I recently read an article that stated that children do better in school if their teachers look like them. Mainly because the students felt the teacher cared more and that made them want to perform better. I thought that was interesting and it made a lot of sense to me.
I recall being in second grade and being utterly embarrassed by my teacher, Mrs. Schwartwout, who did not look like me. One day she decided it would be funny to pull my desk chair from beneath me in front of the entire class. Not only was that mortifying and completely unprofessional, but it fostered an environment in which I was not emotionally safe. Frankly it was reckless and it traumatized me. This was one of my earliest experiences and from there I had mixed experiences with teachers. My fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Walsh, was my favorite because I just remember her being nice. She didn’t look like me either. So I’m certainly not trying to paint the picture that teachers who aren’t brown* mistreat brown children. But I do believe even the most well intentioned non-brown* teachers have limitations in their ability to relate to brown students.
I didn’t experience a teacher with skin like mine until high school. Her name was Ms. Appah. She was African so while there was a cultural difference, there was a commonality there; she looked like me. She showed a vested interest in my affairs. She constantly tried to pull us brown students into this after school group called YEO (I think it stood for Youth Experience Organization or something). I had no interest. And when she recruited me and my nemesis at the time, another brown girl named Charisse, I definitely wasn’t interested. Most teachers would’ve left it at that but she dug deeper. She wanted to know why two bright young brown girls could not get along. Now I have to say I really don’t think a teacher that didn’t look like me would have put in the extra effort to get to the root of the discord. And I don’t necessarily blame them. It takes a certain level of confidence to feel like you can successfully communicate enough to gain a student’s trust and attention. And a person who can’t really identify with the student really isn’t coming to the table with that. Now did Ms, Appah succeed in getting us to squash our beef? Not immediately but she did plant a seed in both of us that may have been the catalyst we needed to move past our teenage drama. I remember she pulled Charisse and I aside and said,”You know why you two don’t get along? Because you’re alike. You’re both leaders.” Now at the time, I thought she was nuts. LOL. This was freshman or sophomore year of high school and by senior year, Charisse and I were cool again.
So after reflecting on these parts of my own story I began to think about what impact a teacher that,not only looks like you, but is also your mother has. What are the benefits of learning in an environment where you are emotionally safe; Where you know your teacher not only cares but loves you;Where the entire class is rooting for you to win. What a beautiful thing! Now I’m sure there are cons too but I hardly believe they outweigh the pros. So I am happy to be blessed enough to provide that type of environment for my children.
Please leave comments below. Be blessed and Shalom.
*I don’t use the terms white or black because they aren’t based in reality. Instead this article uses the terms brown or non-brown.
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