For those of you who might be reading this column for the first time, in the past three months I have been using Dr. Geneva Gay's seminal book entitled Culturally Responsive Teaching: Theory, Research, and Practice to explain what I believe is a major factor contributing to the on-going gaps between black and brown students and their white and Asian peers. Visit the CAAAE's website to download the last three issues of this newsletter or purchase Dr. Gay's book to read all of the reasons she gives.The third reason is what Dr. Gay calls professional racism "It occurs in the guise of dealing with teaching ethnically different students by underscoring the need for more teachers of color...Similar ethnicity between students and teachers may be potentially beneficial, but is not a guarantee of pedagogical effectiveness."

Dr. Gay writes, "At a more insidious level is the racism and abdication of professional responsibility embedded in the assumption that only teachers from the same ethnic and racial background can be effective with students of color...Even if all teachers of color were highly competent and willing advocates of culturally responsive pedagogy, there are not enough of them to take on the task by themselves and make a real difference in student achievement. Their current proportional representation in the profession, and in relation to the number of students of color in schools, is not going to increase significantly in the forseeable future...the overwhelming majority of U.S. teachers are European Americans. Even if it were wise to do so, they simply cannot be absolved or excused from the responsibility of effectively teaching students of color."

1. Are you guilty of this practice?
2. If it is present in your sphere or influence, how can you combat it?