Today I had a brief but spirited conversation with a young teacher at work about whether or not white teachers can teach black students. Or maybe we were talking about whether black students require black teachers. Full disclosure: I am a white male, the teacher is black.

He cited the disproportionate number of African American males in Special Education, the large number of white teachers in Special Ed, and the high rates of failure within Special Education programs. Unfortunately for kids of color, these are all valid points, symptoms of the larger achievement gap.

Readers: perhaps you’ve found the secret to closing the achievement gap. Please avail yourself of the comments department below.

I don’t mean to be flip, I agree that race is one of the great undiscussed problems within education, which is one of the great undiscussed issues within our society. I also think my colleague’s analysis is overly simplistic.

I’ve met a handful of these Special Ed teachers, all within our Federal Setting IV E/BD facility. Many of them don’t take the time to connect with their students in meaningful ways. I believe that students of any race will succeed if they feel validated within the school setting. Students need to feel as if their experiences, histories, talents and interests are worth a damn, because for many of them, there are closed doors at every turn. This is not an excuse for checking out, but to these students, well, it probably seems like a pretty damn good one. I mentioned an African American teacher in our building who is a great teacher, but is certainly not forging any of these connections in his classroom. While students might feel validated by seeing themselves in their teacher, that validation (forgive me) is only skin-deep.

But my colleague’s position is not without merit, either. While there are many reasons that Special Education (and E/BD in particular) is disproportionately populated with African-American male students, one reason, undoubtedly, is that white teachers mistake African-American cultural and social norms for “rowdiness” or other undesirable behavior. Not only do they miss a chance to acknowledge the strengths that their students bring to the classroom, but they hand them a scarlet letter (or acronym), severely limiting the students’ chances for success.

Also, multicultural education needs to be multicultural, not afrocentric, or eurocentric, but MULTIcultural, and so should teaching staff within every building. To this end, teacher education programs need to work their asses off to recruit in communities of color, so that every student might see a familiar hue at the front of the classroom at some point.

I worry that we’re frightened of this as Americans. Little Rock Central High School was integrated fifty years ago, yet we seem unable to mingle with one another. At our worst, we risk passing on a mantle of regression to future generations, looping our history books back on themselves.

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Notes: I’m not in love with the name of this blog. If anyone has any better ideas, I’m open.