Fake Multiculturalism in Modern Schools
I was quite interested in Gunnar Kaufman's elementary school experience because it rang true to what I feel like it's like to grow up in an upper-class, liberal school system. Gunnar's experience is that everyone around him is telling him that race does not matter, that his experience is no different than any other white kid in the school. But this goes against everything he experiences and how he feels all the time. To him, race is such an issue and his background is such an issue but his elementary tells him to pretend like they're not issues, which just confuses him. This is amplified by the fact that Ms. Cegeny (miscegeny) is so obviously satirical and aware of race that it seems to Gunnar like the system is absurd. When he goes to the "hood" the school he goes to is all Black and he's immediately treated worse by those in power around him, for example, the police officers.
This school system reminded me a lot of my elementary experience, which involved incredible racial segregation between the "gifted" program and everyone else. Nobody acknowledged the ways we were segregated or treated differently. We ignored the subject of race even though our teachers were always way less strict than those in the "normal" classes and the class was majority white and Asian and upper-class. I would not be surprised if this class instilled in me mixed feelings about race and bias, so I don't think it's a good system. Reading such a satirical depiction of something similar made its absurdity stand out even more.
How do you think this "multicultural" white school changes Gunnar's perspective about race? Do you see the connection I'm making to the "gifted" program and its influence on such young minds?
I agree with what you say about multiculturalism. It seems that instead of teaching about all the cultures, they are essentially erasing all the cultures and putting them into a White society, or basically White-washing them. Looking back, I realize that I was more fortunate than others to have a very diverse class and teachers, but I was still put into an environment that perhaps unintentionally dampened cultures other than White. I feel that the multiculturalism in White Man Shuffle shows the situation well for those who may be in the minority and for me, it was eye-opening to see how it's like for people of color in the education system.
ReplyDeleteHaving been in the same 'gifted' program, I agree that there is undoubtedly a racial aspect to separating the 'gifted' and 'non gifted' classes. In general, I remember that even when the classes were integrated, the gifted and non gifted classes barely interacted, and there was this unspoken tension there. Also, I recall that some 'non gifted' friends had passed the test and everything, but didn't know if they would be accepted... (I'm also realizing just how problematic the 'gifted' program is but I digress).
ReplyDeleteAlso, the idea that someone 'doesn't see color' is super problematic because you can't just disregard centuries of oppression. But I feel like Beatty's depiction of people who say stuff like this was really humorous (like the doctor). But like, nervous laughter kind of humor. Good post!
At my school we didn't have any sort of gifted program and my school was basically all white so I didn't have that same experience. I also didn't have any sort of multiculturalism class or lesson like Gunnar did. The thing is, I'm not sure whether or not that's a good thing. Sure, I've heard a lot of problematic things in a variety of schools in such programs or lessons but when I look back on my time at Heritage (the school in Homer), I can't really remember a time when we discussed any sort of other cultures or races. I mean I am quite certain that such discussions would have some problems with Heritage having all white teachers, but would that be better than having no education in that area at all? I'm not sure, but I know either way would still be problematic.
ReplyDeleteI had a similar, yet different experience in my elementary school. While there were no gifted classes, students in the ESL program had almost all their classes separate from the rest of the school and didn't interact with students outside that. The one year they mixed all the classes in together, it showed me how segregated friend groups had actually been and how I'd never even talked to a lot of my grade before. While students should get to learn in a language they understand, the separate classes made a lot of unspoken racial boundaries. Later on, the school changed their setup to make things less divided, which I think helped the problem.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing I noticed from Gunnar's descriptions of this experience was the increased attention the children of color in Ms. Cegeny's class were exposed to on those "colorblind" days. She would look at them more and talk to them more. She was essentially curing racism single-handedly.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I was in a gifted program for a year, and looking back on it-wow. There was a single African-American student in our class and everyone else was white or Asian, while the "non gifted" class was almost all African-American. Bianca mentioned ESL up above, and that's another sorta horrifying thing, which hits people even at the University level, where non-native speakers are pretty explicitly segregated from everyone else. In fact, even if you speak English natively, the Unit 4 policy is (or at least was when I was going into it) that if you speak any other language at home, you must be enrolled in ESL classes or take an English exam.
ReplyDeleteI defenitely agree that race takes part in the seperation of high achieving academic settings. Often times students of color aren't allowed an opportunity to take part in these classes, but once they are their experience can be horrific. Having the chance to a higher education is half the problem, the other half is feeling welcome in these environemnts. The gifted program is just one example. The lack of diversity in a classroom can make it hard to talk about the topic of race, so it's easy to not talk about it all.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that Gunnar is solely recruited for his basketball skills speaks a lot to the racist stereotypes the school holds. Even if they're not outright being racist, they clearly assume Gunnar is not smart. As a whole I think they're playing themselves, they believe they're not racist and that they appear so, but they're only making it worse with their patronizing attitudes and assumptions.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting take. I think it is true that schools sometime have this "fake" front that is broadcasted out to society saying "we are all accepting." I too was in the gifted program, and looking back on it made me realize you are completely right. The lack of diversity was really astonishing to me. At the end of the day, it is as if people want to believe they are not racist but their attitudes and assumptions triumph their claims.
ReplyDelete