1. Honesty
Here, Howard points back to chapter 2 where we saw that assumption of righteousness and the luxury of ignorance were two dynamics that were essential to dominance. Honesty challenges these two ideas. The main point here is that Whites can go through this stage of honesty by learning to question their own assumptions and acknowledge the limitations of their culturally conditioned perceptions of truth (p. 69).
Howard shares on White teachers view on this:
Much as I cared for these kids, I had no notion of preparing them for college, had accepted low academic expectations of them, and had almost no academic content knowledge about anyone other than Euro-Americans (p. 70)These are assumptions that many White educators carry into the schools, but in order to deal with dominance and racial identity, we need to put away such assumptions and be able to expect the best out of all of our students. Howard goes on to say that one way his program tried to be honest was by presenting U.S. history from multiple cultural perspectives. This would mean showing both the White and Native American perspectives of the westward movement or showing both the White and African American perspectives of slavery. By showing this different perspectives, students can feel empathy, which is the second point.
2. Empathy
By having empathy, we are "focuses our attention on the perspective and worldview of another person," which is the opposite of dominance (p. 73). Howard says that feeling empathy is part of this healing process because "it allows us as Whites to step outside of dominance, to see our social position in a new light, and connect with the experience of others who see things from a different perspective" (p. 73). It is hard for us, as White educators, to fully understand what our students and colleagues of color have gone through, but by creating an empathetic environment, we can share stories and experiences and feel for each other.
3. Advocacy
The main idea behind Howard's point of advocacy is that White teachers need to be reeducated because many are not ready for inclusion of other races. They are not prepared to teach these races, so they need to learn how to best teach students who are different from themselves.
4. Action
Here, Howard basically says that now that we know about and understand White privilege, what will we do to end it? What action will we take to help this cause?
At the end of the chapter, Howard mentions five key areas of learning that he sees in the multicultural education process:
1. To know who we are racially and culturally
2. To learn about and value cultures different from our own
3. To view social reality through the lens of multiple perspectives
4. To understand the history and dynamics of dominance
5. To nurture in ourselves and our students a passion for justice and the skills for social action.
In some of my own experiences, I have seen teachers who tend to have the same attitude the woman that Howard quoted in the honesty section. I was once aiding for a teacher who had this same view - that some of the students would not get far in life, she had low academic standards for her students, and she did not seem to understand other races. The woman taught in a diverse school and had a very diverse group of students, both racially and academically. It was very obvious that she did not have very high expectations for certain students in the class. There were many ELL students in her class, and these tended to be the students that she did not have high hopes for. This was a kindergarten class, so it was a very important time in a child's life, where many foundational pieces of education come into play. This teacher knew these students struggled and had very little hope for them to successful in school. She often wondered how they would pass kindergarten, but did not try to differentiate instruction or give them extra support. On the days I was present, I was assigned to work with these children because she did not want to be bothered by them. This teacher needed to put away these negative thoughts about the children and try to empathize with them. They were trying to learn a new language, while attending a school in a language other than their first language. When empathizing with these students, you can see that this situation must be challenging for them and they may just need some extra support to help them.
Worldview: I believe that God loves diversity. During the story of the Tower of Babel, God created diversity. He created different languages and He is the one who created a variety of cultures and ethnicities. When I think of the situation listed above with this kindergarten teacher, I can only think "What Would Jesus Do?" What would Jesus do if He was a teacher in a multicultural school? How would He handle this situation where a variety of God's beautiful children are learning? Would He just blow off the ones who are different? Would He not concern himself with the children that are not good at school and just assume they cannot learn? Absolutely not. We are like these children who struggle with learning. We know what is right and wrong, but we fail God every single day, but has never turned his back on us. He did everything He could to help us, to save us, by sending His Son to be an example for us here on Earth and then dying for us. As teachers, we need to do everything we can to help our students succeed whether they are White, African American, Asian American, Native American or any other race, whether they receive As or Ds on their report cards, they deserve to have a teacher who believes in them, empathizes with them, and does their best to help their students succeed.
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