EDUCATION

Why Students Need to Learn About Racism in School

We can collectively oppose racism — it doesn’t have to be a divisive topic.

Elegant brunette in library | Photo by Eli Searcy via Pexels

While some have reservations about students learning about racism in a formal classroom setting, these conversations are an essential step in developing an understanding of the topic. Americans talk about race and are impacted by their racial identity every day, and yet, these topics have been relegated, in some states, to the back of the bus, out of sight, and out of mind. There are some key reasons why students should learn about racism in a formal setting. But, to unpeal the layers of this topic, we must first consider the main source of resistance to this conversation — the allegation that teaching about racism is “divisive.” This should be questioned rather than blindly accepted as true. As James Baldwin, a writer and civil rights activist, once said, "Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”

Efforts to silence discussions about racism under the guise of them being “divisive” are pervasive. It is easy to challenge racism when those conversations are banned. And perhaps, the cultural stagnation this legislation inspires is the point. Some would rather bury their heads in the sand, like ostriches, than engage in good-faith conversations about the harm of racist attitudes, beliefs, laws, and policies. In my opinion, there are many ways you can teach students about racism, but refusing to engage at all is a dangerous path forward, as it lends a safe harbor for racist beliefs to ferment. That is not to say that anyone who learns about racism in the classroom should have the same set of takeaways. However, it's a lot easier to endorse myths of biological differences, for instance, when people are, in general, ignorant about the topic of race and the history of racism.

Research has demonstrated, for instance, that more than half of medical students believe myths regarding biological differences between racial groups that could impact Black patient care. Specifically, Hoffman et al. (2016) found that 39% of White medical students participating in the study believed "Blacks have denser, stronger bones than whites," and perhaps most shockingly, 58% believed "Blacks' skin is…