Weekly Assignment

For Discussion 2

CASE STUDY 4.3 CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE CURRICULUM OR AN ETHICAL DILEMMA?

Dr. Adams had been repeating her morning ritual of greeting the students in the hallway as they arrive from their various neighborhoods to start their school day. Her administrative assistant, Delta, came rushing up to speak to her, a tormented look on her face. Delta pulled her over to the side of the hallway and spoke in a whispered rush, “You have a student in your office, and he’s not alone! This kid brought trouble with him!” Dr. Adams hurried back to her office, determined to resolve whatever issues her visitors had. As she entered the outer office, she heard raised voices coming from her own open doorway.

Dr. Adams had been enjoying a wonderful morning in her urban middle school. Her 425 students came from a variety of neighborhoods in a sprawling Midwestern city. A wide array of children attended her school from many socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds. She prided herself on the fact that her school was normally a smooth-running operation with only a few behavioral issues; the climate of the school was something she had worked at diligently since becoming the administrator four years previously.

When she entered her office she found Jeremy Standing Elk, a normally quiet and shy Lakota student, sitting with his father, Harold. It was obvious that Harold was upset, and Jeremy seemed bewildered. Harold was speaking slowly and surely, yet his tone was heated as he explained the situation.

Jeremy, a student in the core American history block, was in class the previous day studying westward expansion when his teacher, Beth, divided the students into three distinct groups; cowboys, settlers, and Indians. Jeremy was grouped with the Indians. Although he felt apprehensive about it, Jeremy didn’t want to speak up and say anything in protest. As the lesson proceeded, the group of five boys who were “Indians” complained that they didn’t want to be Indians; they felt that they were all going to get killed off, so they started to talk about scalping some cowboys. The father also explained that the boys in the “cowboys” group were in a different clique in the school and that there was a history of tension between the groups. As the lesson proceeded, each group was asked to write about how they felt about the westward expansion and how it had affected their “group.” One person from each group was then asked to “share” these ideas in front of the class.

Teacher Beth was at her desk, on her computer, preparing for the next week’s lessons. Although present in the room, she was used to the sound of students chattering and discussing the student ideas so she tuned out the conversations. As the lesson progressed, Jeremy tried to get his group back on track by saying that they needed to write some things down. Unfortunately his words went unheeded; in fact, the boys in his group chided him about being the one who should do the writing because of his Indian heritage. One of the students went so far as to say that Jeremy should get up and do his “war dance” in front of the class.

Teacher Beth didn’t see or hear these conversations go on, and the class did not have enough time to share before the bell rang for the end of the period. Jeremy was relieved, and as Beth finished by saying there had been some wonderful conversations going on, Jeremy was feeling rather dis-heartened about his group situation. As the class filed out of the door, the other boys in his group patted their hands on their mouths and made the “aye yi yi yi” sound prevalent in so many stereotypical old Hollywood movies. Jeremy chuckled at his pals as they left the classroom.

Jeremy’s father, Harold, was clearly upset as he told of his son’s experience. Dr. Adams respectfully agreed that the purpose of the lesson was good; however, the practices used to achieve the lesson’s objectives could be improved. Dr. Adams, knowing she needed to hear the teacher’s side of this incident, set up a meeting with Harold and Beth for after school the following day, giving ample time to notify the teacher of the issues the student and his father had brought up.

The meeting after school took place in Dr. Adams’ office, and as Harold Standing Elk walked in, he was amazed to see five people in the room. Although concerned about the extra people, Harold sat down with Jeremy and placed a book on the table (Lies My Teacher Told Me by James Loewen). The meeting started with introductions. Harold was surprised to find two curriculum specialists and a social worker among the group. The teacher then started out emphatically with, “Mr. Standing Elk, I am a good teacher, I’ve been teaching for 17 years now, and I know I am a good teacher! But let’s talk about Jeremy. He comes to class late maybe two or three times a week, and he hardly ever contributes to class discussions, so frankly, I’m surprised to hear he has anything to say at this point in the year! I have brought in the social worker so maybe we can discuss why Jeremy doesn’t really speak up in class, but instead he is telling you about what is going on. His grades are mediocre at best, and I’m sure we can all work this out to where Jeremy is going to get a better grade. As a concerned parent, I know you and I can arrive at some agreement.”

Dr. Adams was a mildly concerned over the defensive tone of Teacher Beth, and tried to calmly yet assertively interject that Beth was a qualified and professional educator. Harold cut her off abruptly; “Well, I thought I was here to talk about what happened in class yesterday; I am worried about what my son is learning in your class and about how you’re teaching about Natives.” Harold’s voice got louder as he went on. “My boy doesn’t like to get up in front of others and say things, and he has few friends as it is. He doesn’t want to rock the boat, and he’s even mad at me for coming in. I just want to know what you’re teaching here in this school, and why my son has to put up with racism in class!” Almost shouting, he added, “And just what in the heck are these folks doing here?” as he gestured at the two curriculum specialists.

Dr. Adams then drew attention to the fact that the curriculum had been recently revised to include ideas other than the Western perspective so prevalent in American history curricula. The specialists told Harold that the lesson was designed to enable Native students to have a say in the history curriculum. They also suggested that if Jeremy was upset by what went on in the classroom, perhaps there was a way that he could speak up during the class rather than deal with it after the incident occurred; this was why the social worker was present. Everyone could see that Harold was very upset by now.

“Doesn’t anyone here care about my son? Don’t you know what it’s like for him trying to get along with kids who make fun of him and his culture every day? All you care about is some silly curriculum that doesn’t even teach the real history, or that someone’s a good teacher even when they don’t notice the racism in their own classroom, but you all don’t even know my son or what he’s about or how he thinks!”

Dr. Adams was finding out just how little she knew about how to address this issue.

1. Were the educators in this dilemma caring? Why or why not? How could each of these individuals have worked to resolve this dilemma in a more caring manner?

2. What would be the most just course of action for Jeremy? For the teacher? For the other students in the class?

3. To what extent is the teacher responsible for implementing a culturally responsive curriculum and culturally responsive pedagogy?

4. What is a culturally sensitive curriculum? How might this classroom activity be viewed through a lens of critique?

5. How would the profession expect each of these educators to handle this situation? Did they act in a professional manner? Why or why not?