“Facing such charged attitudes that assault and undermine their sense of self, minority children may come to experience the institutions of the dominant society – as alien terrain producing an order of inequality.” (Doucet & Orozco, pg. 169)

The education system in the United States is a study in contradictions. For some students it represents a ticket to a better life while for others it can be little more than the figurative nails in their own coffins. In other words system that in theory should be the great equalizer has become a instrument to further divide us. After years and years of skin color politics that degrade and diminish people of color, students enter our schools and have but a snowball’s chance in hell of wading past the sea of people fighting against them to find someone to teach them how the system works so that in return they can play the system and win.

I use the imagery of wading past a sea of people to refer to the systematic nature of how children and students of color are inundated with negative images of themselves. The system includes teachers, administrations, the news, etc. Doucet and Orozco speak of the impact that generations of youth are growing up today with society expecting the worst of them. Low and behold, few students are able to reap the benefits of an education and rise above their own circumstances.

As a future teacher, I don’t know that as one person I can change the whole system, but I can still make an impact. That starts with valuing each student for who they are. Specifically, that means looking at the culture of any student as valid and equal. It’s not our jobs to wipe clean the slate of a student, rather our job is to value their individuality and teach them inequalities of the system so that they can play that very system without losing that sense of self and individuality.