Caveats
Every child and family that we will encounter as educators will bring something different to the table each year. Our job inside the classroom is to create an environment that is welcoming to all families. To fully envelop the traditions of our students and their cultures we have to look at the wider scope of these cultures and the deficit perspectives we could potentially hold for the families coming into our classroom.
Ways to avoid defaulting to a deficit view:
-Introduce yourself to them in a space that they are comfortable in.
-Ask questions!!! Assuming that families in low-socioeconomic communities don’t care about their children or their education is a gross view to have and will automatically put the child at the disadvantage.
-Don’t assume that just because a child’s family has money (or looks like they do) that they are well off. Basing your judgment on looks and the front that humans can put up with others will bring on an entirely different set of problems.
-Bringing your own gender/racial biases into a classroom harms everybody. You can be setting up your own mini-system of oppression within your classroom that will impact those being oppressed and those who are not.
What to say to teachers who default to negativity:
-Allen (2007) gives a guideline that she got directly from the guardians of her students. Even though I’m not the students' mother, one suggestion really hit me. The guardian said, “..I’ll shut down if you tell me she is lazy, disabled, too loud, too quiet- just about any label. I’ll listen carefully if you tell me stories about my child” (p.158). Just from personal experiences of working with children, seeing past the easy labels will help you more deeply appreciate the children in your care. This is something I’ve said to so many new counselors when I was a head counselor. When you see the larger picture as to why a child reacted to something you can understand their emotions more and empathize in a more genuine way.
-Providing mutual support!!! Being a teacher can be emotionally, mentally, and physically hard. The constant negativity that comes with teaching naturally can wear someone down. When a co-worker is being negative see what’s happening from their viewpoint. If their juju is off their entire pedagogy will be off (Allen, 2007, p.152).
Lastly,
- A quote from Allen (2007) that any teacher, educator, whoever can benefit from this single quote and that is, “Did it ever occur to you that if you believed in our children and really thought that they could do these things, that they would quite naturally do them?” (p.66).
TedTalk on Single Stories and deficit perspectives:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9Ihs241zeg
