For a teacher, a top priority is to promote and celebrate diversity in the classroom. For some teachers, that may not be such a difficult concept. Being Mexican-American has given me the opportunity to interact with different cultures, and I strongly believe that it will be easier for me to accept and understand other cultures in my classroom one day. Others, in contrast, have not had the opportunity to experience cultures outside their own. One such person is Vivian Gussin Paley (1979) in her book White Teacher. In this novel, Paley presents a very honest account of her experience as a teacher in an integrated classroom. It is a very powerful novel that tells of her progress in discovering how to deal with both her students’ and her own awareness of racial diversity. Throughout most of the book, Paley believes that the best way to deal with the differences in her class is by ignoring them. By the end, however, Paley realizes just how critical it is for teachers to recognize the differences amongst the children in their classrooms. By recognizing these differences instead of ignoring them, teachers, like Paley, can establish a very positive classroom environment in which children will readily learn and thrive.
*Graphic found at www.overstock.com
One of the most important reasons why teachers should celebrate racial differences rather than ignore them, is because it allows children of different races to feel proud and confident about their differences. At the beginning of the book, Paley tells of a comrade whose philosophy is that color doesn’t matter, all her children are the same (12). Paley then tells of a parent’s reaction to this: “My children are black. They don’t look like your children. They know they’re black, and we want it recognized. It’s a positive difference, an interesting difference, and a comfortable natural difference. At least it could be so, if you teachers learned to value differences more. What you value, you talk about” (12). If every teacher treated all “different” children like they were “White”, these children could grow up thinking that there is something terribly wrong with being Asian, for example, and they would be ashamed of their heritage and culture. Diversity in the classroom is a beautiful thing. If it is celebrated, children grow up knowing their culture and having a positive sense of self.
Another reason teachers should acknowledge diversity is because it gives students from the predominant culture the opportunity to experience cultures outside their own. Through diversity in the classroom, they develop a sense of what awaits them when they step into the real world. If White children are exposed only to a white environment, they could feel awkward and perhaps a little prejudiced around minorities after they stepped out of the classroom. By bringing children of different backgrounds together, they will learn to value their differences, and will learn to feel completely at ease in situations where they are surrounded by cultures unlike their own.
Differences should also be recognized instead of ignored in the classroom because it promotes equality and furthermore, exposing children to other cultures helps break stereotypes that they might have been exposed to. Paley sees this in her classroom one day. “White people tell lies,” (104) says a little girl in her class one day. “That’s right, they do tell lies,” answers the little girl’s friend. Paley overhears this conversation, and realizes that the black children in her class often point out negative things when they speak of the White children, or all White people in general. For this very reason, children should learn about the different cultures that surround them.
*Personal clipart
A peaceful and accepting world begins in the classroom. Exposing children to the differences that surround them, instead of hiding them helps to promote diversity and acceptance. By setting this positive accepting classroom climate, teachers give their students the opportunity to experience cultures outside their own, which opens the door to a very positive and accepting adulthood.
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