Sameness, Fairness, & Education

Reflective educators are faced with a dilemma every day, every semester, and every year.  Do I treat all my students the same?  Am I fair to all my students?  How does this affect my teaching? In a diverse society the sameness/fairness debate has become increasingly relevant and scholars have researched and postulated various positions on this subject, and as I read these studies I came to what a first seems a simple conclusion.  In the classroom, sameness is not fairness, and fairness is not sameness.  Furthermore, if we teach every student the same way, if we fail to recognize that our classrooms are melting pots and most importantly if we fail to recognize that each student has their own individual learning style, and in turn treat each student the same way in regards to learning we are not being fair to them. 

            In the book, The Skin That We Speak, Victoria Purcell-Gates contributes a chapter on the aforementioned subject, and her work is illuminating to say the least.  Quite frankly every educator should read it as it forces one to think critically and examine their own biases.  For example, as an upper grade teacher I am often frustrated when my students hand in their first written assignment whether it is on the American Revolution, or a particular Public Policy.  I am immediately shocked at their improper use of grammar, and incorporation of slang and internet short-hand. WTF? Ok it’s not quite that bad but I do get quite a bit of IDK’s on tests and quizzes, and a failure to recognize the difference between singular and plural and the intentional dropping of S’s on words.  It amazes me that most of my students reach the 12^th grade level without any comprehension of how to write a proper essay.  This is stuff I learned in the 7^th grade like thesis sentence placement, transitional phrases etc.  These kids have no clue, and I have to outline their essays together with them in class or they will become so frustrated that they will never complete the assignment independently.  I have to use class time to teach students stuff they should have learned in middle school.  How am I treating the student who already knows these concepts fairly when I am essentially wasting their time?

            Similar to Donny in Purcell-Gates study, many of my students have been forcibly advanced through the system and I am expected to pass them as we must raise graduation rates.  I complied until I could no longer accept the fact that I was allowing students to move on to college without becoming better reader and writers.  As these bad habits have become thoroughly ingrained when they reach me in the 12^th grade, I have become infuriated at my colleagues for allowing this to happen, and through reading Purcell-Gates I recognize my own biases in that I despise the way my students use language.  I instruct them to write academically, and remind them that we do not write the way we talk, and I use myself as a prime example.  Most students get this concept but after reading Purcell-Gates I have to ask myself whether I have neglected my duty “to guide all students to literacy with equal rigor, without ever telling them that the language they speak is wrong” (pg. 122, 2002).      

            After reading Purcell-Gates, I have reached some preliminary conclusions that I will incorporate into my teaching.  First, I have to recognize that students possess cultural differences rather than deficits.  It is because of these differences, usually regarding the exposure or lack of to literacy and prior knowledge that a teacher must adjust to and recognize that their students possess cultural differences not deficits.  When we recognize these differences we can treat and teach our students fairly, and recognize them as part of a same-age group rather than single them out in our minds as a deficient learner.  Recognizing our own biases will improve our teaching and make our classrooms more in line with sameness and fairness.  However I will reiterate that we can never teach each student the same way.

            In Chapter 7 of Literacy As Snake Oil, Kris D. Gutierrez recognizes the impact of sameness and fairness on education.  As I read this chapter I again asked myself is their sameness and fairness in my classroom.  I quickly realized that there is not and this is in large part due to my own faulty assumptions, and biases, but I also hold the teacher-education programs I have been in responsible.  Why is that only when I am finishing my Master’s Degree that I have come across this debate? Truly Ridiculous.  This flaw is likely due to the fact that our school districts and state education departments have become obsessed with high stakes testing, and from reading Gutierrez I realized that my lack of prior exposure to this issue is because it is not a priority to administrators, they want and need bottom line results and training pre-service teachers bilingual education serves no purpose when we are solely focused on monolingual education and this will not change anytime soon.