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I am extremely verbal, and I often struggle to keep my good intentions and passion from coming off as arrogance. That humility seeks answers to how do we build a world in which everyone begins as I did?Īs a white, male, privileged teacher and writer, I am prone to offer my views - to explain and to teach - even in social situations. We should guard against implications that people (and students) who are not successful lack effort and drive - an implication that disregards the power of advantage and disadvantage to overshadow effort.įor example, when we acknowledge accomplishment and effort with humility we allow examinations of inequity like these: (1) since educational attainment appears to create advantages within race but not among races, effort can be muted by racism (2) black adults with some college (thus effort) have the same employment potential as white high school dropouts (see also Mullainathan below). Instead, we must recognize that many of our accomplishments have their roots in huge advantages not of our making thus, it is important to address our accomplishments with humility in order to honor the value of effort in context. Many of us with privilege have been quite successful and have even worked very hard, so we are apt to emphasize that success comes from effort, especially as a way to motivate students in formal school settings. Next, how we choose to use our privileges is crucial. Acknowledging our privilege as a witness to it supports Gay’s claim that privilege unites us instead of divides us. contrasts with the lingering sexism women face. The social privilege of being white in the U.S. K–12 teaching includes a majority population of white females, highlighting the tension inherent in confronting privilege as a teacher. Such self-reflection may be aided by listening to others - insights from Brittney Cooper or Toni Morrison (see resources below), for example.įirst, since addressing privilege can be accusatory, we must avoid the urge to deny our privilege.
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Navigating Privilege in Order to Teachįor teachers, bearing witness to our own personal privilege is a key first step to helping students examine their beliefs, prejudices, disadvantages, and advantages. This is especially true during social unrest and when wrestling with difficult topics in the classroom. Teachers must address their own and others’ privilege, not by speaking for those who don’t have the same privilege, but as witnesses to their truth. I never assumed that - I never assumed that I could. Now, later on, you wonder what in the world the truth is, but you do know what a lie is.Ī spokesman assumes that he is speaking for others. In the church in which I was raised you were supposed to bear witness to the truth. In a 1984 interview with Julius Lester ( James Baldwin: The Last Interview, 2014), James Baldwin explains: Gay’s approach to privilege speaks to being a witness.
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Gay continues, “One of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do is accept and acknowledge my privilege,” and maintains that acknowledging privilege shouldn’t be divisive, because “few people in this world, and particularly in the United States, have no privilege at all.” At some point, you have to surrender to the kinds of privilege you hold because everyone has something someone else doesn’t. There is racial privilege, gender (and identity) privilege, heterosexual privilege, economic privilege, able-bodied privilege, educational privilege, religious privilege and the list goes on and on. a right or immunity granted as a peculiar benefit, advantage, or favor. In “Peculiar Benefits,” writer Roxane Gay, a Haitian black woman, defines privilege as For teachers, a first and difficult step in bringing these controversies to the classroom is exploring our own privilege Many of the controversial topics that grow out of confronting social unrest, such as that surrounding Ferguson, Missouri, or the shooting of Tamir Rice, include acknowledging and confronting privilege.