Unschooling Racism by Pierre W. Orelus

Author:Pierre W. Orelus
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030537951
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Redefining Student Academic Achievement

Student academic achievement has been at the center of educational and political discussions for centuries. However, what seems missing in these discussions is the critical examination of important questions, such as: Student academic achievement, whose definition? Achieving what? Often, what students achieve in schools does not seem to be appreciated and valued by the school personnel, including teachers, particularly if their achievement does not fit the norm, that is, meeting the expectations of the school status quo. Even those labeled as deviant and rebellious students achieve in schools but their achievement is often overlooked, as it is not part of the dominant narrative about student achievement. Therefore, our analysis of student achievement will be limited, if we do not take into account this factor. As noted earlier, factors such as unequal distribution of resources among students and schools also need to be accounted for in our analysis.

Why do certain students achieve in schools—that is, meeting the school benchmark and expectations by obtaining good grades and successfully graduating—while others do not? Privileged students who attend private schools often become successful academically, professionally, and economically. In contrast, poor kids of color as well as poor White kids who go to underfunded schools with overcrowded classrooms led by underpaid teachers tend to perform poorly academically. This category of students tends to be predominantly racial minorities who are often denied opportunities, which could have helped them fulfill their potential and become as successful academically as their White counterparts.

Racism occurs at institutions, like families, the media, churches, and the army. However, given schools are a place where students spend most of their time with teachers, peers, and friends interacting with one another while being exposed to various schools of thought and ideologies, ways of being in and seeing the world, and learning all kinds of stereotypes, including racial stereotypes, this institution needs to be accounted for in our unit analysis of racial oppression affecting students, teachers, and administrators of color. School practices that are race-based need to be challenged; they often lead to racial marginalization and academic failure of historically oppressed students.

Racial biases that have been historically entrenched in schools must be un-schooled. That is, they must be unlearned. Since colonial time, schools have been one of the institutions where systemic racism has occurred affecting the learning and life chances and opportunities of minority students. Learned racial biases in schools influence ways and the degree to which individual classmates and teachers perceive and treat one another (Matias, 2016). For instance, students who hold deep-seated racial prejudice against other students of color often discriminate against them. These biases are learned through socialization in schools. This is to say that the behavior and actions of teachers who mistreat students of different racial and ethnic backgrounds are often informed by prejudices and stereotypes learned in schools and/or from home but reinforced in schools. Therefore, if racism is to be eradicated, the anti-racism work must also be done in schools.

There are many injustices associated with systemic racism.

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