Seeing is Believing by Gabrielle

Seeing is Believing by Gabrielle - July 2020 Scholarship Essay

Representation is essential, and so my dream classroom would have positive representation of each and every child all over. How does one forge an image of oneself?: As one sees oneself portrayed.

In school we often watch documentaries regarding underprivileged citizens of the United States and other countries who are people of color, people with differences who are portrayed as incapable and brush over LGBTQ+ people. One such documentary has always been ingrained in my mind as a painful memory. My seventh grade social studies class studied U.S. History, yet time was taken to negatively represent the citizens of other countries. In this case: Haitians. The documentary portrayed them making mud cookies and eating them for meals. I understand that this is a true depiction of some, but it is not the sole thing that identifies these humans. As a Haitian-American child, it hurt to see the people of my grandparent’s country depicted as unintelligent beings. While this might be a different connotation than intended by the producers of the film, it still was what my classmates saw. And what was the point of that documentary? To feed the stereotypes of Black people that my classmates already thought? There was never another film showing the accomplishments of Haitians both in Haiti or of Haitian immigrants. Instead, we were left with the lasting image of Haitians that my classmates would continue to ridicule.

I am lucky to have wonderful role models in my home, but for those who do not, solely seeing demeaning representation of those close to them, and those who are a reflection of themselves, is enough to diminish hope in themself. On average, American children spend six hours a day in school(California Department of Educationhttps://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/aa/pa/instructionaltimetable.asp). Those six hours are one-fourth of each day for 5 out of the seven days in a week: coming to a grand total of 30 hours a week of schooling. The point is not to put an emphasis upon the length of time that we spend in school, but what we as students are subjected to during those 30 hours per week.
The curriculum that is taught has to change. My dream classroom would positively represent people of color in everyday life. There would be an equal number of books positively featuring every race and U.S. History classes would not just talk about history from a caucasian perspective, but from the perspective of every person in the United States. We would learn about these inspiring people every day of the year, and not just during a month dedicated to a discussion of certain groups. There is no caucausian history or pride month because caucausian people are always mentioned. Their successes are celebrated and they are encouraged to succeed. This encouragement not just in words, but in actions. My dream classroom would take these steps: these actions, to support each and every child and to make sure that everyone knows that their contributions are valued and that the education system wants them to succeed.

This change would help me excel as a student because I would feel empowered to succeed, just like my caucausian counterparts do. I would feel valued, seeing people who come from the same backgrounds as me positively represented in my classroom. This representation would show me that I am equally as important as my fellow classmates and that demeaning ideas and discrimination would not be tolerated at my school. These actionable steps are of a greater value to me, than words said that lead to no accountability.

My school saying that they do not tolerate derogatory and discriminative behavior is very different from seeing proof that they do not. It is different when I see proof that they support and bring up people of color, rather than say that such behavior will not be tolerated. My educators saying that if anything were to happen, they would “deal with it” means absolutely nothing to me, because I have experienced the every day curriculum that we are subjected to, and I have seen the lack of diversity. As far as I knew, my school believed it to be acceptable for people to share demeaning ideas regarding underrepresented people. The phrase seeing is believing includes one powerful combination of three words in the English language. I have shared and will continue to share this phrase until it is listened to, and heard for the actions it demands. Visual representation of every single child is necessary, not just for that one child, but for everyone to acknowledge that child’s worth.