Reflections on Culturally Responsive Pedagogy Versus Saviorhood

            The adults are the last people I want to think about when it comes to being a teacher, yet lately, they have dominated my thinking. I am amazed at the way, it seems, we need to teach teachers to care about children. While this is not a new phenomenon, it seems somehow heightened with the pandemic. It is as if teachers could fake it better (caring about kids), and now that the stress is on, it is one of the first things to go. The administration is doubling down on learning gaps which require teaching content harder than ever, and teachers forget that they do not teach content – they teach students. Learning your learners and seeing who is in the classroom with you is the foundation for caring about your students. It is impossible to respond to your students and their culture if you do not see them. Culturally responsive teaching (CRT) and culturally responsive pedagogy (CRP) has been for nearly three decades (Gay, 2002; Irvine, 1999; Ladson-Billings, 1995) and speak to the need for teachers to co-create their classrooms with the learners they teach.

Being Culturally Responsive Versus Saviorhood

            Ladson-Billings (1995) describes the term as a "synergistic relationship between home/community culture and school culture" (p. 467) which Gay (2002) describes as an "ethical, emotional, and academic partnership" (p.109). A culturally responsive relationship between teachers and their students requires that the teacher first care about their learners and then intentionally work to elevate the learning strategies to match the cultural norms and ways of learning found in student homes and communities (Gay, 2002; Ladson-Billings, 1995). All intentional work in the classroom requires training and practice; CRP is no different. Both Ladson-Billings (1995) and Gay (2002) have written about the positive effects that CRP has on the student's ability to learn and develop in that classroom spaces that are designed for them instead of against them. CRP and intentional caring are also echoed by Irvine (1999), who described it as "believing, demanding the best, responding to one's calling, and disciplining" (p. 249). Nowhere is it mentioned that teachers should save children or protect them from their education. CRP is about creating spaces that respond to their needs and working within a partnership to hold students accountable for excellence. Our education system seems to be hellbent on increased accountability for children of color inside of systems designed to oppress and harm them. Neoliberalism and the war on critical race theory seek to eradicate culturally responsive curricula from our classroom spaces, doubling down on the suffering of students of color (Blanchett & Zion, 2011; Love, 2019).

An Insane World

            Teachers often characterize students of color as being good or bad based on their behaviors in the classroom and hallways, yet the same teachers have not interrogated their classroom environments to show care and cultural responsiveness. Just this week, I have learned that a Black student was threatened by a white teacher in the hallway when they were joyfully playing with another student. The student is an AP and honor roll scholar in his senior year, though many teachers judge his appearance and draw conclusions based on appropriate and professional dress standards like those found in our dress code (Central Gwinnett High School, 2022, p. 12). The teacher reportedly said, "If you put your hands on them, I am going to put my hands on you." On other occasions, I have heard this teacher discuss their ideas about tough love and high standards, but they have done nothing to address the structural racism that is supported through policing children, white privilege, and their attempts to adjust student behavior (Behrent, 2016; Fisher-Ari et al., 2017; Lipman, 2011; Martin et al., 2020). Saggy pants, hair braids, and hoodies are criminalized in our dress code, coexisting with conversations about gangs. Another form of saviorhood is attempting to civilize students from their culture and focus instead on behavior education (Anyon, 2014; Irvine, 1999; Noguera & Syeed, 2020). While the way forward does involve teaching teachers to care about students, it begins with self-reflection and interrogation of their role in supporting and fighting white supremacy.

References

Anyon, J. (2014). Radical possibilities: Public policy, urban education, and a new social movement (Second edition. ed.). Routledge.

Behrent, M. (2016). More than a score: Neoliberalism, testing, & teacher evaluations. Workplace: A Journal for Academic Labor, 26(1), 50-62.

Blanchett, W., & Zion, S. (2011). [Re]conceptualizing inclusion: Can critical race theory and interest convergence be utilized to achieve inclusion and equity for African American students? Teachers College Record, 113(10), 2186-2205.

Central Gwinnett High School. (2022). Central Gwinnett High School Student Handbook SY21-22. Retrieved 02/09/2022 from https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OQtG-Ac_RCr9Go5Sbj_tTnl6LLkqN0Bb/view

Fisher-Ari, T., Kavanagh, K. M., & Martin, A. (2017). Sisyphean neoliberal reforms: The intractable mythology of student growth and achievement master narratives within the testing and TFA era. Journal of Education Policy, 32(3), 255-280. https://doi.org/10.1080/02680939.2016.1247466

Gay, G. (2002). Preparing for culturally responsive teaching. Journal of Teacher Education, 53(2), 106-116. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487102053002003

Irvine, J. J. (1999). The education of children whose nightmares come both day and night. Journal of Negro Education, 68(3), 244-253. https://doi.org/107.211.126.228

Ladson-Billings, G. (1995, 01/01/). Toward a theory of culturally relevant pedagogy. American Educational Research Journal, 32(3), 465-491.

Lipman, P. (2011). Neoliberal urbanism and education policy. In The new political economy of urban education: Neoliberalism, race and the right to the city (pp. 22-44). Routledge.

Love, B. L. (2019). We want to do more than survive: Abolitionist teaching and the pursuit of educational freedom. Beacon Press.

Martin, A. E., Fisher-Ari, T. R., & Kavanagh, K. M. (2020). "Our schools turned into literal police states.": Disciplinary power and novice teachers enduring a cheating scandal [Article]. Educational Studies, 56(3), 306-329. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131946.2020.1745809

Noguera, P., & Syeed, E. (2020). City schools and the American dream 2: The enduring promise of public education. Teachers College Press,.