Question

[mugglechump]

Sorry for bombarding the flist today. I have a question, and I'm curious what other people think of this situation and what they would do.

Manassas, where Mer and I are living these days, is not a well-to-do area. We have a lot of immigrants, many illegal, and a lot of low income housing where the inhabitants are predominantly African American, Hispanic, or Middle Eastern. Generally speaking, this has little effect on our day to day lives and neither Mer nor I have ever had any encounters that would make us especially fearful or angry with the other townsfolk. In fact, Meredith is enjoying her new school far more than she did her last, which was about as lily white as place as you'll find.

All that being said, the other day one of Meredith's teachers - a white woman - referred to her in class as 'Little White Girl'. This led to the rest of the class laughing and jeering in the way that teenagers do. Meredith held her tongue, but she was pretty freakin' ticked off. I was pretty irritated when I heard about it. Imagine the outcry if a teacher had used that sort of terminology to refer to a child of another race. Do you think that would have slipped by without a shitstorm? No, it wouldn't. But since Meredith is white, it's okay.

Mer and I talked about it, and she wanted me to talk to the school and make sure the teacher was told that this sort of comment was not appropriate. And I'm fine with that, but I wanted to make sure Meredith understood that her schedule would probably have to be switched around because this would likely make her relationship with this teacher openly adversarial. She wasn't really thrilled with that idea, so ultimately we decided she should go and talk to her guidance counselor about it and if she was not happy with the result of that conversation, I'd step in and take things to a higher level - schedule be damned.

Am I being too wimpy on this? Am I making too big a deal out of it? I'm really curious what other people's opinions are.

Comments

[mynuet.livejournal.com]

I'd discuss it with the teacher in a private conference - without Meredith there - before bringing the guidance counselor or any other authority figure into it. It gives her a chance to acknowledge the wrong while saving face and retaining her professional authority. Just put it in terms of, "Meredith was very upset by the comment because she felt singled out and judged by her race rather than her own merits. I'm sure that wasn't your intention, but I did want to bring it to your attention so maybe it can be avoided in the future." Non-judgmental, but unequivocal. She'll probably make excuses, and you just nod and smile and be all, "I'm glad we could clear that up. Did you have any concerns you wanted to discuss? How's Mer doing in your class?"

That way, if and when she does start getting nasty to Mer, you can move up the food chain and get her ass in a sling, because you tried to work with her.

[castoffstarter.livejournal.com]

Wow, see. Huh. I was going to be all fair and non-judgemental with my approach but then you beat me to it. I agree with Shar, Katie-bugs!

[mynuet.livejournal.com]

PS - I got a postcard! Squee!

[spottedcat83.livejournal.com]

I'm not entirely sure what should happen, but I think something should. Teachers should not be pointing out racial differences in such a way that other students are led to jeer at a student, and it does not matter what race the student is.

I have a feeling the teacher knew exactly what she was doing, and is the kind of person who enjoys keeping things stirred up so she doesn't get too bored. I have my doubts as to whether someone with that attitude should be teaching. Then, I have my doubts as to whether such a person should be doing anything other than changing their attitude.

Grrr.

Nobody should be singled out in class for the rest of the class to jeer at, no matter what the reason. And racial comments are far, far out of place anywhere. And I'm an equal-opportunity grr-er. I'd be just as mad no matter what the race of the student was.

[tacymae1.livejournal.com]

I agree with mynuet start out with the teacher first, but take someone with you to witness the talk. Someone other than Mer. I made the mistake of not taking someone with me when we had problems with one of Beth's teachers in Idaho. When the problems got worse, and Beth was suffering, I took it to the principle. We had a heated conversation the teacher in question, the principle, and I, but the principle sided with the teacher and told me that Beth was just hormonal. Yes, I pulled Beth out of the school, she lost a few friends, but she had a complete turn around and felt safer and better in the next school.

[dragonsangel68.livejournal.com]

Definitely do something about it! It's a racial comment and that's not on at all.

My first impulse is to head straight to regional office, but that's because our schools always protect the teacher and getting any action from them on issues like this (unless the child is from a minority group) is impossible. However, mynuet has probably suggested the most level-headed way to go about voicing your concerns. At least you have somewhere to go if you don't get satisfaction and if you do it may work out so that Mer doesn't have to change her schedule :)

[persephone33.livejournal.com]

Freaking High School Teachers.

It was a probelem in my HS, too (that I attended and at which I later taught; you can't say anything about any other skin color, but it's okay to make fun of the white people. I suppose years of opressing other people make it alright for everyone to mock the caucasian race. ;)

It's not okay. It should stop. But the guidance counselor has absolutely no knowledge of how the teacher runs her class. Heck, they may even be friends and eat together in the teacher's lounge. Go to the teacher first, (maybe she spends too much time around smart ass teenagers - that's totally my excuse) and then if you get no satisfation, the administration, perhaps a vice principal(they're the ones with the power, in my opinion).

High School is a cruel enough place with the students. The teachers shouldn't be a part of it, too.

[crazy-lil-loud1.livejournal.com]

I agree with your opinion.
It was a source of ridicule even if it wasn't supposed to have been that way.
The fact of the matter was-- it was.

[womangirlchild.livejournal.com]

I think they're all right: talk to the teacher first.

Have you asked Mer if this is a regular occurance in her class? It's not an excuse, but perhaps that's how the teacher conducts herself with all the students. (I'm thinking of the wondeful scene from 10 Things I Hate About You where the teacher goes off on everyone). Just a thought.

Good luck!