Lois Beardslee: Why a Children’s Game Led a Veteran Teacher to Leave the Profession

H_NGM_N: What one says, or doesn’t say, to white educators is an informative and unforgettable essay by award-winning, author, illustrator, and veteran teacher Lois Beardslee.

Beardslee describes her experience as a Native American teacher while navigating a profession that discriminated against her, sometimes with violence. And she provides insights into the pitfalls of teaching as a person of color, cultural norms in education, and the disconnect between educators and their students.  And why her suggestion to re-imagine a new way of teaching letters led her to leave her job.

“I was speaking submissively, hoping not to offend. It’s the sort of language used by victims afraid of angering their overseers, a way of talking that is, like the game of hangman, a legacy of racial violence in America. ”  — Lois Beardslee

The essay is a disturbing inside look at the structural racism confronted by Beardslee. And underscores a system that decided as an educator of color, Lois Beardslee had no civil rights.

Source

Kappanonline.org: https://kappanonline.org/what-one-says-doesnt-say-to-white-educators-beardslee