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Developing cultural critical consciousness and self-reflection in preservice teacher education

Theory Into Practice, Summer, 2003 by Geneva Gay, Kipchoge Kirkland

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A second common maneuver that preservice teachers use to avoid analyzing their thoughts, beliefs, biases, and behaviors about racial and cultural diversity in education is silence. When asked to participate in these discussions they don't. If pressed to do so, they plead ignorance or lack of exposure to and contact with diverse peoples and cultures. They seem mystified about how to acquire knowledge to overcome their ignorance. This places the instructor in the position of having to carry the conversation by providing all of the analyses, examples, and interpretations. What should be thoughtful, co-constructed dialogues among students and instructors quickly lapses into monologues. The students may listen intently to the reflections of the professors, but their own self-reflection and critical consciousness about racism, ethnicity, and cultural diversity in educationare not accomplished.

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In addition to simply not engaging with race, racism, ethnicity, and cultural diversity in education some prospective teachers try to silence the significance of these issues. That is, they try to undermine the importance of the questions raised and explanations provided. These maneuvers take many different forms, but two are most frequently used. One is to question the validity of the issue by pointing out, "I know someone who is a member of (the particular ethnic group) and he or she doesn't act (or believe) that way." Or, "I know people who are not members of (the particular ethnic group) and they think, believe, and behave the same way." The other silencing attitude often expressed is, "Isn't that stereotyping, of overgeneralizing?" The comment tends to be offered in response to readings and discussions that deal with specifically named cultural values and behaviors of different ethnic groups, such as preferred learning styles, communication behaviors, and even achievement patterns.

These reactions, and the contexts and timing when they are delivered, convey the implicit message that if the individuals expressing them can point out exceptions, the accuracy and worth of the explanations will be nullified. These skeptics are missing some critical points about how to engage with cultural information. Among them are understanding that (a) one or a few exceptions do not invalidate patterns and trends, and (b) individual exceptions are givens in dealing with issues like culture and ethnicity that are group phenomena (Gay, 2000). Yet another problem is that these individuals do not question the validity, accuracy, and authenticity of their countering argument. They do not realize the privilege, presumption, and entitlement that are embedded in using their personal outsider knowledge and limited experiences to outrank the cumulated scholarship and extensive experiences of scholars (many of whom are members of the ethnic groups they write about, and certainly are far more experienced with racial, cultural, ethnic, and linguistic diversity).

The third barrier to preservice teachers genuinely thinking critically about race-related issues in education is their claims of benevolent liberalism, and guilt over past acts of oppression, injustice, and marginalization. They may profess commitment to promoting educational equity based on their newly found awareness, but they do not think deeply about the implications and consequences of this knowledge for changing their personal and professional behaviors. As discussions about cultural and racial diversity move beyond general awareness toward specific instructional actions that challenge prevailing conventions, resistance is increasingly apparent. It is signaled by statements such as, "Yes, but students of color have to live and work in the U.S., so they need to learn to be American like everybody else," and "If I teach them according to their cultural styles, won't the White kids be discriminated against, and won't I be lowering my educational standards?" As with awareness, many prospective teachers assume that feeling guilty about racism is sufficient to make them worthy promoters of equality and social justice in their classroom instruction. They do not examine the causes, motivations, depths, and manifestations of their guilt, least of all how to move beyond it, and to ensure that the guilt-provoking actions are not perpetuated in the future.

Developing cultural critical consciousness and self-reflection in preservice teacher education

Theory Into Practice, Summer, 2003 by Geneva Gay, Kipchoge Kirkland

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