Gellman on Racist and Discriminatory Tropes in Schools: Globe Post
Associate Professor of Political Science Mneesha Gellman wrote for The Globe Post, “COVID-19 and the Opportunity of Un-Schooling Harmful Myths,” detailing that while the COVID-19 pandemic had a negative effect of certain aspects of in-person learning in K-12 settings this past spring, it was a break from children experiencing racist and discriminatory tropes that pervade American school curricula.
Yet many curricula across the United States continue to perpetuate culturecide through enforced assimilation — think back to California’s English-only K-12 policies or Arizona’s erasure of ethnic studies programs. In this new COVID reality, as parents juggle day jobs as well as being their children’s schoolteachers (something which many are eminently unqualified for, myself included), let’s think about how we can un-school our children in the most harmful of myths: that of white supremacy. And as we revert back to “normal,” whatever and whenever that will be, consider checking in with how cultural representation is happening in the classroom, school, district, and community.
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