The Role Of Racism In Education

After hearing Dr. Loretta DeLong and Dr. Gerald Monette talk today and reading the article I now have a better understanding of certain struggles that they have to go through in their lives. I think that the article provided me with some good background information about the Native Americans and how their views on certain situations and definitions are different from how the government defines them. However, I enjoyed hearing from two educators some of the issues that they have had to face in their lives. Even though I learned some history of Native Americans in school, I realized that I do not know hardly anything when it comes to this subject. Part of the article and a few of the topics the speakers presented on I was confused about because …show more content…
I think how one of the speakers said that it does not matter how you deal with the situation as long as you do something. I thought that this was very important and true. If a teacher witnesses racism or really any form of bullying, they need to address that situation right away otherwise it will continue and probably get worse. I think that one of the best ways to prevent racism and bullying in the classroom is to educate your students on different cultures. Many students, especially in early elementary school, do not understand the meaning behind certain things. For example, the speaker said that a child might pull on another students long hair because they do not understand why a boy would have long hair. I think that educating this student, or the whole class for that matter, on the Native American culture would be much more beneficial than punishing the student for what they have done. Many times younger students are just curious and do not understand when things are different than they are used to, but educating them is a helpful way to inform them of these …show more content…
I found this piece of information very useful and I hope that one day when I am a teacher I will remember this and be more understanding of my students’ circumstances. I think that it is important to remember that as a teacher we should want to help our students succeed and not letting them make up their work that they missed will not help them in any way. I hope that as a future teacher I can learn to understand where my students are coming from and why they might miss school or not be doing their homework. I know that some students will just simply not do their work, but if I take the time to get to know my students I hope that I can make a good judgment of which students might need some extra help. Overall, I enjoyed listening to Dr. Loretta DeLong and Dr. Gerald Monette speak about Native Americans today. I learned a lot about some of the history of Native Americans as well as some of the issues they have to face. I hope that I can apply what I learned when I have my own classroom