Reply to Teacher behavior - may be a racial issue

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Reply to "Teacher behavior - may be a racial issue"

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[quote=Anonymous]OP, I am AA and my child is bi-racial (AA and white) and last year we attended a school that was primarily AA, lower SES families compared to our current school which is racially diverse and predominantly middle class.  In our former school my child and the handful of white and Hispanic students were definitely treated differently.  There was definitely a culture of "the lower SES kids need discipline because they don't get it at home" and the kids were also AA.  I was very uncomfortable with this and some of the comments from the AA teachers towards my son-- an obsession with his hair and looks, calling him cute in front of other kids.  I also noticed a white girl in the class got more positive attention in class (I volunteered often) and on the playground during pickup.  Another AA mom with a light-skinned AA daughter also noticed that her child was favored by the AA staff.  Bottom line, what you may also be witnessing are issues of class and race, especially a subconscious cultural bias towards white people and anyone "closer" to white and automatic negative associations with AA kids and poverty.

I talked to the principal about yelling and physically handling the kids in general, but didn't frame it as a racial issue.  I was also concerned that my child was getting away with bad behavior and becoming spoiled (for lack of a better word) and wanted the teachers to address his refusal to participate and other negative behaviors, but certainly not with yelling, etc.  Unfortunately, I didn't notice any improvement and was basically told not to worry about it as "everyone loves [my child's name] and he is so charming".  This is a complicated issue that should be addressed but not sure how to fix the problem. [/quote]

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