Racialized Social Class Pedagogical Praxis: Critical Compassion, Cariño, Respeto and Confianza

Abstract

This article explores the ways in which high school teachers understand their students in relation to their own racialized social class backgrounds. It problematizes ethnic outsider inabilities to engage teaching philosophies and practices, which render teachers unable to create constructive dialogues with students that have been marginalized in the culture of schooling. Given classed, raced, and gendered past practices in education and their schooling trajectory, which have historically truncated their potential mobility, this study is mediated by racial social class positions, which veil issues that intersect with structural inequalities. As such, this case study explores teacher/student engagements, focusing on reproduction of consciousness as unrealized teacher/learner schooling interactions. It is framed in contradiction to normative teaching practices, problematizing the absences of critical pedagogy in instruction, as it suggests alternative venues from an empowered perspective.