By Rebecca Coven
On Tuesday, July 10, the Future of Our Schools book group had our first meeting to discuss Pushout by Monique Morris. Morris begins her book by recognizing that when it comes to media coverage of issues surrounding police brutality and the Black Lives Matter movement, we tend to focus on the plight of Black boys. However, less attention is given to Black girls who often need support just as much as boys. Our discussion of Pushout forced us to not only consider how we can support Black girls, but to also question how institutions that we participate in (primarily schools or other educational settings) are “dominant structures” that perpetuate racial and gender hierarchies. We began our discussion by interrogating the ideology that middle-class, heterosexual, White femininity is normative, which renders Black femininity as a subordinated gender identity (not just to White women, but to all men as well). When Black girls express anger or frustration (emotions that don't fit with the passivity of idealized White femininity), they are often seen as disrespectful or out-of-line. We want to make room for the Black girls in our schools to express themselves and to be themselves, and this book helped us to think through how we might do that.
On Tuesday, July 10, the Future of Our Schools book group had our first meeting to discuss Pushout by Monique Morris. Morris begins her book by recognizing that when it comes to media coverage of issues surrounding police brutality and the Black Lives Matter movement, we tend to focus on the plight of Black boys. However, less attention is given to Black girls who often need support just as much as boys. Our discussion of Pushout forced us to not only consider how we can support Black girls, but to also question how institutions that we participate in (primarily schools or other educational settings) are “dominant structures” that perpetuate racial and gender hierarchies. We began our discussion by interrogating the ideology that middle-class, heterosexual, White femininity is normative, which renders Black femininity as a subordinated gender identity (not just to White women, but to all men as well). When Black girls express anger or frustration (emotions that don't fit with the passivity of idealized White femininity), they are often seen as disrespectful or out-of-line. We want to make room for the Black girls in our schools to express themselves and to be themselves, and this book helped us to think through how we might do that.
In her book, Morris urges readers to consider the following questions: (1) What assumptions are being made about the conditions of Black girls? (2) How might Black girls be uniquely impacted by school and other disciplinary policies? (3) How are organizations, systems, and policies creating an environment that is conducive and not conducive to the healthy development of Black girls? Using what we learned from Morris’s book, as well as our own experiences working in educational settings, we tackled these important questions during our discussion.
Personally, the discussion helped me reevaluate my own teaching practice and the assumptions I make about my Black female students. Often I assume that my female students are more responsible and more mature than my male students, and so I expect more of them when it comes to maturity and responsibility. If there is any playing or an argument among a group of students, I often ask my female students to “be the bigger person.” However, this removes blame from the male students and invalidates the female students’ feelings and experiences. It perpetuates the idea that Black girls’ well-being comes secondary to others’ - particularly to Black males’ (an idea that Morris argues Black girls internalize at a very young age). We need to do a better job of protecting Black female students. We need to focus on how to make our Black girls feel safe - both emotionally and physically - in schools.
We concluded our discussion by sharing ideas for resources or changes that we would like to see in our schools or in the district in order to better support Black girls. Ideas included:
- Training for school staff on how to recognize girls in crisis and how to support them; regular, continued workshops on this topic.
- Pushing for the recruitment and hiring of more Black female educators, as well as creating pathways for Black female staff members (who are not currently teachers) to become teachers.
- Mentorship (particularly near-peer mentors) programs for Black girls; access to female empowerment/female leadership programs outside of school.
- Having spaces for educators and students to learn about issues surrounding gender justice together in order to create more trust.
- Invest more money in staff, particularly in school counselors.
- Our work should not just focus on empowering Black girls and helping them build leadership skills, but should also include education of male students about gender justice and how to treat girls.
A common theme throughout our discussion of how to support Black girls was restorative practices. We will further explore how to implement such practices during our next meeting on July 30, during which we will be discussing Discipline Over Punishment by Trevor W. Gardner. We will meet at the Workshop School (221 Hanson Street) at 3:30 pm. Join us!
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