Race, ethnicity and language (gh)

Race, ethnicity, and language all have an influence on how students learn and how students are taught.  These factors can be looked at as barriers or obstructions to learning but these same factors can also be unifying agents where people from various backgrounds come together to achieve a common goal.  On a macro-scale there exists a narrative, written and rewritten by media and political figures that combine and form societal stereotypes of each group.   This not only has an effect on how members of society view a specific race or ethnic group but also has an effect on how members of these groups view themselves.  Everyone reads the same newspapers and watches the same political debates unfold and when certain people are painted with such broad strokes they begin to think “Is this is how other groups think of me?”  This can create a problem in the classroom where students and sometimes teachers think they can’t relate to one another based on previous unsubstantiated but reinforced misconceptions.  We as educators must break down these fallacies and get to know each person on a personal level.  Once this has been achieved we can form an open dialogue that emerges from an agreed upon, neutral, premise.  On this micro-scale, once a level of personal trust is established, we can use race, ethnicity and language as a tool to create open, honest discussion on various topics where students and teachers can question societal norms and ask “why is this the way things are and how did they get this way?” (GH)