of the greatest things about growing up in a multicultural environment is that I learned how
to talk with different kinds of people and I grew to respect their cultures and traditions.
My approach to teaching is actually a lot like my approach to science. My goal in both is
to always ask questions. When you ask questions, you discover answers about people, sci-
ence, the world, or teaching. You learn new information to integrate into your world view.
Being a woman has influenced my work as a teacher. I feel free to express love, compas-
sion, and concern for students. I think that men feel like they lose their authority by reaching
out to students. When I was teaching high school I inherited a class at midyear that was not
doing very well. I was forced to double up on assignments so they would be ready for the
test at the end of the year. One day they complained, “Ms. Hines, why are you making us do
this?” I gave them 10 minutes to vent their frustrations and then replied, “Because I love you
and know how important this will be in helping you choose what you want to do with your
life. I put up with all your belly-aching because I love you.”
The only thing that I would like to add is that teaching is truly a difficult job. But when you
see the “light bulb” go on over a student’s head, when you know that they “get it,” all your
hard work becomes worth it.
JOIN THE CONVERSATION—EXCEPTION OR POSSIBILITY?Questions to Consider:- Max describes being stereotyped as a woman and as an African American pushed to
go in a direction she did not want to take. Have you, or someone you know, had a
similar experience? Describe the experience and explain how the person responded. - Max attributes many of the problems she faced in school to attitudes about race in the
United States. Do you agree with the way she sees this issue? Explain your views. - As a young teacher, Max came to believe that if she “figured out what made my stu-
dents ‘tick,’ something would get through to them.” Do believe this is the obligation of
a teacher? Explain.
4.In the introduction to this essay I asked you to consider whether Max’s experience
should be considered an exception or a suggestion of possibility. What do you think?
Why?
SECTION F: SHOULD TEACHERS SEE RACE AND DISCUSS
INJUSTICE?
In 1963, James Baldwin (1998), a well-known African American author, wrote a powerful es-
say that he directed toward teachers. After acknowledging that he was not a teacher,
Baldwin asked his audience to hear out his ideas about the problems confronting schools,
teachers, and students. Baldwin argued:
The whole process of education occurs within a social framework and is designed to perpetuate
the aims of society. Thus for example, the boys and girls who were born during the era of the
Third Reich, when educated to the purposes of the Third Reich, became barbarians. The para-
dox of education is precisely this—that as one begins to become conscious one begins to exam-
ine the society in which he is being educated. The purpose of education, finally, is to create in a
person the ability to look at the world for himself, to make his own decisions, to say to himself
this is black or this is white, to decide for himself whether there is a God in heaven or not. To ask
questions of the universe, and then learn to live with those questions, is the way he achieves his120 CHAPTER 4