Is this inappropriate-school district requiring teachers to read White Fragility?

[Anonymous]

Is this book assigned to be read during contract hours. Is the school providing the book? Then read it. You are being paid to do so.
Just because you read something, doesn't mean you have to agree with it. Assigned reading usually also requires critical thinking and analysis.
You may find some of the content useful - whether what you glean from it is what the administration intended by this assignment or not.
At the very least you can then virtue signal having read the book - carry it conspicuously when out and about downtown etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just pretend to read it and nod along to any discussion group. Even if you do read it, there's no point in saying anything because it can be used against you, anyway.

True.

+1i wouldn't even bother to open it up.

[Anonymous]

My school (not district) required us to read either White Fragility or Waking Up White last year and we had book clubs meeting through the year to discuss. I thought it was really awesome. Some people engaged more in the work than others - but it started a lot of good conversations among staff. I wish we could get the community to read it.

[Anonymous]

troll, troll, troll

[Anonymous]

It's just a book OP. It won't kill you to read it and consider it, unless you are too fragile to do so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
If the book is required reading in preparation for a free and open discussion that can include dissent, that's fine. If the idea behind requiring you to read the book is that it presents "the truth," then, yes, that's concerning.

that sounds like a great idea for a public school district- I'm sure HR is going to have an awesome time sorting through the fall out of an open and frank discussion on race

If a book is such that critical discussion of it is bound to be inflammatory, then that suggests the book should not be assigned in the workplace, don’t you think?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
If the book is required reading in preparation for a free and open discussion that can include dissent, that's fine. If the idea behind requiring you to read the book is that it presents "the truth," then, yes, that's concerning.

that sounds like a great idea for a public school district- I'm sure HR is going to have an awesome time sorting through the fall out of an open and frank discussion on race

If a book is such that critical discussion of it is bound to be inflammatory, then that suggests the book should not be assigned in the workplace, don’t you think?

yes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
If the book is required reading in preparation for a free and open discussion that can include dissent, that's fine. If the idea behind requiring you to read the book is that it presents "the truth," then, yes, that's concerning.

that sounds like a great idea for a public school district- I'm sure HR is going to have an awesome time sorting through the fall out of an open and frank discussion on race

If a book is such that critical discussion of it is bound to be inflammatory, then that suggests the book should not be assigned in the workplace, don’t you think?

yes?

Inflammatory to whom? I am just wondering whose feelings were are trying to protect here.

I'm guessing your black and brown co workers deal with what they would consider inflammatory statements all the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems like a very inflammatory book to assign Employees to read. I just read it and have a really hard time with the notion of labeling people as racist for unintended actions and for its view of white people as basically always being wrong in an exchange with POC & needing time just accept that.

We recognize that people can do things unintentionally that marginalize women at work. We recognize that people can do things unintentionally that marginalize people with disabilities at public accommodations. We acknowledge that people can do things that unintentionally marginalize non-Christians at community gatherings. Why do you think race is different?

I can discuss the impact of someone’s actions without demonizing that person. My goal is to get the person to be aware of their behavior and hopefully change, not to induce any sort of guilt. Somehow though, certain groups have decided that making someone feel guilty for their actions is far worse than actually harming people through prejudice and structural racism.

Yep but that is not the author’s approach. Accidentally saying something that is harmful does not make you a racist. It means you need to be made aware of the sensitivity of what you said/did so you can learn from it.

[Anonymous]

The book will only be inflammatory because some people will not like the truths they hear. It challenges you to understand your implicit biases, or contributions to allowing discriminatory systems to continue. It is hard to hear. And, while I didn't necessarily agree with everything, it was quite eye opening.

If you're turned off by the title (I was too), you are someone who should read it.

If you think hearing what she has to say (noted above) is "offensive" or "inflammatory", you DEFINITELY should read the book. It talks about that defense mechanism quite effectively.

Since when do we just bury our heads in the sand b/c we may not like something? Quit being a baby and give it a read before you start complaining. Geez.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems like a very inflammatory book to assign Employees to read. I just read it and have a really hard time with the notion of labeling people as racist for unintended actions and for its view of white people as basically always being wrong in an exchange with POC & needing time just accept that.

We recognize that people can do things unintentionally that marginalize women at work. We recognize that people can do things unintentionally that marginalize people with disabilities at public accommodations. We acknowledge that people can do things that unintentionally marginalize non-Christians at community gatherings. Why do you think race is different?

I can discuss the impact of someone’s actions without demonizing that person. My goal is to get the person to be aware of their behavior and hopefully change, not to induce any sort of guilt. Somehow though, certain groups have decided that making someone feel guilty for their actions is far worse than actually harming people through prejudice and structural racism.

Yep but that is not the author’s approach. Accidentally saying something that is harmful does not make you a racist. It means you need to be made aware of the sensitivity of what you said/did so you can learn from it.

+2 And tells you the issue is more than racist as the binary "bad vs. good" label. It's more complicated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Since when do we just bury our heads in the sand b/c we may not like something? Quit being a baby and give it a read before you start complaining. Geez.

school district means government employer - they bury their heads in the sand because they have discrimination policies and a frank discussion on race can easily lead to an EEO (or whatever the district's equivalent is) complaint and most of those rules won't have a safe haven carve out for frank discussions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our school district is requiring that all staff members read White Fragility. Not sure how I feel about this. The title is rather off-putting.

A Gov’t employer cannot make you read the Koran, Bible, Atlas Unshrugged, Trump books, or BLM books like white fragility.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The book will only be inflammatory because some people will not like the truths they hear. It challenges you to understand your implicit biases, or contributions to allowing discriminatory systems to continue. It is hard to hear. And, while I didn't necessarily agree with everything, it was quite eye opening.

If you're turned off by the title (I was too), you are someone who should read it.

If you think hearing what she has to say (noted above) is "offensive" or "inflammatory", you DEFINITELY should read the book. It talks about that defense mechanism quite effectively.

Since when do we just bury our heads in the sand b/c we may not like something? Quit being a baby and give it a read before you start complaining. Geez.

The book is a personal ideology and you can to force your personal ideology on others. Or students. Fire up the lawsuits.

[Anonymous]

The "book" is basically

white people are always racist

black people can't be racist ever

it's complete bs