CULTURAL IGNORANCE
Many of our students spoke about the impacts of cultural ignorance. This can come in many forms — from language barriers to generalizations, to cultural misconceptions or an understanding of what may be offensive. This type of ignorance can result in kids being misunderstood, mislabeled, or treated like “the other” — limiting their identity, access to social groups, and confidence at school.
“One of my teachers... asked me in front of my class where I’m from, and then asked if there was chocolate in Africa... The teacher addressed Africa as a country, which really got me a little mad because there are over 55 countries and even different cultures in the continent. I think that when you try and relate with the culture of a student, it’s a tricky concept because you have to know, what kind of position am I in? It was terrible, especially because I was the only black person in the class... I appreciate that when teachers talk to me about my culture, where I’m from, when they address it, I like it. But there really is a balance.”
“I come from a small school and from a young age you’re put into categories for friends and who you’re supposed to be. I was the only person of color on the volleyball team and in student government. Students categorize themselves, at a young age we’re being set aside. I’m in AP English, but as an English language learner, I’ve always been set aside.”
“Learning about history and Thanksgiving was upsetting. That was the only time I felt alienated. You don’t want to participate. You don’t feel represented. Textbooks were really outdated.”
“A teacher mentioned that if I use my native religion to pray I could have a better grade. There’s a big, big gap that needs to be closed and taught in which to gain cultural competence.”
“My freshman year I had a substitute. While we were learning about Asia... He looked at the map. And he pointed at China. And he was like, “Who can tell me about China.” And no one raised their hand. And he pointed at me and I was one of two Asian kids in the class. And he goes, “You seem like you know about China.” And I was like, that’s just wrong on all levels because as one of the two Asian students, I shouldn’t be expected to be able to teach about China. It’s also not the country that I am from. And then on top of that, my dad’s adopted so I don’t know much about Korea either.”
“When I was in second grade, I was among one of the top students in English, and yet I was still given supplemental reading lessons. It wasn’t to get even better. It was to get to the other kids’ level... I asked them, ‘why am I going through this, I already know how to do this.’ They replied ‘it’s because your family’s from a different country.’ I don’t think they did it out of malicious intent, but it was definitely a veil of ignorance they were looking through.”
“I feel like as a student having a teacher say your name the wrong way, it’s one thing to mispronounce somebody’s name because it has hard spelling, but after you say it a certain amount of times in a wrong way, it becomes a source of belittlement kind of like I’m not going to understand it after a certain amount of times after somebody tells you your name, you still can’t get my name and it’s in the middle of a whole entire school year.”
Summary — Cultural Ignorance
From curriculum to individual attitudes, our students highlighted ways in which our schools fail to recognize their cultures. For some, what’s being taught in the classroom comes up short, for others, stereotypes and biases warp teacher/ student relationships. No matter the circumstance, cultural ignorance is an obstacle to students feeling welcome and comfortable in the classroom.