We Can't Teach What We Don't Know: White Teachers, Multiracial Schools

Abstract

We Can't Teach What We Don't Know: White Teachers, Multiracial Schools, by Gary R. Howard. New York: Teachers College Press, 1999, 160 pp. $20.95, paper. We Can't Teach What We Don't Know: White Teachers, Multiracial Schools is a powerful revelation of one man's journey from mainstream White values to a multicultural perspective. Gary R. Howard's voyage began in the 1960's in the inner city of New Haven, Connecticut, where he worked as a volunteer teacher and mentor for poor, ethnic minority youth. This experience gave him insight into the socioeconomic plight of his students and their families. It was a difficult experience that took him through three stages of development: an adolescence and young adulthood bathed in the ignorance of White belief, to the role of an antiracist evangelist, and finally the executive director of the Reach Program. This program was established in the 1980's to train teachers of all races, particularly White teachers, in the tenets and philosophy of multiculturalism to help them become culturally competent in their work with students of color. end goal is to create teachers who understand and appreciate the cultures and values of indigenous people and who are purged of racist feelings and values. Thus, the prevailing purpose of the book is to alert educators of the need for multicultural school curriculums in light of the growing numbers of ethnic minority children enrolled in public schools who are taught by White teachers. scope of the book is broad, personally and theoretically. On a personal level, the author dwells considerably on his journey to a multicultural perspective. It started with what he called a period of in which he was totally unaware of this own state of Whiteness. However, meeting a young African American woman allowed him to break the cycle of racial isolation that he had previously experienced. second predominate view is the author's theoretical explanation of the dominance paradigm. This paradigm claims the racial superiority of Whites based upon their status as the bearers of truth and rightness. Hegemonic groups don't see themselves as being influenced by cultural conditioning or membership in a particular group. Moreover, they don't perceive of themselves as having a culture or a perspective. They simply hold the truth. paradigm is buttressed by the notion that people of color are invisible and that White skin carries privilege and status. organization of the book is relatively straightforward. In the opening chapter, the author takes the reader through his personal transformation from what he calls encapsulation or blindness with respect to his White status to his current philosophy of multiculturalism. Howard writes about his experiences with poor Black families on The Hill and with members of the Black Panthers. He was embraced by these individuals and thus became baptized by the fire which burned away his wall of encapsulation. He described it as an involvement with real people in a context totally different from his former life in the suburbs. Chapter 2 outlines the author's White theory. This theory allows Whites to place systems of and subordination in an evolutionary context and argue that such group based arrangements are inevitable in human experience. Historically, the dominate group used a number of different methodologies to establish control and dominance. These include disease, warfare, land theft, religion, education, alienation, and alcohol. In the case of disease, the European settlers in America brought diseases which killed many of the Native Americans including the Eastern Algonquin Nation, Mandan Nation on the banks of the Missouri River, and the Nez Perce people. Violence and warfare were also used to exterminate indigenous people. Additionally, the land of the Native people was illegally appropriated by the European settlers. …