Teaching Tolerance
Teaching Tolerance: Raising Open-Minded, Empathetic Children by Sara Bullard. New York: Doubleday, 1996.
The title of Sarah Bullard's accessible and practical guide to prejudice prevention is an unfortunate one. It implies that the audience is limited to parents when, in fact, this beautifully formulated book offers invaluable insights for a broad range of readers.
Although Bullard, the former editor of the Southern Poverty Law Center's Teaching Tolerance magazine, is neither a parent nor an educator, she is a civil rights advocate, a former daycare worker, and a champion of victims of bigotry. Among those who will benefit from her clear and cohesive examination of the roots of intolerance and how we can model tolerance for children are K–12 teachers, guidance counselors, administrators, social service professionals, inner-city teacher educators, school district staff, and school board members—as well as parents.
Bullard's thesis is that we are all intolerant and need to look inward before we can model a life of tolerance for children. She supports this thesis with vivid examples from her own life and the lives of dozens of prominent people—human rights advocates (Myrlie Evers-Williams and Martin Luther King Jr., for example); respected educators like Vivian Gussin Paley and Sue Spayth Riley; and social theorists, including Gordon Allport and Studs Terkel. She also illustrates her point with excerpts from literature.
The nine chapters engage readers in a journey toward a new self-awareness. Bullard begins by examining characteristics and definitions of tolerance. She then explores how adults tend to categorize, generalize, familiarize, and conform, and how these habits often lead to intolerant or prejudicial acts—what Bullard calls "mistaken minds." Before we can teach children how to become good citizens, we need to change our own minds, so to speak. She presents as models 12-step recovery programs and describes their principles of honesty, open-mindedness, hope, self-confidence, and self-examination.
Bullard underscores the importance of inner security and family bonds in teaching children empathy, respect, forgiveness, and involvement. She advocates involving children in family decisions; setting simple, fair rules and logical consequences when rules are broken; distinguishing between what children can and cannot change; sharing feelings; and offering choices.
Bullard shows teachers and parents how to maintain reflective journals by using the prompts she provides to guide children. The book also includes easily adaptable family activities, an annotated directory of organizations that promote tolerance, a scholarly bibliography, and a list of family publications.
Teaching Tolerance is for the whole village of child raisers, not just biological parents.
Published by Doubleday, 1540 Broadway, New York, NY 10036. Price: $21.95.
—Reviewed by Rose Reissman, Fordham University, New York City.
Should I Go to the Teacher?
Should I Go to the Teacher? Developing a Cooperative Relationship with Your Child's School Community by Susan M. Benjamin and Susan Sanchez. Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Heinemann, 1996.
This little book is a refreshing, insightful paperback that should find a home in every elementary school office. Parents should be encouraged to read it; teachers and principals would benefit from the everyday wisdom it presents. The teacher-authors obviously have lived in schools and worked with many parents.
The authors address the "how and when" of communicating with the principal and advise parents how to prepare for conferences and write notes to principals and teachers. They guide parents through the special education process simply and clearly. They suggest how parents can volunteer, even if both are working. They urge parents to develop and maintain relationships based on trust.
Parents confronting school problems—perceived or real—will benefit greatly from the chapter on this subject. The authors recommend cooperative approaches to solving problems; while encouraging parents to be proactive, they discourage militancy.
The chapter on "What makes teachers tick" is a delightful presentation on the real life of the teacher. Teachers, in turn, will gain more awareness of the parent's perspective and find practical suggestions for coaching parents about their role in the school.
Avoiding educational jargon, the authors erase the lines of misunderstanding that often artificially separate "them" from "us." Administrators may want to purchase multiple copies of this book to share with parents.
Published by Heinemann, 361 Hanover St., Portsmouth, NH 03801. Price: $12.
—Reviewed by Joanne Rooney, Midwest Principals' Center, Palatine, Illinois.
Beyond Desegregation
Beyond Desegregation. Edited by Mwalimu J. Shujaa. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press, 1996.
I can vividly recall the year I completed 5th grade. That spring, teachers announced that my black, segregated Alabama school was closing. In the fall, my peers and I would attend white schools. My teachers explained that the schools were being desegregated.
Throughout the summer, I wondered what would happen to us in these desegregated schools. We would not have our black teachers who cared for us, believed in us, and committed their lives to our achievement. We would no longer experience the rigorous curriculum they constructed—I recall it as a combination of intensive academic content and education to develop the desire and skills to participate in the struggle for social justice.
We never asked what the purpose of school was; it was clear to us. We never wondered whether our teachers cared for us; we knew they did. We never doubted that we could achieve. That fall, when we entered desegregated schools, we began to wonder about all these things.
Contributors to Beyond Segregation—leading scholars in educating African-American children—have helped me connect my experiences to those of others. They have done this in three ways. First, they examine "the politics of quality schooling for African Americans" from kindergarten through college. They do this through historical analysis, case studies of schools and districts, and personal accounts.
Second, in analyzing desegregation, the authors bring to bear strong historical and philosophical groundings, including a century of African thought. They recognize connections among African people and ideas that others often overlook. Third, they offer university scholars, school practitioners, parents, community members, and policymakers many new ways of examining desegregation. Each chapter brings fresh insights, hypotheses, interpretations, recommendations, and challenges.
This book compels readers to ask the questions that are central to any discussion of equality of education: Are desegregated schools meeting the educational needs of African-American children? and What are some alternatives? Mwalimu Shujaa argues that to ignore these questions is to ignore "the "persistent, pervasive and disproportional failure of public schooling in the United States to meet the needs of African-American students."
I recommend Beyond Desegregation to everyone engaged in the search for truth and the quest for equality.
Published by Corwin Press, 2455 Teller Rd., Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Price:$27.95, paper; $5.95, cloth.
—Reviewed by Beverly E. Cross, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
