Blog Post #7: Thoughts on The American Promise Documentary

In one of my education classes on Friday, we watched a documentary called The American Promise, a documentary that followed two black boys from Kindergarten until Twelfth Grade. From Kindergarten to Eighth Grade, the boys went to a predominantly white private school, called The Dalton School. The parents of these two boys, whose names are Idris and Seun, are sent to this private school because it was one of the highest academically achieving schools, and these parents wanted their sons to be highly educated. They did not want their children going over hurdles related to being economic disadvantaged, because they had to go over those hurdles. Idris and Seun were pushed very hard by their parents so they would become successful individuals.  In fact, Seun was sent to this school because his Mom wanted him to learn how to be comfortable around white people, something that Seun’s mom had not learned as a child.

Throughout Seun’s and Idris’ time at Dalton, their teachers had a challenging time trying to understand them. To be an effective educator, one has to learn how to understand and accept students who have had different personal issues than oneself. At the time, The Dalton School had mostly white students and white teachers. The Dalton school was starting to admit students who were not white, to “diversify their student body.” Most of the teachers at The Dalton School did not understand well how to relate with Seun and Idris. Seun’s and Idris’ parents were constantly getting letters from the school, recommending them for tutoring services. Both sets of parents were insulted, because they found this as an indirect communicated message from the school, assuming that their child needs help in school, because they are black. Contradictory to The Dalton School’s Thoughts, Idris was one of the highest achieving students in his grade. These educators assumed that Seun and Idris were not as good of students as the average student at The Dalton School, because of their skin color.

This documentary has caused me to think about ways for me to be an effective educator for students who are not of the same skin color as myself. One way I can do this is not assuming that two people of the same race are very similar: there are millions of kinds of white people in the United States, and this is the same for other races prevalent in the classroom. Look at each child as an individual, instead of in a collective group, because will encourage me to not make inaccurate assumptions related to my student. If I see the child as an individual, I can see the most effective ways for them to learn in my classroom and find out their interests. I also would be able to see how my student’s racial identity has influenced their personality, instead of identifying my student’s personality through their race.  

Idris and Seun were put into the same metaphorical “box” several times while they were at Dalton, even though Idris did very well in school and Seun had a difficult time in school. Both of them had quite different academic challenges in school; they are not supposed to be put into a metaphorical “box,” because both students needs are not meet when educators do that. In relation to the tutoring services, one of the boys may have found it helpful, while the other boy may of found it to be an unproductive time. Teachers have to take in each individual’s experiences to consider what would be most beneficial for them, instead of considering what would be best for people of the same race and ethnicity.