Blog Post 1: Why does reading for racial literacies matter?

Trier (2005) illustrates a common misconception of inner-city schools, one that is portrayed in various media outlets. By examining the opinions and beliefs pre-service teachers had prior to their student-teaching experience, deconstructing the discourses of cinematic representations of inner-city schools, and re-examining the views after the student-teaching experience, the project was able to expose the impact media has on creating representations that are not always true. Trier draws on the works of Stuart Hall's (2002) views of the 'other' and Roland Barthes' (1997) myth to explain how meanings are produced, in the project's case, to inner-city schools. Exposing the 'racialized' and 'deracialized' representations in popular media, Trier hopes for pre-service teachers to challenge their own prejudices and notions.

Although the project specifically focuses on cinematic portrayals of inner-city schools, television, music videos, news and so forth depict a distorted and grossly exaggerated view of the lived experiences at these schools. The differences between Whites and the Other are pushed into our minds at an early age – children's television shows with non-Whites having exaggerated accents, struggling to understand and fit into Western culture and society. Even in teenage television shows, non-Whites are rarely shown, and when they are, it is usually in stereotypical fashion. Although representations of inner-city schools are typically created for entertainment purpose, and Trier discusses the impacts on teachers, I believe the stereotypes portrayed affects students as well. Children watching these portrayals through an uncritical lens are told how students attending inner-city schools behave and perform academically. Children viewing this can either turn into the stereotype, or decide to go against the stereotype. Other than having students and teachers critically deconstruct these popular media portrayals, at this time, I do not think there is another way to combat the misrepresentation of inner-city schools.

Should pre-service teachers who do not accept a problem exists, and have negative views of inner-city schools, be allowed to teach? This question has long been on my mind, as I find teachers that have this belief go into classrooms with deficit views of students in inner-city schools. With such a view, can a teacher effectively teach all students to become active citizens in society?

Reference:

Trier, J. (2005). 'Sordid Fantasies': reading popular 'inner-city' school films as racialized texts with pre-service teachers. Race, Ethnicity and Education, 8(2), 171-189