By Anthony L. Hubbard
We have all
been through high school. As a junior, we are sure you remember the fellow
student in your class who was always glancing up at the clock. You might have
caught yourself wondering – “Is he anxious to get to work?” “Does he want to go
smoke a cigarette?” “Is he waiting to leave the classroom?” Would your
perception change if you knew that the student was being assigned to an
alternative school where students who were “at-risk” of not graduating were
being sent? Would it change if you found out that he just got accepted into a
prestigious college?
Look closely
at the above example. Firstly, you are making an attribution about the
student’s cause of behavior. Secondly, you are implicitly considering the characteristics
of the person exhibiting the behavior. Thirdly, the descriptions that are
provided about the student sets in motion a host of beliefs and stereotypes
about the causes of the said behavior. This should give you a fair idea of the
kind of negative impact that can be caused by labeling students as “at-risk”.
Effects of an academic label on
attributions
Attributions
are made because they are convenient cues and the human brain is primed to
follow the path of least cognitive stress. However, the subtle cascading effect
of negative labeling is something that we should better acquaint ourselves
with. Let us take an example. How many times have you found yourself in a
situation where someone put you down unfairly and it just threw you off your
rhythm for the rest of the day? We’d venture to guess that it has happened at
least once in the last two months. Now imagine if that were to happen on a
daily basis. Just think about what that would do to your morale?
Behavioral
psychologists have a term called the Pygmalion effect, which refers to a
phenomenon where higher expectations lead to an increase in performance. The
more we expect from our kids, the more motivated they are to live up to the
expectation. SO, it is always for the better to call them out on their
strengths instead of admonishing them for their weaknesses. Worse still, if we
categorize children by their family’s income bracket, ethnicity or special
education needs, then we are making the assumption that the child has a
deficit. How would you feel if you were called an ‘at-risk’ educator because
you failed to reach out to a kid?
Labeling faux pas educators should
strive to avoid
- Never discuss children in front of
other children or parents. They listen to and understand a lot more than we
realize.
- Comment
on their behavior, not on their character. For instance, it is always better to
say “Lisa, you have put a lot of hard work into your art project” instead of
saying “Lisa, you are a great artist”.
- Never use labeling as a motivational
or a behavioral tool. You cannot motivate an overweight kid to exercise by
calling him fat. Similarly, you cannot get them to perform better by calling
them stupid.
- Encourage kids to explore all kinds
of activities. They should never be limited in their opportunities just because
it does not fit our ideas of what their weaknesses or strengths are.
What are educators missing out on?
If we want
our mental health and education systems, which should be operating in
collaboration, to better serve our diverse and multicultural youth population,
we must make sure that they are adapted to be culturally responsive,
strength-based and youth-centered.
A lot of the
time, educators fail to take into account that most kids from underprivileged
urban areas beat some really great odds to show up to school. From lack of
parental support to growing up in tough neighborhoods without enough money,
they go through a lot every single day of their lives. They must be encouraged
for braving their daily ordeals instead of being put down for not living up to
the standardized set of rules and behavior. Labeling them as delinquents,
at-risk or hopeless is not doing anybody any good. It does not give us or the
student a better understanding of the situation.
You need to
put yourself in the shoes of those kids. For them, the microaggressions they
face in the classroom is not very different from what they have to face in
their daily interactions. It creates a hostile and invalidating climate in the
school campus, perpetuates the stereotype threat, assails their mental health
and affects the problem solving abilities and the academic productivity of the
kids.
How can we reduce instances of
microaggressions in the classroom?
Racial ignoring
and racial spotlighting are two of the most common instances of racial
microaggressions. Racial ignoring is when students of color do not receive any
recognition or acknowledgment by the white students or teachers. Racial spotlighting
is when these same students frequently find themselves being the object of
uninvited attention, like when they are asked to give their opinion on racial
matters just because they are a part of that racial group. It happens more
often than most teachers would like to let on.
To make a
difference, educators need to be more self-aware of their own conduct in the
class. As long as the microaggressions remain invisible, hidden, unspoken and
excused as an innocent slight, people will continue to demean, insult, alienate
and oppress the marginalized groups. It is up on the educators to make sure
that they take every step to recognize and address instances of
microaggressions when they see them.
