Читать книгу More Than an Ally - Michael L. Boucher Jr. - Страница 9

From August to June, teachers meet young people in schools to teach them the ideas, skills, and knowledge needed to become successful in the wealthiest, most powerful society ever created by humankind. The responsibility is awesome. With the mechanisms that teachers provide, these students will vote, earn a living, raise a family, and leave their own legacies to society. The work teachers do in the classroom every day shapes the future. There are many jobs that pay more and carry more prestige, but it would be difficult if not impossible to find a job with as much influence over as many people as being the teacher.

If an adult conversation is to be had about teachers working across the color barrier, whiteness both as a concept and a fact must be addressed. The waters ahead are not easily navigated, but unless the gaps between teachers and students in terms of race, culture, income, political power, and privilege are embedded in the structure of reforms, they will not address the issues facing today’s schools.

The project of this book is focused on the teaching of African American students by White teachers, but that is not the only project that needs a full examination. Being strategically essential allows for a focus on this one area, but the intersectionality of sexual orientation, colorism, sexism, anti-indigenousness, and a multiplicity of other oppressions also impacts students and their teachers.

However, as with all research, the question used to collect the data for this volume narrowed the focus to examining the phenomenon of White teachers in classrooms of mostly African American students. That is the focus here, but there are many other foci that need to be explored. The goal is that the theory herein will be applicable to many contexts.