The Fallacy of The White Kid in Class!

I was in a meeting the other day, and it was one of those meetings that I hate, which is to say that it lasted longer than 15 minutes.  Any time that happens, my palms start to sweat and my eyes frantically look about the room, trying to find something more interesting than this meeting to focus on.

Midway through the meeting, however, I heard something actually worth thinking about.  While discussing reform initiatives in Boston Public Schools, an alumni of Harvard Graduate School of Education (and a now principal of a local charter school) said something that struck a chord with me.  Made me feel a little queasy too.  He said that recent research from North Carolina found that classes with at least one white middle class student performed higher on tests than classes without.

He added that researchers discovered it's not the white middle class kid that brings everybody up to his or her level, but rather it's that the teacher that teaches to a higher level because the white middle class kid is in the room.  The teacher, therefore, raises expectations for everyone because of the white kid.

Although I wasn't able to find the research artcile referenced, from personal experiences teaching in five different low-income schools to children of color from three different states, these findings seems true to the practice I've observed.

That's sobering.

Should we then stick a white middle class kid in every class to ensure that teachers don''t dumb down lessons?  I don't think so.  A far better idea would be to investigate teacher expectations through the lens of white privilege, and work to raise expectations for all kids.