Too many times my personal and social status have been judged by the color of my skin — and I’m white. For the most part, the idea that one will always be initially judged by their race, ethnicity, or culture is a fact. Our society nowadays prefers to think that we have become more accepting of others’ differences because of all the “progress” we have made since the Civil Rights Movement.

Yeah, blacks are certainly better off now than in the past, but the problems of prejudice have diversified beyond black and white. Post-Sept. 11, American society is founded upon a culture of fear. That is, people as a whole fear those who think, speak, and dress differently. Such persons are quickly labeled as “those people” and our subtle social segregation of them has become the 21st century definition of tolerance. Though racial discrimination affects our society at large, the problem that I wish to address is racism in education.

This past summer I worked with an educational nonprofit, “Breakthrough Collaborative.” I was a seventh-grade writing teacher for eight weeks in California, where ninety percent of my students were Latino and spoke English as a second language.The majority of the students enrolled came from broken homes where rarely both parents still lived together. Some children came from single parent homes where they never had mothers or fathers; others lived in homes where their families were heavily involved in gang activity; some only lived with siblings younger than me.

Regardless of their specific situations, tremendous family-related obstacles, language barriers, gang influences and societal prejudice have forced these children to grow up fast. Furthermore, they have also had to surmount the injustice of educational discrimination based on their ethnicity, which often begins in elementary school.

Too often, children (black, white, Asian, Indian and every other race) have had their intelligence and/or educational talent prematurely judged based on their appearances.It’s truly a shame that children, by the time they reach junior high, have been unjustly assumed to be intelligent, bright in only specific academic fields, or just struggling academically overall.

This is not true for every person everywhere, but basing this column on my experience in California, prejudice still breeds in the teaching ranks of the Land Of The Free.

For example, adults enrolled in a teaching credentials program at a nearby college came to visit our Breakthrough site to see how the program worked. Later on, the same people were asked in their class to complete a statement concerning race and education: “My perspective is limited because I cannot get past the idea that:”

Responses included, but were not limited to, ideas of: Latino and black families not taking education seriously or not valuing education at all, and Latino and black parents not supporting their children’s education by not assisting them with reading and homework. One adult went so far as to maintain that specifically black and Latino families don’t value education as much as white and Asian families do. I applaud the fact that these potential teachers have recognized their personal stereotypes and have pledged to overcome them in their own classrooms.

Thirty-something confessions from adults attempting to become teachers are not going to change the world of racism in education. The greatest catalyst to changing the academic stereotypes must come from within each and every teacher.

It will require educators of every age and race to address the prejudices that they hold, no matter how great or small they may be.

Some within the world of education in the “tolerant and accepting” 21st century are hindering their students from becoming the best they might possibly be. It is the duty of every teacher from every grade to make sure that students of every color and background enjoy the best education possible.

Do you see prejudice restricting educational opportunity? Send us your view at [email protected]