TEACHING ABOUT RACE 1

Teaching About Race in the Classroom Influences Students’ Learning

Jayme W. Allen-Vetz

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Dr. Bickmore

CIL 684
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Abstract

Many teachers view race through a color-blind lens and choose to not notice or

discuss race related concepts in the classroom. Color-blind teachers tend to believe that

their students do not notice race in the classroom as well. Viewing race through a color-

blind lens is problematic because it sends the message of accepting uneven racial powers

in society, which contribute to the chances of racism occurring in a variety of contexts.

Studies show that teachers’ hesitance to discuss race in the classroom deters purposeful

conversations regarding these topics that could help students take action to stand up for

injustice. The purpose of this research topic is to study why teaching about race in

schools matters. Studies show that teaching about race in the classroom could influence

students’ learning through building positive relationships and understanding individual

identities. Teachers need more professional training in the area of race related topics so

they are more likely to teach race in the classroom. Further research is necessary for

exploring the history, beliefs, and structures of racism so teachers have more information

regarding the power dynamics rooted in White privilege (Markowitz & Puchner, 2014).
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Teaching About Race Overview

Many people think that racism is an issue from the past and not a problem in our

current society. I believe that intentional and unintentional racism is prevalent today and

most people do not have the awareness to recognize it. The majority of people do not

possess the necessary skills to discuss race and racism in order to create equality, spread

truthful messages, and make positive societal changes. There are generally two types of

racism that occur in the classroom. First, “institutional racism refers to a system of social

structures that produces cumulative, race based inequalities. Next, resulting of one

person’s attitudes and actions that reflect prejudice and ignorance against people of color

is individual racism” (Boutee, Lopez-Robertson, & Powers-Costello, 2011, p. 336).

Unfortunately, these two types of racism happen at varying degrees, yet the results have a

detrimental impact on people of color and to white people (Boutee, Lopez-Robertson, &

Powers-Costello, 2011).

Children learn at a young age to classify their world into categories through a

variety of possibilities in their environment. Some of the different ways they learn to

categorize their world is through children’s books, television, peers, adults interacting,

and their community. Inevitably, children observe and evaluate aspects of their identity

such as race and begin to examine their world through that lens. “Therefore, homes,

communities, schools, and society are not neutral spaces absent of racist overtones and

actions” (Boutee et al., 2011, p. 335). Children are not blind to race and racially related

roles in their environment. In fact, kids begin to exclude others based on identity

differences at an early age (Boutee et al., 2011). Between the ages of four and seven
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children begin to show an increase in levels of prejudice towards others, and after age

seven they are capable of reducing their prejudice levels (Fox et al., 2014).

Students spend large portions of their time in school and these spaces greatly

influence how children behave and interact with others in society. When teachers do not

teach race in the curriculum students receive the messages that race and racism are not

important topics to discuss (Bolgatz, 2005). Likewise, young children could develop the

beginnings of racism if they are not given opportunities to reflect about race through the

help of trained professionals in the school environment (Boutee et al., 2011). “It is

predicted that in the year 2050 American society will be composed of 53% White, 25%

Hispanic, 14% Black, 8% Asian/Pacific Islander, and 1% American Indian” (D’Angelo &

Dixey, 2001, p. 83). It is crucial for children to learn about race and treat others equally

in order to have a peaceful society.

Unfortunately, many teachers remain colorblind and do not address race in the

classroom at all. Most teachers like to take on the role of remaining comfortable and

saving their students from difficult topics such as race. At the elementary level, teachers

want to protect their students and at the high school level teachers wonder how they will

fit in the challenge of teaching multicultural concepts in their curriculum. One of the

many roles of teachers is to teach students about treating others with respect and

advocating unprejudiced views to the future generation.

However, multicultural education is much easier to talk and write about than to

implement in the classroom (D’Angelo & Dixey, 2001). The authors suggest that teachers

are unfamiliar with discussions regarding race, color, and racism due to the lack of

training and resources (Boutee et al., 2011). Studying the critical race theory to gain a
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better understanding of how race is connected to individuals, literacy, power, and social

transformation will help teachers become more informed about the content and ways to

implement race in the classroom (Morrow & Tracey, 2017).

Consequently, racial discrimination pervades on many levels in our society today

despite that the majority of whites in the US believe that race should not matter (Modica,

2015). Teachers truly have the position to teach about important topics such as race and

racism in order for students to have opportunities to develop skills so they can create

positive movements and address racial inequity in their daily lives. “If teachers don’t

question the culture and values being promoted in the classroom, they socialize their

students to accept the uneven power relations of our society along lines of race, class,

gender, and ability” (Boutee et al., 2011).

It is helpful for students to understand the difference between racism and

racialization because there is often confusion about the two terms. “Racism refers to the

ways in which avoidable and unfair inequalities are perpetuated based on racial, ethnic,

cultural and religious characteristics at interpersonal, institutional and societal levels. In

contrast, racialization refers to the processes by which racial characteristics become

meaningful in different social situations” (Fox et al., 2014, p. 809). There is often a

misconception in our society that any mention of race is racist because racialization could

be confused with racism (Fox et al., 2014). Consequently, many teachers perceive

themselves as color-blind and claim to not notice race or racial differences (Markowitz &

Puchner, 2014). Teachers that choose to dismiss race in the classroom contribute to the

chance of racism occurring in schools and parts of society because kids do not learn the

skills to address the varying levels of racial discrimination. Purposefully teaching about
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race in the classroom could influence students’ learning through building positive

relationships and understanding individual identities.

Multicultural Curriculum Research

Learning about prejudice and racism in a classroom is helpful for all ages.

Findings show that college students gain a deeper understanding of the pervasiveness and

institutional nature of racism and recognize the extent of White privilege when taking a

diversity course (Davis & Kernahan, 2007). Students increase their awareness of treating

others equally, more likely to take positive actions towards peace, and better equipped to

understand racial guilt after taking the multicultural course (Davis & Kernahan, 2007).

Further research is required in order to evaluate the long-term impact of elements for

change (Davis & Kernahan, 2007). However, their findings provide great insight about

the importance of students receiving a diverse education.

The new racism that is evident of many teachers today is a color-blind ideology.

“Bonilla-Silva argued that Whites generally use a color-blind ideology that ignores

institutional discrimination in favor of blaming any differences between Whites and

African Americans on their respective cultures” (Markowitz & Puchner, 2014, p. 72). An

example of this color-blind mindset from Whites is that lower-class African Americans

are not as hard working as Whites because they are poorer (Markowitz & Puchner, 2014).

Many critical race theorists including Bonilla-Silva debate that race is a characteristic of

social systems and not a feature of people (Markowitz & Puchner, 2014). “A racialized

social system organizes economic, social, and political power in a way that benefits

Whites as a group over people of color, a system called White privilege” (Markowitz &

Puchner, 2014, p. 72). Consequently, White privilege lets white people dominate
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economic, social, and political power in society creating cyclic inequality for people of

color. Another example of White privilege is that “African Americans and Hispanics

were three times as likely to be poor as Whites in 2001; and in 2002, 24% of African-

Americans and 20% of Hispanics experienced hardship over housing compared with only

10% percent of Whites” (Castro Atwater, 2008, p. 247).

There is a dire need in society today for equality and taking action against racial

undertones. Promoting rhetoric about being aware of diversity in schools is highly

recommend from school districts and public policy makers (Bolgatz, 2005). 84% of K-12

teachers are white and less than half of the student body attending schools is non-white

(Markowitz & Puchner, 2014). Schools consisting primarily of white teachers that do not

thoroughly understand the benefits of teaching a multicultural curriculum are of great

concern for the future generations’ actions and behaviors towards themselves and others.

Modica studied how students that attended a racially diverse school created

understandings of race as they explored racism (Modica, 2015). She found that hesitance

from teachers about discussing race hindered stimulating conversations regarding these

topics and educators lacked opportunities to address racial inequality behavior (Modica,

2015). Data from one of the studies that examined the color-blind philosophy showed that

teachers denied seeing race and believed that students did not notice their peer’s race

(Castro Atwater, 2008). Research shows that white teachers often do not acknowledge the

topics regarding race when racial content is explicitly used in their instructional literature

(Bolgatz, 2005).

Furthermore, researchers studied conversations regarding race relations amongst

middle school students and found that teachers were able to initiate conversations about
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these topics with students, however discussing issues of power and privilege was difficult

(Bolgatz, 2005). This indicates that teachers need to practice having these conversations

with students, remain open to learning new information, and seek support from other

trained professionals in the area of race. Teaching the topics about race and power to

students is highly suggested from critical multicultural theorists (Bolgatz, 2005). Future

research is needed to understand how schools can retain anti-racist teachers that create

social equality and critically question the effectiveness of a color-blind approach in order

to ignite change.

Students Build Positive Relationships

Educators that teach race and racism in the classroom encourage students to build

positive relationships with others because they practice the skills to talk openly and

truthfully, and reflect about how racism affects themselves and others. Modeling and

giving many opportunities for students to experience, notice, and learn kindness from

peers that are different from them is necessary for teachers. Sadly, racial reasons for

excluding others from different cultures occur at a young age. Misconceptions and

stereotypes are formed about different racial groups when there is no space for discussing

racial issues (Boutee et al., 2011). Teaching race in the classroom could contribute to

students interacting more with children from different ethnicities.

One way to encourage teachers to discuss race topics is to inspire them to think

about their responsibility of caring and providing the best education for their students.

“Reflecting on one’s own racial positioning and asking students to reflect on theirs

invites students to be critical of the process of racism” (Bolgatz, 2005). In addition,

teachers could help students build positive relationships through recognizing their
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student’s interests and needs. Also, examining purposeful multicultural literature that

speaks to students’ funds of knowledge is beneficial. It is especially important for

teachers to better understand their students whose backgrounds differ from their own.

Educators need to embrace and sustain cultural differences in the classroom through

identifying their student’s interest (Toppel, 2015). Teachers could use the information

they gathered regarding students’ interests and cultural differences to modify and guide

their instruction in order to encourage skills for building positive peer relationships.

Teachers could encourage cooperative learning when teaching about race in order

to build positive relationships. Giving students opportunities to converse with others, and

connect to peers in their classroom while discussing race topics helps students feel like

they are positively contributing to the larger community (Toppel, 2015). Elementary

teachers should be aware that most of their young students might not be able to articulate

how their learning and communication patterns are influenced from their culture (Toppel,

2015). Thus, teachers will need to perform many observations of their students

interacting with peers because this will give them the necessary information about their

preferred method of learning and communication skills (Toppel, 2015).

Students Learn About Their Identities

Teaching about race in the classroom helps students learn about their identities, so

they can create a lens to view themselves and the world. Racial groups provide norms,

social behaviors, and values for individuals to examine and to help them interact with

society (Castro Atwater, 2008). Students that are given opportunities to learn about race

are more aware of their identities and could gain courage to talk about differences and

their truth (Luther, 2009). Implementing a multicultural curriculum that addresses race
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makes content knowledge available to students and empowers them to connect it to their

prior knowledge and lives in and out of school (Toppel, 2015). Rosenblatt states,

“without linkage with the past experiences and present interests of the reader, the work

will not come alive for him, or, rather, he will not be prepared to bring it to life”

(Rosenblatt, 1995, p. 77).

Activating students’ prior knowledge through connecting content to their self

helps individuals to understand new information and create connections to the instructed

material. One way that teachers could connect a multicultural curriculum to students’

lives is through using music and movement in the core-reading program. The music and

movement could help incorporate students’ experiences, interests, and some features of

ethnic and cultural diversity into the content in order for students to connect to their

identities (Toppel, 2015).

Implications for Teaching Race in the Classroom

Just like everything in life, the more teachers practice teaching race in the

classroom the easier the process will be to implement in their daily instruction.

Remaining open to learning is more important than teachers being an expert on every

topic including race and racism (Boutee et al., 2011). Teachers need to overcome the

fears regarding explicitly teaching topics that are essential for social change.

“Thoughtfully teaching race in the classroom is about taking risks, being open to hearing

what students think, and maintaining an atmosphere of respect” (Bolgatz, 2005, p. 34).

Educators might assume that an overly friendly school environment indicates that open

and honest lessons about race are happening in the classrooms. However, a friendly

atmosphere is not an indicator that every teacher is teaching about race. Rather, teachers
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in a school that step into courage through their behavior, voice, and awareness would be

more likely to teach lessons about race.

Encouraging students to bring their whole self (including one’s race) into the

classroom is crucial for setting a safe space for learners to discuss race (Bolgatz, 2005).

Educators should take advantage of their teaching position and promote social change

through teaching challenging topics (Luther, 2009). Teachers could step into courage and

mindfully put the messy discussions of race and racism on the table for students to

explore (Bolgatz, 2005). Once the topics are courageously open for discussion teachers

could ask questions that engage students to ponder the content and use activities from the

curriculum that helps students delve deeper into the topics regarding race. It is helpful for

teachers to use the critical race theory in their instruction to encourage all students to

have a voice when discussing and naming the daily realities of racism and how people of

color are at a disadvantage (Morrow & Tracey, 2017). Teachers could implement a

protocol of asking each student to share their thoughts about the discussion in order to

help all students contribute. In addition, it is very important for teachers to give students

plenty of time if they are asking them to discuss with the rest of the class.

Another suggestion for effectively teaching race is to help engage students’

higher-level thinking through selecting quality multicultural texts that encourage students

to connect, feel, and interpret the content (Risko & Walker-Dalhouse, 2007). In addition,

selecting excellent texts that help produce specific memories of students interacting with

their family and friends in the community is important when implementing a

multicultural curriculum (Risko & Walker-Dalhouse, 2007). This also encourages

students to discuss the content through their unique vantage point. It is recommended that
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teachers get to know their students’ experiences outside of school in order to consciously

teach a multicultural framework that incorporates quality texts tailored towards learners

needs and interests (Risko & Walker-Dalhouse, 2007).

Teachers should approach race concepts and encourage students to critically think

about multicultural literature throughout the school year as opposed to one week of the

curriculum. Teachers are doing a disservice to students when they only study or celebrate

different cultures during a designated month because this sends the message to children

that the only important culture is from white people (Luther, 2009). Teachers could

implement race concepts through helping students to examine several sources including

literature, media, peers, and technology since children learn from a plethora of resources

(Boutee et al., 2011).

Conclusion

Multicultural theorists highly suggest that teachers notice race and the value of

teaching multicultural topics to their students. Teachers need more exposure to research

concerning the benefits of teaching race in the classroom. Also, educators should be

required to take a certain amount of classes or trainings devoted to understanding how to

effectively teach race in the classroom in order to be a certified teacher. Developing

pedagogy to responsibly teach topics such as race and racism, so students will be more

likely to build positive relationships with others and examine their identities is essential

for teachers.

Remaining silent about race and adopting a color-blind ideology should not be an

option for educators. Students need courageous leaders that promote peace and teach the

realities of life. Teachers that start to develop the grit and mindset to effectively teach
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challenging topics to their students will motivate other educators to implement these best

practices. Also, teachers will be more likely to disrupt racism when they realize that

silence regarding these topics in their curriculum will contribute to the social problems in

society (Boutee et al., 2011). Further research is necessary for exploring the history,

beliefs, and structures of racism so teachers have more information regarding the power

dynamics rooted in White privilege (Markowitz & Puchner, 2014).

Most people struggle with talking about race due to many factors including

society’s complicated racist history and little exposure with studying these topics. In my

future classroom, I will be more prepared to tackle the new challenges of implementing

race throughout the school year. However, I need to continue to educate myself regarding

these difficult topics, because I will struggle with the best way of implementing them. It

is my hope that educators can become open to learning about race and step into the

discomfort of teaching these crucial subjects to students. “Do the best you can until you

know better. Then when you know better, do better” (Boutte et al., 2011, p. 341). I

anticipate that all teachers will choose their best over remaining comfortable when

educating the lives of our future generation.

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