Readings for 8/25

The assigned group of articles discussed race and racism as seen in society as well as in art education. It is clear that if you are white, you are priveleged, whether you realize it or not.  Both the Desai and Hyland articles mentioned that the majority of teachers are white and female.  White teachers seem to consider themselves superior and consider their own race to be dominant in classrooms, even while believing that they are sucecssful teachers (Hyland, 2010).  I thought the Hylan article was particularly interesting as it described four different white teachers who thought of themselves as successful, however, upon analysis, were seen to be using methods that did not seem to be beneficial in teaching black students.  They all seemed to have low expectations of their students and therefore did not effectively challenge them or provide them with a stimulating learning enviornment.  All of the articles were geared toward discussing the way white teachers may ignore race or have a colorblind racism view without even directly meaning to.  Today's society is still racist because of social institutions, including education, politics and simple social norms.
The chapter in Teaching Meaning in Artmaking did not discuss race in the classroom, however the main idea could be related to the other articles.  The chapter discussed personalizing big ideas in artwork in the classroom and different areas of inspiration and examples of artists and their own meaning in their art (p. 20).  When describing Fred Wilson, the chapter mentions making a connection between one's personal life and their artwork.  This could be an effective way to deal with race in an art classroom; self expression could be encouraged as a way to allow students to move in their own direction.  After reading these articles and the chapter, I realize some things I would like to not do in my future art classroom.  I would hope I would never be blind to the social norms of race and to never expect less of my potential students because of it.  I would not want to have low expectations of my future students and I would especially not want to see myself as the superior, dominant being in the classroom.  I would not want anything, including race, to hinder me from relating to any potential students.