Monthly Archives: September 2018

The role of teachers in the elimination of racist and patriarchal views in current and future generations

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This Tuesday’s (Tuesday 25th September) lecture was focused on racism and patriarchy within both historical and current societies as part of our ‘Values’ input and prove to not only be very interesting and informative but also extremely thought provoking for myself.

Racism. It’s a topic I never thought would have to be spoken about with students preparing to go into professions such as social work, education and CLD work until I came to the University of Dundee. As I have learnt, the topic has so much more history and current prevalence in our own society as I had thought and I now see the full importance of the topic as part of my journey to becoming a primary teacher. It has occurred to me that it is our duty and moral obligation to not only ensure that in no way whatsoever do we hold such unjust, bigoted or discriminative views (and of course act upon these) within our professional or personal life but also to impart this same morality onto our young people.

The first example of racism within previous history we discussed was the case of Emmet Till, a 14 year old, African-American boy who was lynched in Mississippi in 1955. This was a case I was fortunate enough to have prior knowledge about as part of the History course I studied a few years ago at school however the lecture gave me the opportunity to look at the case from a different viewpoint. I was able to see it from the viewpoint of a teacher, responsible for the wellbeing of many children and also the values and views held by future generations and societies. Thankfully, there has been no recent lynchings reported since around the late 1980s yet I’m sure many can agree this is still a staggeringly too late date for such cruelty to have ended.

Stories such the Emmet Till case, Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott and many other abhorrent accounts of racism within the Civil Rights Movement and beyond are undoubtedly essential to be shared and reflected upon by all-yet have we really moved on since then?

It’s important to remember that not only was racism prevalent in social settings but also very heavily existed in and perhaps were based on racism within the legal system. Until the Emmet Till case, it was very rare for a black person to stand up and accuse a white person of a serious crime in court. This was clearly due to the extreme discrimination and stereotyping black people faced during this time. Despite plenty of evidence and actual admittance a few months later, the defendants were dropped of all charges and were paid $4000 to share their story to a magazine. Despite this, racism is STILL prevalent in our legal and political system today.

America is a classic example of this. Since 2002, the New York Police Department have been enforcing a ‘Stop and Frisk’ strategy where members of the police have authority to check people on the street for weapons. Despite this in itself already being morally controversial, a study has shown that Black and Hispanic people are stopped by NYPD twice the number of times than White people-yet only 1.24% of all stops have actually resulted in the discovery of a weapon.

Moving on from racism but still on the idea of discrimination, we discussed the topic of patriarchy and it’s place in previous and current generations. An extremely interesting and somewhat relevant topic to myself is the portrayal of women. We discussed historical examples of this also including the portrayal of women in power in Greek drama and also the Suffragette movement. Yet again, despite the shocking historical accounts being shared, this is another extremely present and large issue to this date. Woman are still told what is and isn’t acceptable for them to wear, their views are still deemed unimportant and unworthy and they are still portrayed as inferior within the sporting world.

Alike many other girls and women, I myself am very passionate about challenging such views and actions.

On a personal level, I have been fortunate enough to have been brought up in an environment where I have never felt inferior or incapable of anything simply because of my own gender-however I recognize this is personal to me and not the case for all. I have been brought up alongside many strong and independent women who have in my mind been exceedingly inspirational in defying and challenging the portrayal and supposed ‘place’ of women. My mum is a prime example here. My mum is a research scientist for the Scottish Government and so has personal experience in working within and studying the sciences as a woman. Science is still very much deemed as a ‘man’s job’ and so I feel very strongly about encouraging more girls and women into the industry. As a teacher, I know I can put this value into practice within the classroom to not only support the notion of girls in STEM subjects but also try to eliminate the common stereotype.

Whilst I would agree our society has most definitely advanced and taken steps forward in order to change previous perceptions and viewpoints, it’s also worth noting that there is clearly still lots of the same issues reoccurring today and change must be made. Not only through our own personal views and actions but also through the education of young people, so as they are confident enough to also stand for the beliefs and morals we impart on them and not fall into the trap of differing racist or patriarchal views through exceedingly influential streams such as the media.

In short, as professionals we are responsible for the future and must continue to challenge controversial viewpoints and ideas in the hope and aim of a better quality of life for our upcoming generations.

Structural inequalities beyond the classroom

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Following on from Tuesday’s workshop, I have since been reflecting upon structural inequalities not only in the classroom but also beyond within our own society.

As part of the workshop we were split into four groups with two groups given very basic and minimal supply packs and the remaining groups given many varied and advanced supply packs. All groups were asked to make and present something in which would be useful for a new fresher student at the University of Dundee. I was in a group with very basic materials which included a sheet of A4 white paper, a pen, some paperclips and rubber bands. Other groups were given many different coloured pens and paper, scissors, glue, tape and other materials. Our group decided to make a freshers week planner which contained information about where to pick up halls keys, when and where matriculation was and other essential events. The planner was personalised to the specific student.

Throughout the task and presentation of our ideas, our group had noticed that we were given very little attention and encouragement by the leader of the workshop whereas other groups were fortunate in this field. It was a shock to our group when we were given a final grade of 2/10 for our ideas and presentation with the other groups scoring 3/10, 8/10 and 9/10. After the initial upset it was soon revealed to us that our low score and minimal supplies was deliberate and not representative of our own performance-phew!

The task left me with thoughts of how this is an example and reality of different aspects and areas of our own society today. Personally, I saw the task as an example of how with little encouragement, help and attention it is very easy to under perform and be disappointed. It can also cause resentment, annoyance and a lack of full respect (which as a group we experienced to an extremely minor extent) towards the assessor. This is an area in which I feel is especially important and relevant to teaching. The difference in terms of quality and quantity of supplies between groups also highlights the still very much prevalent gap between rich and poor within our classrooms and society beyond. Generally speaking, those from richer backgrounds with wide access to quality resources are more likely to achieve high whereas, those from more disadvantaged backgrounds don’t have equal resources hence, putting them at high risk of under achieving. This is an issue in which I firmly believe professionals from all areas of social care should be challenging and aiming to address.

 

 

Rising to and enjoying the challenge

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“Are you sure you don’t want to go into something less stressful?”, “teaching is tough you know!”, “study something else in Edinburgh and stay at home!” and “Just think about what’s easiest for you!” were just some of the responses I received upon telling previous teachers and friends about my career choice. Initially the responses upset me a tad and broke away a little bit of my ‘happy bubble’ after working so hard to gain my university places but, soon enough I was immensely reassured that my choice was definitely the right one.

I was sitting in the cinema watching and taking delight in ‘The Greatest Showman’ when a certain line stood out and spoke to me.

“Comfort is the enemy of progress” –P.T.Barnum

The line made me realise that yes, a teaching career will most certainly be difficult, stressful and at times uncomfortable however I strongly believe that often when a challenge is faced, a greater thing is born. It’s important to me to aim to create a better future for both our children and society and what other way to progress towards this than to step outside of my comfort zone occasionally, believe in myself (and my ability) and get involved in teaching. In turn, I would want to be an example to my own pupils in the hope that they too will become effective contributors in their own society.

The idea of being a positive role model when undertaking a career in teaching also greatly appeals to me. Like many, I am of the strong opinion that raising our children to be honest and respectful beings is a top priority. Thinking back to my own teachers, I view them as amazing, selfless people who played such a large part in forming the person I am today. They were kind, considerate, fair, incredibly hard working and dedicated. They had time for their students even when the bell had long ran and they cared so much for every single child in the classroom-no matter what race, religion or culture they came from. Their actions and nature inspired me and  many others to also adopt the same values and I would love to be a part of passing this on to the next generation again.

Throughout my time at school, I developed a great interest in all areas of the curriculum ranging from Maths to Business and English to Biology. I am incredibly passionate about applying my knowledge and interest of computing science into the primary school as this is an area in which is very quickly growing and advancing. My on-going love for music also encourages me to bring the fantastic qualities of being able to read music and/or play an instrument into my future classroom. I am currently undertaking Italian lessons as this is an additional area where I feel development in would not only be beneficial to myself but also my pupils. Passing on to future children the varied and wide spread knowledge and skill set that I was very fortunately given by my own teachers is a vital aspect of teaching and this excites me enormously.

All in all, I want to be a teacher in order to give our children everything I was ever given and much, much more.