Don't let school Facebook flap distract us - Hartford Courant:
Hartford, we're not ready. A leader in our community, Shelley Best — who is known for speaking honestly about the true state of crisis in our city — shared an opinion on Facebook asking, in effect, if we have enough people of color teaching in our schools.
Best raised a good question: Can teachers of another race suffice as role models for their students? Of course they can. And yet we all have limitations, which was why Best, who is black and a member of the city's school board, posted a photo on Facebook showing her face and a contingent of white educators behind her at a conference. Many missed her point, and were offended. She apologized anyway.
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The media and other critics missed the point, too, when they focused on the feelings of adults and the deficiencies of social media as a means of honest conversation. Teachers take things personally all the time, and that's what makes them great teachers. The great ones give their heart and soul to the kids, to their kids' families and to their colleagues. Their devotion is like the commitment that soldiers make to a cause, and you don't want to question a soldier's commitment.
But Best was not questioning teachers' commitment, it was whether we're using the best strategies to win our war against poverty, right here at home. The shortage of minority teachers in Hartford represents a huge missed opportunity, not just for our young people to identify with role models they need, but for schools (and city government) to build stronger bridges into the community.
Moreover, the shortage of black and Latino teachers in segregated cities such as Hartford signals the persistence of longtime institutional racism; how it is more subtle today is exactly the point. When I was an educator in Washington, D.C., I had students who told me they'd never been to the beach. Here in Hartford, I've heard students admit they've never been to Trinity College or the University of Hartford, or down to New Haven. Exposure matters, and we have to take it seriously. If we are unable to attract more teachers of color into Hartford, than our schools can find other ways to expose our students to professionals of color. Wanting more teachers of color is not a criticism of our current teachers — it's just smart strategy in the war against poverty.
But perhaps we're not ready to have this conversation. Glance at the comments about Best's post under news stories online and you'll find people ready to battle with each other over who is blaming whom, and far from being ready to fight in the war against poverty. In this war, people need to be able to bring up sensitive topics — especially our political leaders — and not have everyone change the subject. If we're really going to fight poverty, people's feelings will get hurt. Progress comes through a bit of conflict. We need to challenge each other if we want social change. History has taught us this.
For those not convinced we're in a state of crisis, talk to those who lived discrimination a half-century ago and more who now see their children and grandchildren in worse school conditions than their own. This is beyond frustrating. It hurts, real bad. Often, too much for folks to want to talk about it.
For those not wanting to make schools a battleground in the war against poverty, it's too late. Schools are the front line.
Yet, here we are not trying to understand why a disproportionate number of minority teachers leave the profession early, or why Connecticut makes it so hard to recruit teachers from other states. Instead of digging into these (and so many other) legitimate problems, the media and others unfortunately concentrated on hurt feelings.
Respectfully, the topic of discussion here must be elevated past flawed manners on Facebook. As UConn student Haddiyah Ali put it in her remarkable essay in The Courant on Tuesday, "Representation by people of color matters." And not because white teachers can't change lives — they can and do, trust me I know — but because it's really smart strategy as we focus our political will on the war against poverty.
Paul Diego Holzer is executive director of Achieve Hartford!, an independent educational support group.
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