Taking it Personally: Racism in the Classroom from Kindergarten to College. (Reviews).

Sekani Moyenda and Ann Berlak (Temple University Press, 2001)

The authors of Taking it Personally, Sekani Moyenda and Ann Berlak, take as a given that claims that we live in a color blind society, free of blatant manifestations of (legal and social) racial discrimination and struggle, are false. But their experiences indicate that these beliefs are held by primary and secondary educators and are manifested in graduate college education programs. In an attempt to counteract this color blind claim, Moyenda and Berlak have set out to demonstrate that the liberal multicultural language/ideology used in schools--an ideology in which historically marginalized groups and voices are heard but which never examines how and why they were marginalized to begin with--contributes to a vicious cycle. In this cycle, (white) teachers never get beyond a topical understanding of their students and thus continually negate and invalidate the unique cultural experiences and realities of many Black students. The lack of cultural awareness leads many teachers to operate out of and impose a str ikingly Eurocentric value system on Black students that tends to choke their educational advancement. Taking it Personally documents a process by which teachers, white ones especially, do or do not develop cultural lenses that will enable them to be successful teachers in culturally diverse classrooms.

The book is organized around a specific "Boot Camp Presentation" given to one of Berlak's college level classes. The class functions as the part of a graduate education program which seeks to make students more aware of and informed about the challenges they will face in a culturally diverse classroom. The presentation was developed by Moyenda, a Black elementary school teacher and former student of Berlak's, to help address what she sees as future urban educators' biggest fear: "managing classroom behavior in predominantly Black, and especially poor Black, classrooms." Frustrated by the fact that this issue was never addressed and that there was never any exploration of actual classroom experiences, Moyenda developed the presentation for graduate education programs. It is intended to mesh educational theory with real classroom experience.

The presentation includes a role playing exercise made up of a fictitious class of elementary school students who exhibit various degrees of academic achievement and behavioral "escalation levels." The teacher in the exercise is set up to fail. (One of the college students plays a teacher who just cannot seem to accomplish the plans for the day because of misbehavior.) Moyenda explains to the college students that if they plan to teach in an urban setting they will have comparable students. The mock class is culturally diverse too. This is relevant and appropriate, according to the authors, because it is directly related to the students' behavior and learning. The authors take the time to explain, convincingly, that a child's behavior in the classroom may be a product of her/his home experience. This is especially true for Black students whose home experience is, more often than not, influenced by larger social forces. For example, parents' unequal access to economic and political resources as a result of rac ism plays a direct role in how their child enters into and engages with her or his educational experience. (Both Moyenda and Berlak operate out of the assumption that institutional racism is present and consistent and continues to have a negative effect on African Americans.)

The Boot Camp Presentation is a way to help teachers realize that, contrary to color blind proclamations, race matters. Though the teacher in the presentation fails to manage the children's behavior, the presentation is actually a success because it starts a process in which future educators are forced to recognize that there will be situations beyond their control. These future educators would do well to realize that they are working against paradigms hundreds of years in the making, rather than getting frustrated and giving up or, worse yet, stubbornly insisting on "appropriate" (white) standards. The presentation is a way to create that awareness and is accomplished via its dialogue and processing components.

Moyenda's own experiences with racism seem to be the driving force behind the creation of the presentation. Both fed up and damaged by racism's effects on her, Moyenda, who describes herself as a militant, is a teacher who has made it "her agenda...to teach Black boys and girls to become militant." She encourages her students to label injustice when they see it and then work relentlessly towards alleviating that injustice. Moyenda also lets the college students know, in very candid language, that she is wary of white teachers coming into predominantly Black schools because she has seen the damage many of them have done, intentionally or not. The reader can almost see many of the students squirming in their seats as they try to make sense of what they see as her confrontational nature and provocative use of terms like "militant." Indeed, many of Moyenda's students felt that contentious concerns like militancy (and racism) had no place in a classroom setting.

One of the authors' intentions, however, is to challenge these students in ways that most of them have never experienced. This is particularly important because many of these college students have grown up in a generation relatively free of visible struggles for racial equality. But the lack of a visible struggle does not indicate the lack of a struggle; for example, when predominantly Black schools are not afforded appropriate resources, one is compelled to at least consider the idea that race had been a factor in such a decision. Finally, Moyenda's dissenting opinions and intentional provocation have broken through a "why can't we all just get along" frame of mind among the students. The personal fights and passionate discussions that took place after Moyenda's presentation, one must remember, are part of the consciousness raising that is fundamental to Anti-Racist Education. (1)

Another necessary component of Anti-Racist Education pertains to the relativity of language. The differing ideas about what the term "militant" meant to the students and to Moyenda--that is, self defeating anger and a means to positive social change respectively--is a good example. Berlak discusses how the term "heteroglossia," borrowed from the Russian social theorist Mikhail Bahktin, can help educators develop appropriate cultural lenses. Loosely defined, heteroglossia refers to the ways in which the meanings of words and languages are relative to specific and unique cultures, religions or generations. In order to understand the language, you have to understand the culture. The idea behind heteroglossia, developing a genuine understanding of something not of one's own, is extended into Anti Racist Education in that one of its central tenets is developing an understanding of why, for example, a certain model of instruction is not working or why consequences for misbehavior are not having the desired effect. The more languages teachers learn and employ, the better they are able to effectively communicate with and teach a culturally diverse group of students.

An especially inviting aspect of the book is the way it walks the reader through the mental processing that the students engaged in after Moyenda had both challenged and confirmed their views about the relevance of race. The range of responses in the students' journals, outright anger and hostility to encouragement for more presentations, is informative because the reader gains insight into how these students made sense of the presentation, how they personally felt about the way race was injected into an educational setting and how their ideas about race changed as a result of the presentation. The responses also indicate that racism will continue to infect their thinking. For example, some of the students questioned Moyenda's credibility and doubted if she was qualified to give educational instruction as well as advice and guidelines on issues of race. This only strengthens an essential argument of the book, that some future educators continue to demonstrate that they have difficulty respecting people of col or. This is particularly relevant to one of the authors' goals. They want to spark within the minds of these college students the question of how they, presumably white teachers, will engage with and function within a school that has predominantly Black administrators, teachers and parents. Seeing what the students have to say also makes the reader feel relieved. Some students come a long way in their views about race and "others." Other students realize that, because they were unable to effectively deal with a confrontation that arose due to cultural difference, they will not teach in a predominantly Black school. Difficult as it might be to swallow, Moyenda and Berlak intimate that it is better not to have a (white) teacher at a predominantly Black school than to have one who, despite good intentions, will ultimately do damage.

Taking it Personally is an extremely valuable guidebook for those trying to develop classroom management strategies in urban schools. Teachers, in the authors' experiences, often remain detached from their students, doing only what is required of them as instructors. For example, some only teach the required standards and/or appropriate grade level material. Teachers who refuse to acknowledge that they do serve as behavioral and emotional guideposts often wash their hands of failure. (The logical step for these teachers is to blame the inability of their students to 'get it' on the failure of the parents to parent. This only perpetuates racial assumptions and stereotypes.) Once a teacher takes on the role of a guidepost and develops interpersonal relationships that are facilitated by cultural awareness, effective classroom management and easier delivery of instruction will surely follow. Successful teachers may have to wade through some emotional and behavioral issues that stem from home. Moyenda states simpl y, "understanding the children's home culture is relevant to management strategies."

Taking it Personally is good because it is unsettling. My progressive ideas about racial and social justice notwithstanding, I felt my buttons being pushed as I read Moyenda's confrontational thoughts, interpretations and advice. The book forced me to contemplate my own intentions in participating in a graduate education program that has a partnership with a predominantly Black school. Moyenda's parting thoughts encourage contemplation. What will you, as a white educator, bring to a predominantly Black school? How will you convince your Black colleagues, students and parents that what you do bring will be of value? Do you think that you can do this even when you have had such different life experiences from those whom you intend to teach? The authors continually inform the reader that social activist teachers will, to borrow a phrase from bell hooks, have to "courageously endure the uncomfortable" as they are increasingly faced with the challenging teaching situations that arise because of race. Teachers shou ld also remember that Anti-Racist Education is advantageous because it is both an effective means of instruction and an attempt to redress and address the ever-evolving legacy of racism.

NOTES:

(1.) While I have chosen to use the term "Anti-Racist Education," Moyenda and Berlak use the term "Critical Multiculturalism" to characterize the teaching method they advocate and employ. I prefer (and use) the term "Anti-Racist Education" because it leaves no doubt as to what the pedagogy intends to do. The term "Critical Multiculturalism," to me anyway, may be obscure and confusing to those who are unfamiliar with social activist forms of instruction. Overall, though, the labels are synonymous. They both refer to a pedagogy that asks students to move beyond a simple celebration of difference as a means to reduce racial prejudice. Instead, both encourage students to become aware of the systematic and institutional forces responsible for inequities while encouraging them to confront and respond to the injustices stemming from these forces.

PETER WOLF isagraduate student at the University of Massachusetts at Boston who is participating in the school's Teach Next Year Program, which is partnered with Dorchester High School in Boston. The program offers students the opportunity to teach for a year while they earn a Master's degree in Education and prepare for secondary school certification. For the past year, he also has been working toward a Master's degree in the American Studies program at the University of Massachusetts at Boston.