Unteach Racism – Module 4 – Harmful Assumptions

Once again, after a break of a few weeks, we are set to continue our ascent of Mt Lunacy, otherwise known as the Unteach Racism app put out by the education-focused Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand. For those of you determined to assault your own intelligence and sanity, you can find the website here. But worthy readers, I..ahem…humbly suggest you would be better off perusing my reviews of module 1 introduction, module 2 low self-belief and module 3 low expectations. Additionally, I would recommend checking out Maga-hat teacher Ethan Aloiai’s helpful video on the topic. So on to module 4 and the perils of harmful assumptions.

What are harmful assumptions? Apparently, this module will explore ‘how racial stereotyping impacts learners, their sense of self-worth and their achievement, and what steps can be taken to resist and unteach them.” If this sounds vaguely familiar, that’s because we have been here before. I think this app is a little bit like the minister with one sermon. The titles might be different, but the message is the same. Every week.

We begin the module with a quote from a paper on unconscious bias, and then wade into stereotyping. No, not the stereotyping of teachers and white people as racists. Of course, it’s the racist stereotypes teachers and schools have. It is argued that these can impact our ability to treat others fairly.

We are then presented with a list of statements which we are asked to complete in our heads. Here are a sample:

  • Men are better at..?
  • Girls like to play with..?
  • Attractive people are often..?
  • Overweight people are..?
  • Maori can be..?
  • Asians are..?

Noticeably absent from the list was the sentence “White people are..?” But I guess our stereotypes about them aren’t likely to impact whether we treat them fairly.

Then we had the obligatory poor-me-teenage-angst quotes from Maori and Pacific Island children about how teachers assume they are no good because of their ethnicity. Really? How would they know? Contrary to leftist opinion, we do not know what is inside other people’s heads. We often assume we know, but we have no access to the mind of another person except through their speech and actions. And even these require interpretation.

Let’s take a look at a couple of the quotes.

“I feel like most teachers don’t particularly think that we islanders are good enough really, from the way they convey to teach.”

and

“At other schools we’re judged like ‘typical Māori girl’. We were labelled at other schools. “

See? Nebulous woe-is-me crap. Teachers in general are a group of people excited to see students succeed. We do not think particular ethnicities are dumb. Then we have this young Tuvaluan/Samoan/Rarotongan chap.

I used to have goals but not now because my teachers were [!@*!] and then I got angry and then in trouble at school and with the law. I don’t have goals. They said things like if you want to leave…leave!

Maybe it wasn’t that this young chap’s teachers were !@*!. Perhaps this kid is just a pill. Sounds like he wants to blame someone or something else for his problems with the law, which is typical of human nature and a big issue in the criminal class.

So maybe stereotyping isn’t the big problem it’s made out to be. When I saw the “Men are better at…” statement, I immediately thought soccer! Stereotypes exist because we are able to see trends and patterns. We see that often Asian parents are very focused on the academic success of their children. We do see that Pakeha parents often complain about schools and teachers when their children aren’t happy. We do see these things. But we are not robots. We are able to account for children and individuals who do not fit the norms of these patterns we see. We are able to treat children as individuals. As a teacher, I have taught some lazy and disinterested children. It’s frustrating, and occasionally that frustration is going to be visible to those children. Yet I can assure my dear readers that the frustration is never at ethnicity, but at laziness and disinterest.

In the wrap up of this module, we are directed to a resource that will enable us to reflect on the biases, stereotypes and assumptions we and our learners have. One point they make is that “frequently stereotypical representations of self and others foster and maintain racism”. Is this true? Are stereotypes (which by their very nature are some reflection of general realities) something that foster racism? Is it racist to note that many Pakeha parents march up to the school office when their precious teen daughter is upset? Is it racist to note that many Asian parents are very determined for their progeny to succeed academically? No. Racism is treating a person in an unjust manner because of his race. Can a person have his eyes open to the world and the general realities of life and at the same time treat people fairly. Without a doubt.

The main part of the resource encourages teachers to think critically about resources they use and create for classroom learning. Specifically, it challenges teachers to think about how different ethnicities are represented. It’s a pity our educational elites don’t apply some of this thinking to their own representation of Maori and Pacific learners, which as I’ve noted elsewhere, always tends to present them in cultural garb dancing. While there is nothing wrong with thinking about the different ethnic groups you have in your classroom and trying to ensure the resources you use, and posters you have on classroom walls reflect some of that diversity, there is a problem with this kind of thinking. We end up encouraging our children to believe that their core identity is tied to something that is skin deep. It amounts to saying that a white child is not going to be interested in learning about Ancient Egyptian culture because it doesn’t reflect him. Or that a Pacific Island child cannot be interested in classical music or opera, because these reflect other ethnicities. Can an Asian child identify with a positive portrayal of a white child? Can a white child identify with the positive portrayal of a black child? Of course, because they are all children. That commonality is more important than the small difference that skin tone makes.

Kris Faafoi on Labour’s New Hate Speech Laws

Kris Faafoi, our Justice Minister on hate speech laws. Seriously. What a clown! Oh dear. Is that hate speech? I mean I’m all for clowns. Clowns are great. Clowns bring joy to children. But I think clowns belong in the circus. And I don’t think circuses should be let anywhere near parliament. Too late.

Reddit Parenting Advice #11 – Reading Advice

As mentioned in previous posts, ensuring your child develops a love and aptitude for reading is one of the single most important things you can do for them educationally. Today’s reddit parenting advice comes from a parent wondering about a child who seems uninterested in stories.

I have a kid who doesn’t really care for story books. Almost all day long, he reads non-fiction books on butterflies, construction, flower, trees, bugs, ships, rockets, etc. Is this anything to worry about? Is this a phase? Btw, he’s 4. My concern is that he might become a bit robotic (like me).

There should be no surprises that this child is a boy. Boys tend to develop an interest in the physical world around them. They are often less interested in sitting down for story time than girls who from a young age tend to enjoy sitting on Mum or Dad’s lap for a story. This has been something I have seen in my parenting.

It’s also no surprise that boys tend to enjoy non-fiction books either. Consider your average adult male. What are they more likely to read? Of course you can come up with counter examples and exceptions, but men tend to be interested in non-fiction more than women. In fact one things I have noticed is that many adult women read little to no non-fiction, and where you do see women reading non-fiction it can often be trashy magazine articles that focus on relationship drama. No doubt this commentary will be seen as incredibly sexist, which to be honest makes it all the more enjoyable to write. But getting back to the point – boys and girls are different, and this extends to their reading choices.

Now as a man who does happen to enjoy fiction (whilst not neglecting non-fiction), I happen to believe that we need to encourage our boys to develop a love for narrative. Our faith itself is a great story made up of many smaller narratives. Narrative can teach us things in a powerful way. Good novels extend our experience of life in a way that broadens our understanding of the world and human nature.

From my experience, training a boy to love fiction does take time and patience. My oldest boy still tends to enjoy reading factual books about historical events or how-to books, and it has taken some years to develop his interest in narrative to the point that he will pick up and read fiction.

So how did we approach this? Well, first of all, I did ensure that I read to him. It’s important for boys to see men reading and enjoying reading. They need to see it as a masculine occupation. Secondly, reading became a part of our daily routine. Every night I would read to him, and as boys tend to like routine, this seemed to help. Thirdly I chose books carefully. I would repeat books to him regularly when he was a toddler so that they became familiar. Children seem to enjoy this repetition and knowing what comes next. Then as he grew older I began to read him chapter books. Although he has sisters around his age, I tended to choose books that I thought were more masculine than feminine. My theory, which seemed to work, was that if I find a book that he likes, his sisters will like it too. The reverse of this is not true. The few times I chose a more feminine book, for instance, Anne of Green Gables, he was not impressed and did not enjoy the story. Then as he grew older I set goals for him to achieve in his reading. This year I have set him the goal of 52 fiction books in a year. While his sister would probably achieve that in a month or two, this for him is a significant achievement. And since he seems, like many boys, to be task-oriented, he is intent on insuring he meets this goal.

So I don’t think there is anything to worry about in a four year old boy who loves non-fiction books. Yes you want to broaden his interests – it’s not great to leave him there, but it’s natural for boys to prefer non-fiction. They are the future dominion takers who go out into the earth under Christ extending his kingly reign.

They have no great joy to show for it

We must say to ourselves, “We will not subject our children to the new thing in the world, having them spend vast tracts of their waking hours in the company of people who do not love them and who will not, a few years later, even remember their names. We will not hang our children by the ropes of our ambition and avarice. We will not institutionalize them at age three so that we may place them in a ‘good school system,’ that mythical beast, at age six. We will not mount the treadmill. We do not care what our ‘betters’ think. They have no great joy to show for all their sweat and grumbling.”

Anthony Esolen in Out of the Ashes