All Future Teachers May Be
They
must denounce exclusionary biases and embrace the vision. (Or
else.)
By KATHERINE KERSTEN, Star Tribune
Last update: November 22, 2009 - 6:57 PM
Do you believe in the American dream -- the
idea that in this country, hardworking people of every race, color and creed
can get ahead on their own merits? If so, that belief may soon bar you from
getting a license to teach in Minnesota public schools -- at least if you plan
to get your teaching degree at the University of Minnesota's Twin Cities
campus.
In a report compiled last summer,
the Race, Culture, Class and Gender Task Group at the U's
The task group is part of the
Teacher Education Redesign Initiative, a multiyear project to change the way
future teachers are trained at the U's flagship campus. The initiative is
premised, in part, on the conviction that
The report advocates making race,
class and gender politics the "overarching framework" for all
teaching courses at the U. It calls for evaluating future teachers in both
coursework and practice teaching based on their willingness to fall into
ideological lockstep.
The first step toward
"cultural competence," says the task group, is for future teachers to
recognize -- and confess -- their own bigotry. Anyone familiar with the
reeducation camps of
The task group recommends, for
example, that prospective teachers be required to prepare an
"autoethnography" report. They must describe their own prejudices and
stereotypes, question their "cultural" motives for wishing to become
teachers, and take a "cultural intelligence" assessment designed to
ferret out their latent racism, classism and other "isms." They
"earn points" for "demonstrating the ability to be
self-critical."
The task group opens its report
with a model for officially approved confessional statements: "As an Anglo
teacher, I struggle to quiet voices from my own farm family, echoing as always
from some unstated standard. ... How can we untangle our own deeply entrenched
assumptions?"
The goal of these exercises, in
the task group's words, is to ensure that "future teachers will be able to
discuss their own histories and current thinking drawing on notions of white
privilege, hegemonic masculinity, heteronormativity, and internalized
oppression."
Future teachers must also
recognize and denounce the fundamental injustices at the heart of American
society, says the task group. From a historical perspective, they must
"understand that ... many groups are typically not included" within
After indoctrination of this
kind, who wouldn't conclude that the American Dream of equality for all is a
cruel hoax? But just to make sure, the task force recommends requiring
"our future teachers" to "articulate a sophisticated and nuanced
critical analysis" of this view of the American promise. In the process,
they must incorporate the "myth of meritocracy in the
What if some aspiring teachers resist
this effort at thought control and object to parroting back an ideological line
as a condition of future employment? The task group has Orwellian plans for
such rebels: The U, it says, must "develop clear steps and procedures for
working with non-performing students, including a remediation plan."
And what if students' ideological
purity is tainted once they begin to do practice teaching in the public
schools? The task group frames the danger this way: "How can we be sure
that teaching supervisors are themselves developed and equipped in cultural
competence outcomes in order to supervise beginning teachers around issues of
race, class, culture, and gender?"
Its answer? "Requir[e] training/workshop
for all supervisors. Perhaps a training session disguised as a thank
you/recognition ceremony/reception at the beginning of the year?"
When teacher training requires a
"disguise," you know something sinister is going on.
Katherine Kersten is a Twin Cities writer and speaker. Reach her at kakersten@gmail.com.