provide students with texts that reflect their respective backgrounds and engage the perspectives they bring to the classroom.
Assimilation creates problems that negatively affect minority students鈥� learning. Rather than inspiring democratic pluralism or positive identification, assimilation incites prejudice and conflict (). Due to attendant pressures, minority students experience the 鈥渁cademic performance burden鈥� of needing to challenge stereotypes entertained by teachers and peers (). When schools force white mainstream culture on minority students, resentment 鈥渃an result in poor school performance due to anxiety or as an act of conscious or unconscious resistance鈥� (). 鈥淩esistance cultures鈥� allow students to reject assimilation but can also lead to academic setbacks for those not wishing to be seen as abandoning their cultures ().
Lack of diversity in textbooks and classroom approaches reinforces the harm caused by assimilation, but this is also bolstered by superficial representation in multicultural texts that privilege dominant culture norms (). Surface-level nods to multiculturalism are not enough, especially when 鈥淸t]raditional multicultural education . . . teach[es] a degree of understanding of the experiences of others [without] sufficiently challenging personal belief systems or promoting others鈥� (). Thus, we argue for a critical Ethnic Studies approach that works to 鈥渃reate diverse and inclusive classroom environments that promote learning and activism鈥� for all students ().
In fostering students鈥� appreciation for the unique worldviews and practices integral to their home cultures, teachers can show respect for students鈥� 鈥渉ome places鈥� and recognize their own positionality as members of cross-cultural communities (). They can also advance rhetorical awareness that makes transcultural repositioning possible. Transcultural repositioning involves being able to 鈥渕ove back and forth with ease and comfort between and among different languages and dialects, different social classes, different cultural and artistic forms鈥� in order to 鈥渙pen the door to different ways of seeing and thinking about the increasingly fluid and hybridized world that is emerging all around us鈥� (). Inviting Ethnic Studies into the classroom helps educators foster respectful learning environments while promoting vital communication skills.
is needed because discrimination is still cited as a main cause of minority students鈥� lack of school engagement. As Victor Villanueva cautions, 鈥淎 simple celebration of cultural multiplicity while maintaining the literacy practices that have maintained the subjugation of too many of America’s people of color is insufficient鈥� (). Teachers must go beyond recognition of diversity to become aware of their own acculturation into systems of bias. In this way we can more productively address inequities in our educational system and our nation more broadly.
References
Chun, C. A., & Choi, J. M. (2003). The violence of assimilation and psychological well-being. In E. M. Kramer (Ed.), (75鈥�84). Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers.
Guerra, J. C. (2004). Emerging representations, situated literacies, and the practice of transcultural repositioning. In M. H. Kells, V. Ballester, & V. Villanueva (eds.), (7鈥�23). Portsmouth, NH: Boynton.
Kauchak, D., & Eggen, P. (2014). . Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
National Council of Teachers of English. (2015). 起点传媒position statement in support of ethnic studies initiatives in the K鈥�12 curricula. Retrieved from .
Ogbu, J. U., & Simons, H. D. (1998). . Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 29(2), 155鈥�188.
Owens, J., & Lynch, S. M. (2012). Black and Hispanic immigrants鈥� resilience against negative-ability racial stereotypes at selective colleges and universities in the United States. , 85(4), 303鈥�325.
Royster, J. J. (1996). . College Composition and Communication, 47(1), 29鈥�40.
Villanueva, V. (2002). When the multicultural leaves the race: Some common terms reconsidered. In R. Yagelski & S. A. Leonard (Eds.), (36鈥�51). Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.
Wayman, J. C. (2002, April 1鈥�5). . Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans.
Yoon, B., Simpson, A., & Haag, C. (2010). . Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 54(2), 109鈥�118.
is Assistant Professor of Writing and Rhetoric at the University of Houston鈥揅lear Lake, where she teaches courses in basic and advanced writing.
Kimberly S. Covert is currently an undergraduate student working for her Bachelor of Science degree in Early Childhood Education at the University of Houston-Clear Lake. She has a passion for learning and helping others and hopes to inspire her future students to always be the best that they can be.