Even though I questioned the relevance of pursuing my education in the prevailing environment, I knew that I couldn’t afford to drop out or abandon my dream. I remembered Mark Twain’s statement: “I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.” Determined not to let schooling interfere with my education, either, I developed a system to help me filter the information I was receiving from my classrooms and the media on a daily basis. I was thus able to take, expand and retain the knowledge I needed to survive and ignore the institutionalized rejection of the contributions of people of color and their invisibility in American education.
Rupert Costo captured my experience with textbooks when he said: “There is not one (American) Indian in the whole of this country that does not cringe in anguish and frustration because of these textbooks. There is not one Indian child who has not come home in shame and tears.”
As long as our textbooks, curricula and educators continue to deny or minimize the contributions of people of color, the achievement gap between Whites and non- Whites and the feelings of powerlessness and invisibility will continue to persist. Without inclusive curricula and pedagogical reform, our classrooms will continue to be places of frustration and alienation for most students of color, and the achievement gap will continue.
— Dr. Alem Asres is the director of College Diversity and Affirmative Action at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College.
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