How does racism show up in schools?

The Canadian public school system has been undergoing transformation in their curriculum content and lesson planning structures for decades. But as the racialized Canadian population increases with people who identify as Indigenous, Black and people of colour, the educational institutions play a vital role in our transformative ways of knowledge and understanding of cultural, academic, community-oriented and social justice issues. 

“As the diversity of the Canadian student population increases, so too does the school’s need to reflect on its attitude towards change, its true understanding of anti-racism issues and its recognition of difference as a ‘catalyst for each and every student’s sense of affirmation, solidarity and critique.”      

- Sonia Nieto, Moving Beyond Tolerance in Education

Cissy Ballen and her team of researchers at Auburn University, gathered information based on gender and race of a variety of scientists that were integrated within seven major textbooks used in undergraduate college lectures and webinars. They found that before the year 2000, white men made up 88% of those referenced scientists. Between the years 2000 and 2018, that percentage became 67%. 

Indigenous, Black and people of colour made up 8% of the noted scientists within the seven textbooks between the years 2000 and 2018. Students primarily use textbooks as the tools to their way of achieving knowledge and the foundation of their overall coursework. Their perceptions of who is represented in their textbooks can have a major influence on their sense of belonging within STEM programmes and careers. 

Collectively, university officials, academic instructors, faculty, and students must work collaboratively with Indigenous, Black and people of colour to fully address the discrimination that occurs on campus grounds, in the classrooms, and within peer-to-peer interactions. 

“The crux of the problem is that educators act in racially biased ways without realising it. These actions have an impact on students. If we as educators want our actions to change, we need to be able to talk about our actions objectively.”

The challenge, then, is to adopt a mindset that can work through discomfort and view mistakes as learning opportunities.” 

- Sarah Fiarman and Tracey Benson, Harvard EdCast         

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Click here to watch a video where Mo extrapolates on the subject of STEM in the classroom through sharing their personal experiences within the academic system; and, how better representation would have truly been a big aid in improving the education that they received.