{"id":453,"date":"2021-01-25T06:50:35","date_gmt":"2021-01-25T10:50:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dueeast.org\/?p=453"},"modified":"2021-01-25T06:50:35","modified_gmt":"2021-01-25T10:50:35","slug":"recognizing-and-addressing-harmful-language-part-2-the-school-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dueeast.org\/recognizing-and-addressing-harmful-language-part-2-the-school-edition\/","title":{"rendered":"Recognizing and Addressing Harmful Language Part 2: The School Edition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last year we released our first article– a collaboration between Due East Educational Equity Collaborative<\/a> and Sourcewell<\/a> called Recognizing and Addressing Harmful Language<\/a> — which helped us think through language choices connected to race, gender and relationships, social constructs and the white racial frame. This article focused on recognizing the impact of the words we choose. Our first collaboration was a start to recognizing common harmful phrases that we should stop using, as well as language swaps we should use instead. In the first article, some of the phrases and swaps were connected to a school setting, but many applied to broader societal concepts.\u00a0 In Recognizing and Addressing Harmful Language Part 2:\u00a0 The School Edition<\/em><\/strong>, we focus the discussion on harmful language that is commonly used in school settings, addressing the exchange of language and concepts among educators and with students and families.<\/p>\n

Language is powerful! Schools are profoundly influential in the development of young people.\u00a0 The language we use in schools has the power to impact and shape whole generations.\u00a0 Think back to the last time a teacher complimented you or cut you down.\u00a0 It most likely created a feeling, a lasting impression, and it may have even shaped the way you view yourself.\u00a0 Educators hold influence, authority, and power. Our words carry tremendous weight; the power to lift up or tear down.<\/p>\n

A story\u2026<\/strong><\/h6>\n

I remember as a 6th grader, overhearing my teacher proudly tell her colleague that she had arranged our student groupings so well. \u201cLook at this!\u00a0 I have 6 kids that passed this (advanced) test, and I have one of each of these six kids in every student pod.\u00a0 I wanted a little starch in each group and look at this!\u201d I had passed that test.\u00a0 Did this mean I was the \u201cstarch\u201d in my student pod?\u00a0 (Whatever that meant.) Did this mean I was a leader?\u00a0 That I was smart?\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t completely sure, but based on how my teacher was talking, I knew it was a good thing.\u00a0 It positively shaped the way I thought of myself moving forward, all because of one (most likely biased) advanced test I had taken.\u00a0 But imagine another classmate overhearing this same conversation and knowing they were not one of the 6 that passed the test.\u00a0 How would this child interpret this overheard conversation:\u00a0 I\u2019m not smart?\u00a0 I\u2019m not a leader? I\u2019m not\u2026. starchy?<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The language and words we choose to use in schools not only have power but can show up in a variety of ways.\u00a0 Sometimes the language is direct and blatantly harmful.\u00a0 One student shared with us a time when he was asked to stand up in front of his middle school class.\u00a0 The teacher asked him what he wanted to do when he grew up and he answered, \u201cfinish high school and go to college.\u201d\u00a0 His teacher let out a loud laugh,\u00a0 \u201cCollege! Ha!\u00a0 You\u2019ll be lucky if you even graduate high school!\u201d<\/p>\n

This is overtly harmful and damaging, but sometimes school language is more coded, more subtle, and has dangerous undertones.\u00a0 Like the child that is very \u201cspirited\/not living up to their potential\u201d or those \u201clow babies\u201d that are just breaking your heart; if only you could \u201ctake them home [with you] and raise them [yourself].\u201d<\/p>\n

Another story\u2026<\/strong><\/h6>\n

I knew my son was brilliant, creative, thoughtful, and outgoing. But I always dreaded parent\/teacher conferences. My son was tall for his age (6\u20192\u201d at twelve years old) and a Black male student in a school that had cemented biases against him. Every parent\/teacher conference was heavy with words and phrases that devalued his learning style or contributions to the classroom.\u00a0 I was told more times than I can remember that he was an \u201cunderachiever,\u201d a \u201cblurter,\u201d and a \u201croamer\u201d which I imagine meant he did not stay in his chair. I never left these conversations with an understanding of my son\u2019s strengths or contributions to the classroom, although I knew he had many. My son was always sullen at his parent teacher\/conferences and by middle school refused to attend with me.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

This blog post is dedicated to recognizing, examining, and addressing harmful language in schools, both overt and covert. We interviewed educators to ask them the most common harmful language they hear. Based on feedback from educators across the education spectrum, we sorted common school-based harmful language into four categories: words that divide and stratify students, words that negatively label students, words that negatively label families, and words that reinforce dominant cultural norms<\/em>, addressing how and why these are problematic as well as ways to respond when you hear them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Words that divide and stratify students<\/strong><\/h4>\n

It\u2019s safe to say we\u2019ve all heard or even said something along the lines of, \u201cmy low kids\u201d or \u201cmy high flyers\u201d while discussing different groups of students and their achievement.\u00a0 Do any of these academic labels look familiar to you?<\/p>\n