EDUC 5210 Unit 6 DiscussionTeachers are never intentionally neglectful when it comes to fostering learning environments.Every good teacher wants their students to succeed. However, there are instances wherepredispositions can inadvertently affect the way a teacher teaches and, therefore, how studentslearn. There has been a significant push towards issues of race over the last few months and thatis
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EDUC 5210 Unit 6 Discussion
Teachers are never intentionally neglectful when it comes to fostering learning environments.
Every good teacher wants their students to succeed. However, there are instances where
predispositions can inadvertently affect the way a teacher teaches and, therefore, how students
learn. There has been a significant push towards issues of race over the last few months and that
is not without reason. There are strong disparities among students of varying races and some of
those disparities come unknowingly from teachers.
African Americans have to face negative stereotypes across society and these stereotypes can
affect their academic learning (Steele, 1997). Teachers who are not cautious of their own inert
opinions may, unfortunately, pass on those limits and expectations. If a teacher expects a poor,
black student to fit a particular stereotype, that teacher may accept lower academic performance
from that student. The most dangerous aspect of being ignorant of stereotypes is that "negative
stereotypes about one's group eventually become internalized and cause rejection of one's own
group, even of oneself" (Steele, 1997). This can lead to devastating losses across generations and
communities.
African Americans are also subject to the socioeconomic limitations placed on them (Steele,
1997). Over generations, African Americans have been passively, and sometimes overtly, denied
the opportunity for equitable learning. As a result, it is not as easy for this group to receive
quality education that can ensure them higher paying careers that can lift their and their families'
socioeconomic status, benefiting future generations. "... Beyond socioeconomic structure, there
are cultural patterns within these groups or in the relation between these groups and the larger
society that may also frustrate their identification with school or some part of it, for example,
Ogbu's (1986) notion of a lower-class Black culture that is 'oppositional' to school achievement"
(Steele, 1997). Teachers who are sensitive to these cultural differences can actually help students
rise above the negative implications they are fighting against
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