"Ma’am, how can you 'love' him, he’s White ma'am?"

The unavoidable is impending. Racism. Not only "racism" in the classroom and the need to address it. I have been ducking and dodging writing about this subject since I arrived in South Africa but I am afraid this issue warrants close examination for the students and research on my part.


While recounting a situation that occurred in a grade eight classroom awhile back, close friend responded, "I couldn't be a teacher. I would have cursed them out. I swear. I'm too angry to be a teacher." First off, any and every good teacher knows that "cursing" is not an option, let alone something you think or talk about ever doing. Swearing is forbidden and, personally I believe, using profane language should not be tolerated from neither student nor teacher. Out of "anger" is presumably not the way to handle any type of situation that deals with sensitive matters either. You cannot be angry. You can only compose your speech and talk to your student(s). I have had to do this, even as a student teacher. Everyday is a story. The students are beautiful, in their own individual ways; however, many of them just need the knowledge that my close friend and I were privileged to have growing up. The knowledge developed from recognition and acceptance towards other people.


At Pearson, the students do recognize difference. "Recognize" is an understatement. They recoginize each other's differences to a point that becomes borderline, if not completely, racist. I do not believe "everyone is racist" as one of my Ohio University colleagues put it. I do believe that we are all race conscious. We think about our  individual races but not in a way that undermines or demoralizes a different race.


Now a student was misbehaving in class. To be exact, he was producing noise at a level that was inappropriate, so I moved his seat after warning him two times. As he walked to the new seat I  assigned, I smiled at him and said, "You know I still love you [name]". He smiled back as I reassured him that he could regain his favored seat if he composed himself for a period of time. A student on the other side of the classroom exclaimed, "Ma'am! How can you 'love' him. He's White ma'am..." The class was not loud before this comment was made, but the undertones silenced quickly as I studied this child's face. Grade eight. He should be 12 or 13. His own light skin reddened in the cheeks as he began to realize his misjudgment.


Now, if someone would like to argue that the statement above was merely a remark made by a child who is "race conscious", enlighten me, please. Until then, I am afraid, his remark classifies as "racist". Time for research... We all, grade eight and me, are not going to get away with this. No more running. No more hiding. I need to accept the reality and share real knowledge with these children even if it takes 5-10 minutes of the class period. I believe it will be worth it and better than a lifetime of ignorance...