Education Week - February 17, 2016 - 21

Beware the Racist Subtext
Of Children's Books

By Alvin Irby

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Given these issues, how should we be evaluating the
effectiveness of preparation programs?
First, we should evaluate programs by their success in
preparing educators to teach an increasingly diverse U.S.
student population. We do not mean "success" only in terms
of students' standardized-test scores, but also in terms of
their physical and mental well-being, as well as their ability to pursue futures of their choice, and interrupt systems
of privilege and oppression. Preparation programs should
also be evaluated by the opportunities provided in preservice coursework for candidates that allow them to reflect on
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COREY DRAKE is an associate professor and the director of teacher
preparation in the department of teacher education at Michigan State
University's College of Education. TERRY K. FLENNAUGH is an
assistant professor of race, culture, and equity in the department of
teacher education and a coordinator of urban education initiatives at
the university's College of Education.

More routinely, I hear students say they
don't have time to read for pleasure. Very
few of my high school seniors report averaging eight hours of sleep a night. Family
dinners, they tell me, are rare occurrences.
Those behaviors, which researchers say are
norms for young people, are obviously not
the fault of overworked teachers. But how
can we counteract such trends, or even criticize them, if we fall into them ourselves?
How might educators take care of themselves?
First, we can historicize ideas about
work and its place in our lives. Toiling
long hours, according to historians and
anthropologists, is a relatively recent development. Hunter-gatherer societies and
subsistence-farming cultures worked far
less than do modern Americans; many averaged three to five hours of labor per day.
While industrialization begot our modern
work pace, social activists and labor unions
made the eight-hour workday a political
goal as early as the mid-1800s, and they
often achieved that end.
It has become fashionable to bash
unions, and the case of Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, currently before the U.S. Supreme Court, seems likely
to erode union clout further by making it
easier for teachers to opt out; yet, the fact
is that unions have been key promoters of
self-care for educators.
Second, school leaders can do much more
to prioritize teachers' well-being. At the
most basic levels, they can ensure that
teachers have time built into their workday
to think, use the bathroom, and eat lunch.
Administrators can shield teachers from
unnecessary meetings by canceling them
whenever the agenda is inconsequential.

Principals also can investigate links between teachers' student loads and grading practices. How many assessments
should we be asked to score in a marking
period while teaching 80 to 130 students?
Online grading portals put pressure on
teachers to assign more work, but district
leaders should ask how meaningful it is
to do so and whether the costs to teachers
(and students) are worth the benefits of
quantity.
Teachers should get time and money
for sabbaticals to further their education.
We should have, at the very least, some
mandated time to stay home with a sick
child, take parental leave, and tend to our
health and personal matters.
Finally, we teachers have to assume responsibility for taking care of ourselves.
We need to put down our laptops, stop
grading papers, and go for a walk. We have
to read books that challenge and deepen
our intellects. We should make dinner for
our families and find time to enjoy it with
them. We should get together with friends
and share a laugh. We must ask ourselves
questions about how much money we really need.
We should show our students, through
the examples of our own lives, that they
can lead healthy, multifaceted existences
and not be slaves to their careers. Taking
care of ourselves this way might turn out
to be even more inspiring to kids than setting our hair on fire. n
CHRISTOPHER DOYLE is the director of
global studies at Watkinson School, a private,
coeducational, independent day school for grades
6-12. He is also an adjunct assistant professor of
history at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn.

he devaluation of
black lives doesn't
happen overnight, nor
is the process of dehumanizing those associated with blackness
limited to a single ethnic group. The stereotypical representations-or omission
altogether-of people of color in modern children's literature promote a Eurocentric worldview and value system
that denotes nonwhiteness as inferior.
Too often, children's books are assumed to have white or animal main
characters unless assigned an essentializing ethnic label such as AfricanAmerican, Latino, or "diverse children's
literature." Reflecting on the importance of who gets seen, when, where,
and doing what in books for children
has led me to conclude that children's
literature represents one of the most
valuable pieces of real estate in the
fight against bigotry and racism in
American culture.
Paul Verhaeghen and other social
psychologists have used word analysis
and pattern recognition to show how
reading material influences the adoption of stereotypical and racist views.
Other researchers have found that stereotypical word pairings such as blackpoor, black-violent, white-wealthy, and
white-progressive in standard American reading material for adults literally
prime Americans to be racist.
While, to my knowledge, there has
been no similar analysis of stereotypical word and image pairings in children's literature, a growing number of
people recognize the need for diversity
in children literature. A grassroots organization, aptly named We Need Di-

Children's literature
represents one of the
most valuable pieces
of real estate in the
fight against bigotry
and racism in
American culture."
verse Books, advocates changes in the
publishing industry to produce and
promote literature that reflects and
honors the lives of all children. After a
successful crowdfunding campaign in
2014, WNDB partnered with Scholastic to offer a special collection of diversity-themed books for young people.
As a former New York City elementary school teacher, a professional
stand-up comedian, and a budding
social entrepreneur, I am also working personally to inspire young black
boys to identify as readers. In 2013,
I founded Barbershop Books, a community-based literacy program that
places child-friendly reading spaces
in barbershops to increase black boys'
access to and engagement with culturally relevant, age-appropriate, and
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ALVIN IRBY is the founder of Barbershop
Books, a program that places child-friendly
reading spaces in barbershops. Previously, he
taught kindergarten and 1st grade in New York
City public schools and served as an education
director at the Boys' Club of New York.

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Education Week - February 17, 2016

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