As educators, it is vital that we recognize the biases we carry so that this does not have an adverse impact on the students that we are serving. We highly recommend that you take the race implicit bias test. We must recognize our own biases, dismantle what damages student equity, and rebuild a system that is truly socially just.
Microaggressions
Microaggressions are subtle and unintentional comments, actions, and environmental factors that can affect students’ feeling of belonging. We as educators can also serve as gatekeepers to either advanced studies, special education, counseling, etc. If we are going to be gatekeepers, we have to be aware of the microaggressions we perpetuate. Examples of microaggression can be scheduling major deadlines on important cultural event dates or making inappropriate and insensitive jokes about a particular group of students.
Counseling Services
Mental health professionals and counselors are vital in supporting students in their academic journey and the “whole child” development. However, are counselors allowing every student to pursue their dreams, regardless of their situation? Many students of color have been dissuaded from STEM and attending higher-level courses due to their past academic performance or solely based on their backgrounds.
Lack of Access to Physics and Chemistry
Teachers have stated that we need “Rocks for Jocks” and want to lower the science requirements for high school graduation. This allows for students to take “easier” pathways that lack rigor. However, many students of color are funneled into these pathways which do not count as a university requirement, putting them at an immediate disadvantage. Instead of creating classroom supports and scaffolds for students, we are watering down the curriculum and channeling certain students into them based on implicit factors.
Representation
Representation means more than just showing students STEM professionals of color; we have to incorporate people of color beyond tokenization and truly create a diverse community that includes these voices. For example: which voices are represented during decision-making processes and in our instructional materials? How are we actively recruiting diverse teachers and leaders? To go beyond tokenization, we need to employ proven strategies to increase representation in education.
How do you create an anti-racist classroom that is truly a classroom for every student? This is the question we are always asking ourselves and working toward in our professional development for educators and educational leaders.
We recently read the following comments in a discussion section of an educational article highlighting the need for anti-racist training for teachers: “I teach in a predominantly white neighborhood so I don’t really need diverse science texts” and “I am not racist so I don’t need anti-racist training.” The truth is, anti-racism is for everyone. Every student should be able to see diversity in the STEM fields. This normalizes the concept of diverse voices. It also allows for students and teachers to reflect on their own biases, think about microaggressions and how truly to build a classroom community that stands up to racism.
At STEM4Real, we carry out activities that mirror the lived experiences of our students. For example, we deep dive into things we have heard about various groups of students and examine the stereotypes perpetuated in our classrooms. If the activity was awful, imagine how the actual experience of racism is. The thing is, for us to move forward, we must truly believe in creating spaces to have #4Real conversations about race, bias, microaggressions, systemic oppression, and social injustice so we can rebuild our classrooms as healthy environments where everyone thrives.
Related:
Computer science classes have an equity issue–some NYC educators are trying to change that
How robotic gamification helped my elementary students love STEM