Using Anti-Racist Education to Diminish Educational Debt

Whitney Husfeldt, Minnesota State University, MankatoFollow

Abstract

Bringing in student culture, ethnicity, and backgrounds into the classroom can be beneficial for all learners (Gay, 2013). Anthropologists have been urging schools to insert culture into education instead of education into culture for decades (Ladson-Billings, 2006). Yet, our country is more divided than ever. There continue to be dramatic gaps in performance between White students and Black Indigenous People of Color students. Therefore, schools must push past multicultural education and the notion of integrating culture into schools and instead commit to implementing anti-racist education. There are three common goals of anti-racist education: (a) identifying or making visible systematic oppression; (b) challenging denial of complicity in such oppression; and (c) transforming structural inequalities. The adoption of an anti-racist education through the implementation of these goals is the only way that schools will start closing the opportunity gaps that have been plaguing our schools for decades. The steps necessary for educators and schools to achieve these goals are described in this paper.

College

Education

Department

Elementary and Literacy Education Department

Recommended Citation

Husfeldt, W. (2021). Using anti-racist education to diminish educational debt. Innovations and Critical Issues in Teaching and Learning 2(1), 54-76. https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/icitl/vol2/iss1/3

Biography

Whitney Husfeldt grew up in Arlington, Minnesota and received her degree in Communication Arts and Literature from St. Cloud State University. She has taught middle school English for 9 years at Sibley East Middle School in Arlington, Minnesota. During her time at Sibley East, Whitney has enjoyed coaching softball, assisting with the tennis program, and running the After School Program. Her favorite time of the school year is planning the Middle School Homecoming Olympics. When Whitney isn't teaching, she enjoys reading, biking, camping, and going to the lake with her family.