Educational Conflicts 2, Racism Religious educators, in neglecting to account for race in their theories, have ignored the historical legacy of institutional racism. In fact, religious education has demonstrated an inadequate response to race and racism throughout its history. As evidenced by slavery and immigration history in the United States, race must be seen as a socio-historical and legal construction. Its influence goes beyond the assimilationist ideology taught in early Methodist curricula. The article that we are going to analyze suggests that the Bible can be a rich multicultural curriculum resource because of its positive treatment of Africans. The 1992 Los Angeles riot exposed the dividing lines of race that fracture our society. Since then, issues of race have become more explosive as the gains of the civil rights movement have been eroded by a neoconservative backlash.
Unfortunately, these divisions reveal the limits of our pluralistic society. With the institutionalization of racism early in American history, unequal opportunities developed as members of the dominant class were given inherent privileges. People from non-European ancestry were judged inferior and were stereotyped because of their skin color. Racism is in the air we breathe; it infects everyone, even newly arrived immigrants. Thus, a shadow follows racial-ethnic minorities because of their skin pigmentation. Religious education has responded inadequately to this dilemma. To remedy this situation, educators must be aware of the social construction of race and of the ideology of assimilation, which are the themes of this article.
The Review on Race Racism and Society
Race racism and society What do you consider the most convincing theoretical explanation for racism in society today? Whilst there are many theories for why racism exists in society today, in my essay I will be discussing what theories have emerged to explain racism in society today and what reasons sociologists put forward for this. Racism: what does this word mean? Where did this word come from, ...
A third theme, the potential use of the Bible as a multicultural resource, will also be explored. Due to the social construction of their race, blacks and other people of color were outside the melting pot and could not assimilate. Assimilation has historically been the dominant ideology in American society. Because the English colonists were the most powerful ethnic group in colonial America, their cultural values and behavior became normative. This assumption of the superiority of English culture minimized or ignored the contributions of African and Native Americans. The English were strongly committed to Americanizing (Anglicizing) all other immigrant groups, as well as to civilizing (according to the Anglo-Saxon definition of civilization) Blacks and various groups of American Indians (Finley).
As a result, Anglo-Saxon values and cultural norms were institutionalized and, to subsequent generations of European immigrants, became the acceptable standards of behavior. Yet other European ethnic groups, such as French Huguenots, Germans, and the Irish, faced discrimination by the English. Those from Southern and Eastern Europe faced more problems in assimilating because of their physical and cultural differences from Northern Europeans. Yet because they were from European ancestry, they and their descendants could be slowly integrated into American society. The United States actually did absorb a variety of cultural differences among European migrants at the same time that it was erecting a white supremacist social structure. Moderately tolerant of European ethnic diversity, the nation remained adamantly intolerant of racial diversity. (Finley) Assimilationists mistakenly assumed that the United States could incorporate racial groups just as it had assimilated European immigrants. Yet structural barriers prevented nonwhites, despite their personal acculturation, from being assimilated into the institutions of American society.
The Essay on Racial and Ethnic Groups Matrix
Is this an ethnic or racial group and why? Where did this group originate? How did this group become a part of American culture? What challenges has this grouped faced in the U.S.? How is this group portrayed today in American society? Have you witness any racism or prejudice toward this group? Any additional comments? Native Americans Native Americans are considered a racial group because of the ...
These structural barriers were erected because racial differences went beyond the limits of the American melting pot. Because the ideology of assimilation does not allow racial diversity, it is not surprising that this ideology has influenced church curriculum writers. According to Charles Foster, the melting-pot imagery was the most pervasive pattern in the Methodist curriculum. Although blatant forms of this model began to be modified during the 1920s, the Anglo-Saxon model of identity dominated Sunday School literature from the mid-nineteenth century until the 1960s. Jesus was consistently depicted as white, with light colored hair and North European features (Finley).
This vision of the melting pot was presented in Sunday School stories that showed how children were to help European immigrants learn their new roles and identity as Americans. However, racial-ethnic minorities were viewed as outsiders who could not melt into American society because of their race.
Color served as a clear boundary preventing their assimilation. The melting pot, in other words, had limits (Finley).
The multicultural dimension of American history from colonial days to the present is important to the pluralistic realities of the church and society today. Neglecting this racial diversity implicitly assumes that there is only a European American context for religious education. This neglect has been evident in the history of religious education, in which formative figures in their theories have given inadequate attention to race and racism. Like other theological disciplines, religious education has been in captivity to a Euro-American ideology that avoids dealing with racism. This Eurocentric captivity is one reason why American racism has been the null curriculum in religious education.
If European American religious educators are to break out of their Western ideological captivity, they must confront the painful issue of racism, move beyond their guilt, and educate their students about the social and legal constructions of race and the dangers of assimilationist ideology. Without struggling with the pivotal importance of race in American culture, it remains doubtful whether religious educators can play a public role in transforming a divided society through racial justice.
The Essay on Racism In Education: Then And Now
Studying racism and race relations since the time of the Gilded Age, one can see that there have been many changes in the United States dealing with this subject. The “Land of the Free” has oppressed groups of people based on their skin color and country of origin, throughout history for various reasons. Some just believe that the white race is superior to any other, while others at ...
Bibliography:
Will Finley. American Racism, the Null Curriculum in Religious Education. Christian Science Monitor, issue April 1998. pp.
27-32..
