The classroom is one of the first places that a child learns to effectively communicate and build relationships. When children are in environments that don’t educate them or make them feel uncomfortable to participate, it leaves them struggling in their adult life. Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom written by Gloria Jean Watkins AKA bell hooks is a series of essays and interviews that look at how to reshape the multicultural classroom into a more welcoming environment where all students can freely express themselves. The main point of all the essays is to analyze the classroom and the education system’s ability to break down barriers that can have alienated students of color. Hooks uses her own experiences as a student, and a teacher to explain the negative impact of students being ignored and silenced in the classroom. In this essay, I will focus on chapters 7 and 14 “Holding My Sister’s Hand” and “Ecstasy” as they each present strong cases of why race, segregation, and the history of America is the real issue and that deserve further analysis.
In chapter 7, “Holding My Sister’s Hand” hook shows how slavery is connected to issues occurring in the classroom. Hooks states, “as a teenager in the late sixties, living in a racially segregated Southern town…I knew of no intimacy, no deep closeness, no friendship between black and white women…A hierarchical, power-based relationship unmediated by sexual desires” (hooks 94). With this example hooks allows readers to see the struggles that stand in the way between black and white women. Slavery produced a realm in which white female masters were jealous of enslaved women, whom they frequently saw as the sexual companions to their husbands, according to hooks (hooks 96). Men and women abused enslaved people as a result of their jealousy. Despite the potential for empathy based on similar circumstances, both sides were bitter. Even after slavery white women still held negative emotions towards black women and vice versa. Black people especially women still have suspicions about accepting help from the white community. Like hooks, I too understand Black women’s hesitation in trusting white women. The Black community still is affected by slavery, segregation, and injustices placed upon them by white people. It will take much time before black people can believe that white people want to actively be involved in their liberation when they oppressed them for so long. In my experience, I always felt more comfortable having a teacher/professor that was of color. Subconsciously I associated my lack of comfortability to express myself to a white professor with white people’s roles in the oppression of the black community. Hooks expresses the importance of white women acknowledging their privilege. When black and white feminists come together and discuss race and racism, major changes can occur in the community and the classroom.
There also remains a good amount of teachers who carry a bias that over sexualizes young black girls. In Adrienne Green’s article, “How Black Girls Aren’t Presumed to be Innocent,” reveals how society over sexualizes and forcibly matures black adolescents. A new study from Georgetown Law Center for Poverty and Inequality tested if adults saw Black Girls as less innocent than their white counterparts. The study revealed that “Across all age ranges, participants viewed black girls collectively as more adult than white girls…Black girls needed less protection and nurturing than white girls. Black girls were perceived to know more about adult topics and are more knowledgeable about sex than their white peers” (Green). This study proves if little black girls are seen as less innocent it is easier to want to sexualize and treat them as less than furthermore making their existence much harder than their counterparts.
In 2010 there was a study done to discover at what ages BMI and height differences most evident among White and African American girls as they grew up. The scientist concluded that there was a significant difference in the BMI levels as the girls grew up. By the age of three significant BMI differences were found between African American girls versus White girls. By the age of five significant height differences were evident as well. African American girls were more likely than White girls to go through accelerated growth and earlier menarche. This study proves that African American girls develop in height and physical features faster than their white counterparts. This unfortunately allows society to view them as more mature because although their minds are still developing, physically they have bodies of adult women. Just because a child is physically matured does not mean that they are mentally mature meaning that they still deserve to be treated as children and not women.
In chapter 14, “Ecstasy”, the last chapter of the book, hooks continues to highlight that there is a crisis in the classroom. She also explains how educators must understand the importance of their work and how much it affects the students they are educating. In my experience, many educators are guilty of not getting to know their students. Every student is different;some come from prestigious backgrounds while others come from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. Like the rest of society, educators sometimes believe that times have changed. It is important to remember that Black and Brown bodies are still being negatively affected by America’s racist history and those events affect how students feel and express themselves in a classroom where their teachers don’t always look and experience the same things they do. hooks has been teaching for over 35 years and expresses how much she would love to have a break, but she refuses to give up when she sees how much students crave progressive professors’ guidance. Despite its importance, some professors do not give it much thought. They are more concerned with research and writing than with teaching. She is dissatisfied with academia’s lack of emphasis on education because she believes that classroom engagement has the greatest potential for transforming lives. Despite the fact that the responsibility is overwhelming, she is energized by the opportunities for learning both in and out of the classroom. That’s why she supports critical pedagogy, a more inclusive and innovative way to teach. One of the most powerful forms of pedagogical teaching is when students and teachers collaborate to create work and learn. Students also get the opportunity to critique their work creating a more welcoming and accommodating learning environment.
I chose to analyze these two chapters because like hooks, I believe studying past events and relationships between black and white people are fundamental to moving forward and educating students better. When teachers choose to ignore the history of education and all of its flaws, they won’t be able to properly educate, or actively listen to their student’s needs. When one decides to become a teacher and or professor they have a responsibility to educate with an open mind and without bias. They owe it to their students who are at an economic and social disadvantage just because of their skin. Black adolescents need space where they can ask raw questions and feel comfortable confiding in their teachers, but that can’t occur without visiting the past, acknowledging what went wrong, and what can be done to make education better.
Works Cited
Green, Adrienne. “How Black Girls Aren’t Presumed to Be Innocent” The Atlantic. June 29, 2017
hooks, bell. Teaching to Transgress : Education as the Practice of Freedom. Routledge, 1994. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,shib&db=cat08443a&AN=asc.30668295&site=eds-live&scope=site.Salsberry, Pamela J, et al. “Growth Differences by Age of Menarche in African American and White Girls.” Nursing Research, U.S National Library of Medicine, Nov. 2010, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2876306/.
