CRT Brief Number 5 (Week 8 …CRT examining Teacher Education)
I have finally pieced together a component of the readings that continue to cause a substantial level of irritation. The concept is rooted in interest convergence, introduced by Bell (1976). I will get to the sleep-sapping issue shortly, but first, and quickly, two other components of this week’s readings that could have been this brief’s theme if not for my *revelation.* To be more clear, I plan to address Disruptive Movement, pose a question about the teaching workforce, and ponder why we are stuck in a zero sum equation.
Milner (2008) ends his paper with a discussion of a theory of Disruptive Movement in Teacher Education. After reading Milner’s description of the two roles of Disruptive Movement, those being “(a) to serve as a tool in explaining processes and developments . . . and (b) to assess social-justice-oriented individuals in organizing to actually do something . . . “ (p. 339), I began to ponder how this might be utilized for the purposes of mathematics education. A portion of the limited access in higher education can be traced back to mathematics education, and a student’s placement in a lower level class early and then tracked throughout the rest of their k-12 career. Often this tracking is racially based, as discussed by Gonzales and Shields (2015), among others.
Question: is some portion of the drop in Black male teachers, within the workforce, explained by an increased level of access to higher, more prestigious careers? I believe that Roberts and Carter-Andrews (2013) thoroughly explained why an increase in teachers of color, and particularly Black male teachers, (1) isn’t happening and (2) potentially beneficial to the students for which we are all responsible. In my own experience, I worked in one suburban school, for three years, and recall two Black faculty members, each staying for a single year. My one year in the DC area saw me teaching at a school that had a single white student, and I stayed one year. Both seem to mirror, exactly, what the data suggested (Roberts & Carter-Andrews, 2013). My reason for leaving after a year is complicated, and unrelated to the school, but the two Black faculty members were basically as described, they were seemingly isolated, targeted, uncomfortable.
Now back to the insomnia producing concern. Milner (2008) writes about “the idea that if Whites might lose something, then people of color main gain something. The binary perspective on “I lose-you win” prevent the convergence of interests” (p. 335). This zero sum, where Black interests are “1” and White interests are “-1”, and together they are zero, is troubling. Milner isn’t the first to have written about it, nor the first we’ve read this semester, but his phrasing allowed the naming of my issue easy. So then, do I believe there is a set amount of power? of funds? of opportunity? of education to be received? My answers, I think, are “perhaps, unsure, no, certainly not,” respectively.
Since my chosen profession is in education, that is where my perspective most often sits, and thus the reason this zero sum component that is most troubling. Educating students of color certainly should not take away from White students. In fact, making an effort to educate all students, incorporating all perspectives, investigating the society in which these students find themselves, should do the exact opposite. Each population would have better understanding of the other social groups, whether race, gender, economic standing, political preference, etc.
Education is one area of life in which we can have a resulting sum that is greater than its parts. Where the field of education is concerned, of course, I may be overly reliant on my rose-colored glasses. Milner (2008), though, does suggest that through this interest convergence process, both those giving up, and those gaining something can “result in benefits and gains for the masses” (p. 342).
References
Bell, D. A.. (1976). Serving Two Masters: Integration Ideals and Client Interests in School Desegregation Litigation. The Yale Law Journal, 85(4), 470–516. http://doi.org/10.2307/795339
Gonzales, S. M., & Shields, C. M. (2015). Education ‘reform’ in Latino Detroit: Achievement gap or colonial legacy?. Race Ethnicity and Education, 18(3), 321-340.
Milner, H. R. (2008). Critical Race Theory and interest convergence as analytic tools in teacher education policies and practices. Journal of Teacher Education, 59(4), 332-346.
Roberts, T. & Carter-Andrews, D. J. (2013). A critical race analysis of the gaslighting against African American teachers. In D. J. Carter-Andrews and F. Tuitt (Eds.), Contesting the myth of a ‘post racial’ era. (pp. 69-94). New York, NY: Peter Lang.
