Student Perspectives on the School Culture Created by Well-Intentioned White Teachers Who Support "Diversity"

• In Event: Teacher Learning Toward Equity and Justice to Change Systemic Inequalities

Abstract

This paper examines the perspectives of students of color and white students on efforts taken in a large Midwestern high school to address diversity through professional development for teachers and staff. Working with teachers who organized a professional development team concerned with diversity in the school and a student group that met to discuss experiences related to race, class, and sexual identity, researchers discuss the critical perspective offered by students on the good intentions of the white teachers in an affluent suburban school and how students’ perceive their rights and agency in a school that teachers see as inclusive.

Authors

• Jason Harshman, The University of Iowa

• Eunjung Kim, The University of Iowa