Week 11 Reflection

**Below is the text of the reflection journal I turned in for my grad school seminar. I know it's long, but stick with me. It's worth it.

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Initially, I had every intention of using this reflection to talk about a multitude of things: the start of second quarter, the upcoming accreditation inspection on Friday, starting my kids in their first big project. However, following today’s staff meeting, I’m going to talk about that instead. I think my rationale will rapidly become clear.
Today at the staff meeting, one of the teachers brought up a recent incident in order to determine consequences / a course of action. This particular teacher is white. Toward the end of a class a few days ago, a student not enrolled in the class came in. Matt allowed him to stay, since class was nearly over. However, the student in question was cursing and being derogatory toward other students. Matt chastised him and told him to be respectful, but the situation kept escalating. It ended when class did—and when, upon leaving, the student got inches from Matt’s face and said, “Somebody needs to fuck your bitch.”
This led into a discussion of consequences, and the culture of the school, and the culture of the streets in which these students live. It seemed pretty clear that no matter where the students come from, the school should not tolerate that kind of language or abuse from its student population.
AND THEN.
One of the teacher/mentors got up and started talking. This teacher/mentor is a big believer in the ideology of early Malcolm X, by the way. (Yes, I’m talking all that “white devil” business—I know he buys into that, even if he doesn’t go around dissing white people all the time.) The teacher/mentor starts talking about how the staff at my school doesn’t understand the culture, races, and lives of the student population that we serve. He said that we are all, always, spouting the language of the White Oppressor, putting our students at a disadvantage because our personal frameworks differ vastly from the realities of the students in the school.
But it didn’t stop at that. This teacher/mentor said that NOBODY in the room—not me, not Matt, not the African-American vice principal, not the Filipino English teacher, not the Nigerian math teacher—understands our students’ lives and minds. He made it seem like he was the only one who did (though his reasoning for this belief was not entirely clear.) He screamed and he shouted and he pointed fingers, and a lot of the staff got out of their chairs and did the same thing right back to him. He brandished a book by a Malcolm X disciple, telling us we needed to read the truth, and then slammed it down on the table.
I don’t feel like I am out of line in saying that the situation makes me uncomfortable. But not because I am white, or because I am female, or because I came from a firmly-middle-class suburban upbringing, or because I live in a nice apartment with my white husband and our $1500 dog.
I am uncomfortable with it because this teacher/mentor is making this a racial and cultural issue, when it IS NOT. Under any circumstances, in any culture—especially a multicultural educational environment—it should be considered inappropriate for a student to get up in anyone’s face—teacher, fellow student, custodian, whoever—and say, “Somebody needs to fuck your bitch.” That is NOT okay, and SHOULD NOT be okay anywhere, at any time
And it makes me uncomfortable because I know that this teacher/mentor, in his mentor role, has students come to him and talk to him about issues with teachers and administrators. I really believe that if a student has a problem with me, or any other teacher, it’s not because we’re of different races or are from different cultures; it’s because one of us has done something unfair, or is being too harsh, or is being unreasonable. It’s not because we’re black or white or Filipino or Nigerian or Sri Lankan or Ghanaian. It’s because we’re two people, differing on a fundamental level about something that happened in the classroom environment. And I’m pretty sure that if a student went to this teacher/mentor with any problem, of any nature, this teacher/mentor will warp the problem into a racial or cultural one. I think he will tell kids that the fundamental issue isn’t that we disagree on a classroom policy; we differ because we’re either infected by, or represent, the White Oppressor. He’ll skew the issue to fit his framework, and then press that framework upon the student in question.
That’s wrong. Anywhere you go, that’s wrong. It’s wrong to push and impress and batter your beliefs on other people—especially when those other people are in distress.
Just like it’s wrong to say “Somebody needs to fuck your bitch” to anyone, it’s equally wrong to shout and point and throw books at your colleagues. And I don’t think that’s my white, female, suburban ideology saying it’s wrong; I think that within any human context, that’s disrespectful.
There’s no difference. And this is supposed to be an environment advocating social justice? Really, you could’ve fooled me.
Maybe next time I’ll bring a copy of Inga Muscio’s Cunt to throw right back.