Connecting the Dots

So how does talking about race help us better understand schools and the dynamics we see today?

You can’t have a conversation about our schools until you tackle the American invention of intelligence and the political/economical gain of creating institutions called schools.  The conversations about our schools in our media and board meetings are usually summarized into discourse regarding test scores, low funding and behavioral incidents.

As I read the second lecture in this book, I found myself highlighting feverishly, writing “wow” all over the pages.  I felt like I was in a time warp.  Dr. Tatum was taking me through the history of our American schools, but everything she described is happening today.  Tracking, the notion of fixed intelligence, low expectations, stereotypes….have we made progress at all??    

Dr. Tatum suggests that schools weren't designed to educate everyone.  They were places to develop and empower an educated citizenry to protect our democracy.  At that time that our democracy was established, only white male landowners could vote.  It wasn't until 1920 that white women could vote, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 guaranteed that African Americans their voting rights.  A similar sentiment was shared by Camika Royal in her piece.  Coupled with their inability to vote or be seen as individuals worthy of exercising political advocacy, immigrants, people of color, women and people with exceptional needs were consistently stereotyped and viewed negatively in American society. 

 What was the justification and knowledge that reinforced  women, people of color, immigrants from certain parts of the world, and people with exceptional needs were mentally inferior and were ultimately going to destroy the American way of life in the early twentieth century?  

Two prominent psychologists, Henry Herbert Goddard and Lewis M. Terman played pivotal roles in defining what we call intelligence today.  Their ideologies were shaped by two important theories 1. the assumption that intelligence can be derived from a single number usually in the form of a test score 2. that intelligence (based on this test score) is hereditary and functions independent of major environmental differences that individuals endure

Today, (most) people believe that all students are capable of learning and achieving at high levels, yet we still see many practices that reflect the archaic theories that created our unequal education system.  One of those practices is tracking.  Students are labeled and placed into different classes and ultimately different life tracks based on their performance on tests. I appreciate the research of Howard Gardner, Jean Piaget, Jeff Howard and others who have developed ideas around multiple intelligences and redefining education as an on-going process of adaptation, not an unchanging characteristic.


How do we work within systems that use testing as a means of determining college and life readiness while promoting an inclusive and anti-racist classroom?

I have some thoughts and obviously Dr. Tatum hits this head on, but I would love your thoughts! Comment or write back to me - helen.hailemariam@teachforamerica.org

I'm looking forward to tackling this question with all of you...look for more in my next post!

Helen