How White Teachers Perceive the Problem of Racism in Their Schools: A Case Study in “Liberal” Lakeview

Abstract

This study examined White teachers’ perceptions of racism in their schools. An open-ended questionnaire was administered to 222 teachers in a medium-sized highly rated middle-class Midwestern school district. Teachers were asked to provide examples of racism in their schools. Teachers’ responses were analyzed and coded according to major themes that were collapsed into three major categories: attribution of racial problems to Whites; attribution of racial problems to Blacks; attribution of racial problems to institutional/cultural factors. Research findings indicate that most White teachers operated from an impaired consciousness about racism; that a majority “blamed the victim,” assigning causality for racism to Blacks. Findings further indicate that of those who witnessed racist behavior by their White colleagues, the majority remained silent and did not challenge such behavior. Because teachers play a pivotal role in the sum total of race relations in education, it is critical to consider how they perceive the problem of racism in their schools. Their perceptions may influence decisions about how to interpret and respond to racial inequality.

“I don't think I'm a racist”: Critical Race Theory, teacher attitudes, and structural racism

“…Like a strikingly large number of his White colleagues, this teacher illogically collapsed the fact of his teaching at a predominantly Black school with the unlikelihood or impossibility of personal racism (Kailin 1999). In his new awareness, he did not conceive of himself as a structural player, nor did he understand racism as a systemic, institutional dynamic (Bell 1987;Guinier 1994;Hacker 1995;Omi and Winant 1994;West 2004); rather, he understood himself to be free of what he embraced as an individual pathology (Ladson-Billings and Tate 1995).…”

“…In attempting to understand the racialized components of schooling and achievement, scholars have recently examined teacher attitudes in relation to race (Kailin 1999;King 1991;Ladson-Billings 2000a). To complement and extend this good work, we examine teacher attitudes towards Whiteness and White privilege in two major urban school districts through the theoretical lens of Critical Race Theory.…”

‘I’m not racist; my high school was diverse!’ white preservice teachers deploydiversityin the classroom

“…Indeed, through participation in these courses, students seemed to develop an understanding of a direct but implicit link between previous experiences with racial diversity and 'goodness' or non-racist-ness. Similarly, Kailin (1999) and Vaught and Castagno (2008) both found that some practicing teachers equated teaching students of colour as an assertion of anti-racism. Participants in the present study who had attended racially diverse high schools engaged in a parallel leap by claiming that their previous experiences with racially diverse peers automatically denoted a non-racist perspective.…”

Negotiating White science in a racially and ethnically diverse United States

“…We must continue to follow the leads of previous researchers (e.g., Kailin, 1999;McIntyre, 2002) and approach issues in urban education through the critiques of Whiteness or explore Whiteness in a racist society. Ladson-Billings (1995a), also notes, "I suggest that this 5 kind of study must be replicated again and again.…”