My 2 half brothers and half sister were born in the same hospital as me, Palmerston North, and aside for a few years where we were living in different countries, we grew up together. However their cultural identity was strongly linked to their Fijian father. The schools we went to were very Eurocentric, and our experiences at school in terms of achievement and relationships with teachers were polar opposites. Where I found myself at home in the learning environment, loving the academic focus and the grading system that made me feel like I could prove myself, for them they didn’t feel a sense of belonging at all. They were alienated by others who didn’t want to try and understand what made them different. Assumptions were made throughout the years about their level of ability or skills. They had a negative attitude towards school by the time we were in intermediate, and so it carried on to the point where both of my brothers were expelled from various high schools.
This whole experience taught me about the bias of our New Zealand school system. It showed me how hard it was for my family to be who they were, and embrace their cultural identity in a school that just wanted them to fit the mould. The deficit thinking for my Pasifika siblings became a core aspect of their own identity, and even as adults now they see themselves as unable to achieve in academics. For every Pasifika student in my class I see my own whanau, and I see how important my own views and beliefs about them are. This doesn’t this mean that I am always culturally responsive to the extent that I should be, but it definitely makes me aware of how powerful the classroom and school is in enabling students to be who they are, and to achieve as themselves.
I consider myself extremely lucky to have found myself in a school where cultural identity is a huge focus, and cultural responsiveness is emphasized and discussed so frequently. Throughout our school vision and core goals is a focus on developing student pride in their cultural identity - and this goes far beyond being words on a website but is a core aspect of each day in the way that we have cultural groups across the senior school, we celebrate language weeks in a way that involves students and their whanau in sharing knowledge.
One aspect in our school that could be more culturally responsive is the manner in which we communicate with whanau. We have already started going beyond just relying on notices home, and parent-teacher interviews and instead this year there has been a focus on face to face events, such as the Maori and Pasifika evenings. I would also love to see more being done digitally so that parents and the community are able to stay connected with the school via facebook or other tools that would enable these relationships to grow.
During my readings for this week’s blog post there was an aspect that stood out to me. One thing I struggle with is having high expectations and endless hope that every student in my class will achieve amazing things, whilst I also deal with the inevitable fact that many of my students are at a disadvantage because of the way society has failed them. Once I read about the notion of critical hope I felt like I could finally marry these things together. “Critical hope is audacious - in two ways. It grows out of, and then stands firmly in solidarity with, our students’ communities, sharing their sufferings, and it defies the marginalisation of underserved youth”(Milne, 2013 p297). I want to take this critical hope, and the experiences of my own siblings to do my best each day in providing students with the tools they need to grow the communities in which they want to be a part of, using the skills and knowledge that are theirs.
For an amazing reading on the white spaces of our schools: Milne, B. A. (2013). Colouring in the White Spaces: Reclaiming Cultural Identity in Whitestream Schools (Thesis, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)). University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10289/7868
I found the Critical Hope concept interesting and have gone and read more about it. It speaks volumes. Your point about identity being lost and the bias that is automatically and unconsciously applied is significant. We know this when we moderate writing from students who we place a 'glass ceiling' over. Fighting that bias is always difficult.
ReplyDeleteI am glad you value your school's core vision involving culture and identity. You are lucky to have found a place that is such a great fit for you.