Week 2 Discussion

Based on class discussions, readings in and outside of class, and your professional experience as
an educator, reflect on your own beliefs, perspectives and values related to culture and
education. How do you feel about colorblindness?  What approach to race do you take in your
classroom? Please use your own classroom as a reference point. Have your perspectives
changed? Why? What will you do as a result? Share your ideas.

I have always felt like colorblindness is a little silly. Of course we all see the varying
races and ethnicities around us. From a young age, we find similarities and differences in
everything – animals, toys, food, nature. It’s part of how we grow and make sense of new things
in our world. It is natural that we would also notice similarities and differences in people. As Dr.
Kajitani said, “Talking about race and ethnicity is not racism. Acting badly toward someone
because of their race or ethnicity is” (“Why Race Matters and How to Talk About It”). If we act
as though noticing race and ethnicity is bad, children will begin to feel that there is something
wrong with that race or something wrong with themselves for noticing it.

Although I do not agree with colorblindness, I realize that it was unknowingly my

approach to race in my classroom. If a student brought up a topic dealing with race or spoke of
something unique to their culture, I was happy to discuss the topic or learn more about their
culture. But I did not actively try to address cultural differences or celebrate the variety of
ethnicities in the classroom. Some of that is because I taught math and race doesn’t present itself
for discussion as naturally as it would in a history or literature class. Another reason is that I was
nervous to discuss race because I was afraid that I might accidentally say the wrong thing. I
agree with Marie-Anne Suizzo that “white anxiety, not guilt or shame, may be the single biggest
obstacle to eroding racism and building meaningful cross-racial relationships” (“The Danger of
Teaching Children to be Colorblind” 1).

From the class materials and last week’s discussion, I believe my perspectives have
changed. For one, I am encouraged to not let fear keep me from having discussions with my
students about race and ethnicity. I don’t want to pass on the anxiety to my students and
perpetuate the problem. I also want a classroom that celebrates each student, including their
culture. I’m still trying to figure out exactly how to bring that to a math classroom. One idea
would be to study different mathematicians from around the world. Mostly, though, I think it is
having the general attitude that the classroom is a safe place to have real, respectful
conversations that encourage us to have pride in our own culture and excites us to learn from
others with different experiences than ourselves.