To Be or Not To Be
Originally uploaded by WolfS?ul
Recently I have been observing a number of K-5 teachers of English language learners doing their practicum in order to get their ELL Endorsement. Part of the Endorsement requirement for ELL is that the instructor is required to demonstrate a respect for each child’s culture. In a bilingual classroom, in which most language learners are Spanish-speaking, there are various, more-or-less obvious ways to support a child’s culture: relevant texts, classroom decorations, films, and whatever creativity an individual teacher may show.
Of course, most classrooms contain mixed students and so culture awareness is more of a challenge. Nevertheless, it is imperative that teachers try to instill cultural pride in each student by finding available materials, studying the customs of a country and making each child feel unique, important, and proud This is a job for the schools and the families because greater society works against cultural pride, and therefore humanity, one of two ways.
The first way is that some members of society are out-and-out bigots. The African, Mexican, Jew, Asian, Native Americans, are abused in one form or another. Basically they may keep their racial, cultural, religious identities, but are somehow declared less than human in a variety of ways. In Nazi Germany the first prohibition against the Jews were that they were not allowed in public swimming pools, it seems initially there was concern about air pollution. We all know that a black man was robbed of more than his adulthood by being referenced as ‘boy,’ literally the African-American was declared non-human or perhaps three-fifths of one in this country. So the bigot attempts to rob his target of humanity, to murder the human.
In some ways the second problem is more sinister because it is done with a smile and takes more time. This second killer is characterized by the melting pot metaphor: it is assimilation. It is a view generally endorsed by the English-language-only set, but it also has its adherents in liberal Democrats as well. Here the immigrant or second language learner is allowed at least to keep his humanity in the abstract, but he loses his African roots, Chinese roots, contact with her Mexican heritage, and loses touch with her Jewish ancestors. So the effect is almost exactly opposite of that of the bigot. Here the person’s culture is killed off but humanity in the abstract remains. We know it’s in the abstract because sometimes we hear, “Carlos acts too Mexican to be elected,” “As a neighbor Sheila acts too Jewish.” That is why I say that while the first killer destroys the humanity of its target the second killer allows humanity to survive but only in the abstract.
Which brings me back to my central point: It is our job as teachers to try and keep our students whole.
– Dr. Paul Schneider, Director of Teacher Education Programs, WAL