RUNNING HEAD: Lack of Education About Race and Ethnicity in the School Setting

Kerzell Barnes

Post University

EDU 604 Diversity Issues in 21st Century Education

October 2021
Lack of Education About Race and Ethnicity in the School Setting 2

Introduction

Multicultural education is the inclusion of all races, ethnicities, cultures and religions in

schools. It is an opportunity to teach others about various commonalities and differences

amongst groups of people in an effort to understand and accept everyone for who they are. It is

an awakening and learning opportunity to know “how” or “why” people do, dress, speak or act

the way they do. Paul Gorski, author of The Challenge of Defining "Multicultural Education,"

said there is no clear cut definition of multicultural education. Some see it as theory and/or

practice, some as a curriculum shift, and some see it as teaching humans to respect other humans.

The problem is, many argue that race and ethnicity should not be taught in school. Equity and

inclusion are words we hear often in education, referring to students, however, these two words

are not synonymous with curriculum pertaining to race and ethnicity.

Problem

The question for many is what is the difference between race and ethnicity? What is the

commonality between the two? Race can be defined as categories of how people are grouped

based on physical characteristics or shared ancestry. Ethnicity can be described as the grouping

of people who identify with each other based on shared attributes that distinguish them from

others. While the definitions will vary depending on the source, neither one is biologically based.

Both race and ethnicity are products of socially constructed beliefs. Why are race and ethnicity

so difficult to understand? Why are we not trying to learn more and empathize with various

cultures? Why are we not teaching our children diversity from a young age, or even in school at

all? When the next generation goes into the workforce, they will need to know the difference in

cultures and how to be respectful. For instance, if your company does business with Japan, it is
Lack of Education About Race and Ethnicity in the School Setting 3

important to know they bow to each other when greeting, they do not shake hands like

Americans do. It is also proper practice in Asian countries to use chopsticks instead of forks.

Relevance of Diversity

Is there a fear of cancel culture and offending others that prevents the education of

diversity? We live in times where being offended by others’ opinions and beliefs can cause a rift

or halt in relaying information to the masses, hence the name cancel culture. If too many people

are offended by a post or comment, the person responsible is practically canceled by society and

reprimanded or exiled for their stance on the subject. Unfortunately, many instances in the news

over the last few years have revolved around racial inequality, and because so many are afraid to

tip the scales and mess with the status quo, they shy away from major issues and avoid them at

all costs, like teaching race and ethnicity in schools.

Unfortunately, another sad fact is that many believe anything they hear from a friend or

read on the internet, specifically a repost of a post of a post on Facebook that mentions a

controversial topic, is true! If it is on Google or Facebook, it must be true! It is a serious issue

that we choose to ignore and neglect the humanity of others because it may “offend” one party.

How do we decide “what” to teach in school and “who” makes the decision?

Sadly, many top stories over the last few years have involved racial profiling, white

privelage, social injustice, and morally inequitable practices. Actual humans, African humans,

were sold as property to white humans as early as 1619. Real people were bought and sold as

property and given jobs and duties to fulfill to be met, or else consequences would ensue in the

most inhumane ways. We are asked not to speak about or teach about these times now, so history

could be wiped due to the ignorance of our current and future generations.
Lack of Education About Race and Ethnicity in the School Setting 4

Eliza Fawcett, author of, “Accusations about teaching ‘critical race theory’ in

Connecticut often lack evidence, used as a vehicle for broader attacks on equity and inclusion,”

describes critical race theory as “a framework developed by legal scholars in the 1970s, hinges

on the notion that racism is systemic — not simply perpetuated by individuals — and is

intertwined in institutions of law and governance” (The Hartford Courant, 2021). Furthermore,

Fawcett writes, “Discussions of ‘equity; and ‘diversity,’ which some schools began to focus on

last year amid a national reckoning with race in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, are derided

as progressive talking points” (The Hartford Courant, 2021).

Vernon Lee Farmer, author of, “Critical Race Theory in the Academy,” “chronicles the

history of African American literary theory from the struggle against segregation of the 1950s to

the Black Lives Matter moment of the 2010s” (Critical Race Theory in the Academy, 2020.)

Many people are afraid to teach students about race, ethnicities and culture because they are

afraid other families may be offended or cause an uproar, like white supremacists or racists.

Fear of CRT

One psychotherapist, Billie-Claire Wright, “One of the issues Wright flags up is the way

white students and tutors/trainers shy away from discussing race. The reason is often fear;

sometimes 'white ignorance' (we choose not to know), sometimes 'white innocence' (the myth of

the 'good counsellor'), and the defensive reaction is often 'white fragility' (tears but no action),

but underlying it, arguably, is the maintenance of systemic white supremacy” (The Hartford

Courant, 2021).

'I argue that, in order to make this whiteness visible, we need to bring in the theoretical,

sociological understanding of whiteness, talk about the social construction of race, and combine
Lack of Education About Race and Ethnicity in the School Setting 5

this with counselling theory to challenge the Eurocentric way we have of working with people of

colour,' she says” (Therapy Today, 2021).

Today, critical race theory is used by academic scholars – and not just in law schools – to

describe how racism is embedded in all aspects of American life, from health care to housing,

economics to education, clean water to the criminal justice system and more. Those systems,

they argue, have been constructed and protected over generations in ways that give white people

advantages – sometimes in ways that are not obvious or deliberately insidious but nonetheless

result in compounding disadvantages for Black people and other racial and ethnic minorities

(U.S. News and World Report, 2021.) While the world is determined to work out the kinks,

many are also hesitant to engage in any training relevant to race or ethnicity.

“In his Fourth of July speech at Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota

earlier this year, Trump suggested public schools were partly responsible for the calls across the

U.S. to remove statues honoring Confederate generals and other historical figures. "Our children

are taught in school to hate their own country and to believe that the men and women who built it

were not heroes, but that they were villains," Trump declared (The Hartford Courant, 2021.)

APA 7th Edition (American Psychological Assoc.) There is actual legislation to prevent the

federal funding to schools that teach the 1619 project. Now out of fear of losing grant money,

schools are choosing not to teach about race at all.

Conclusion

All humans, regardless of race, ethnicity or culture, should be respected. We teach

children from a young age to be kind and respectful to everyone, regardless of differences, and

society as a whole should follow suit. In other countries, people are taught all about their history

and culture, so why would we not do the same in America? Why would we not teach about race
Lack of Education About Race and Ethnicity in the School Setting 6

and ethnicities in schools? Misinformation has made people believe that race has no place in our

schools, while that could not be farther from the truth. We cannot ignore and erase history

because it makes certain people uncomfortable. We still teach about The Holocaust and different

wars, so we should still teach about slavery and the effect of racism in soceity. Students should

also be taught positive things about each ethnicity and culture to be able to relate and empathize

with other people.

References

Beer, T. (2020). Trump Keeps Focus On Racially Divisive Issues—Threatens To Pull

California School Funding Over Race Curriculum. [Link], [Link].

Camera, L. (2021). What Is Critical Race Theory and Why Are People So Upset About It? U.S.

News & World Report - The Report, 8–12.

David Scott. (2003). Race, Ethnicity and Education: What Is Taught in Schools. Information

Age Publishing.

Fawcett, E. (2021, June 11). Accusations about teaching critical race theory in Connecticut

often lack evidence, used as a vehicle for broader attacks on equity and inclusion.

Hartford Courant, The (CT).

Jackson, C. (2021). Putting race ON THE training agenda. Therapy Today, 32(8), 20–24.

Vernon Lee Farmer. (2020). Critical Race Theory in the Academy. Information Age Publishing.

Zine, J. (n.d.). “Negotiating Equity”: the dynamics of minority community engagement in

constructing inclusive educational policy. Cambridge Journal of Education, 31(2), 239–

269. [Link]

Margaret Stuart (2016) Out of Place: Economic imperialisms in early childhood education,

Educational Philosophy and Theory, 48:2, 138-149, DOI:

10.1080/00131857.2014.971094

Mitchell, L. (2017).Discourses of economic investment and child vulnerability in early

childhood education. . Waikato Journal of Education, 22(1), 25-35.

Mears, C. Putting Children First: Coordinating Early Childhood Care and Education. Report of

the Child Care Task Force Commission on the Economic Status of Women. Minnesota

State Commission on the Economic Status of Women. 1991.

Moss, P., Dahlberg, G., Grieshaber, S., Mantovani, S., May, H., Pence, A., Rayna, S.,

Swadener, B. B., & Vandenbroeck, M. (2016). The Organisation for Economic Co-

operation and Development’s International Early Learning Study: Opening for debate and

contestation. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 17(3), 343–351.

[Link]

Moss, P., & Urban, M. (2017). The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and

Development’s International Early Learning Study: What happened next. Contemporary

Issues in Early Childhood, 18(2), 250–258. [Link]

Sue Saltmarsh (2009) Becoming economic subjects: agency, consumption and popular culture

in early childhood, Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 30:1, 47-59,

DOI: 10.1080/01596300802643082