Human Centered Education

As an educator, I have evolved in my perspectives on educating children. This evolution was fueled by memories of my childhood and early years as an educator. My mom and dad were both active in various evangelical ministries, and oftentimes they were called upon to lead in urban ministry and urban Christian education. My mom was the first Black director of the DC area for children’s ministry, and I remember her going to the yearly conference. She called back home almost in tears because she was the only Black person at this conference, even though the ministry focused on urban children’s ministry and countries with primarily Black and Brown children. What upset her was that, even though she was serving Black children in DC, most of the attendees refused to speak to her. For a whole week, she sat alone at meal times and spent the entire Christian ministry conference in total isolation.

Since that time, I have been very leery of anything that said “urban ministry” because, throughout my life, my mom’s experience has been my experience. I came to view urban ministry as a sort of way to “Christianize” segregation. Many of the Christian schools in the DC area had a “Black campus” and a “White campus” (some still do). Black people who start urban ministries are often forced to do so because the White ministry won’t welcome them in or seeks to silence the life experiences of Black people.

I grew up seeing this and wrestling with this through my childhood and into adulthood. When I read the Bible, there is no separation of races. We all will bow before the throne as one people from many different ethnicities. Historically, White ministries taught that interracial marriage was a sin and they used the scripture that said, “Do not be unequally yoked…” The rest of that scripture says “…with UNBELIEVERS…” Somehow, White people took that verse to mean that God does not want their race to be defiled by intermingling with other races. How could God be against mixing ethnicities when the Messiah is of mixed race? His lineage is a mixture of Jewish, African, Middle Eastern, etc. blood!

On the day of Pentecost, the disciples received the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and immediately God sent them out to share the gospel with every single ethnic group in the world. Peter was rebuked by God himself when he hesitated to visit Cornelius to share the gospel with him. Why did Peter hesitate? Because Cornelius wasn’t Jewish. God said, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” (Acts 10:15). For centuries, the European race has justified our oppression and marginalization through a false Christian theology that teaches God has made the descendants of Ham cursed. That is not in the Bible. Also, we are all sinners, but Christ has purified all of us. Separating ourselves from one another because we feel one is inferior or evil or whatever is unBiblical. As a Christian, I cannot segregate myself, and neither will I teach children by focusing on one race.

It is logical to think that I should be an advocate for an African or African-American education. On the one hand, I am. Connecting with these educators and institutions has been very important to my work. However, when I think of myself as a teacher for all children, I do not see how centering my ethnicity would benefit ALL children. I used to believe that by centering Blackness, all children would benefit because, in learning my narrative, other people of color would benefit, because in being sensitive to me, then they would learn to be sensitive to others. It is true that in America, racism has affected all minority populations, but the experiences are still unique. The way a people group that was once enslaved here responds to racism is different from a person who can trace their ancestry and has no enslaved ancestors. The way a person who chose to come here responds to racism is different from a person who was forced to come here. The point I am trying to make is that God created us all uniquely, and He allowed each of us to have unique human experiences. If I teach so that I focus on the Black experience, then something will be missed about the Native experience or Latino experience. To address our differences, we have to teach so that we take our students on a journey to understand as many different human experiences as possible. We may not get to every human narrative, but the more we explore different human narratives outside of our own, the more we create an environment that communicates to our students that everyone is welcomed and valued equally.

Many urban programs were created by a Black person who did not feel welcomed in a White space or were created by a White person that did not feel Black people are equal enough to be connected to their race. With this at the root, it gives birth to programs that have some blind spots. By stepping out of that framework completely and embracing the mentality of Jesus, who welcomed all people without segregating them, I feel we create a space of unconditional love where all children can thrive.

A few years ago, I enrolled a Latino student from a local predominately Black public school. When he came in, he found that we studied Latino history, African American history, European history, Asian history— as many histories as we possibly could. Then instead of celebrating just Black History Month, we celebrated Heritage Day, where all students can share their heritage with the community. It is a big festival where students each get to teach us about who they are, and not through the lens of my Black or someone’s European experience. The Latino families that came were emotional because, even though they had attended an all-Black school, they never felt welcomed. Their children never learned how Latino history connected to American history. They didn’t even learn much about their history outside of American history. When the student took Latin, he was so excited to see how much it connected to Spanish. This was his own unique journey, where his family came here through a very perilous journey, seeking a better life, and their desire was to just work hard to make a life for themselves. They were surrounded with their own community and did not necessarily feel a need to feel accepted by the majority. He was clear on his heritage. His ancestry wasn’t lost. He moved through the world in a different way from me and others who have the stories of our grandparents and parents to remind us of the pain of our captivity. His human experience is different from mine.

All of our experiences are different from the European experience, so learning our story through their human experience is also unhealthy for children of color. However, the pain of my ancestors and the fact that historically American schools silenced our stories does not mean the European experience should be silenced either. All children have a history. My first years of teaching were in a predominately White school district. Imagine my surprise when my professor at Howard asked me to do a pilot program for my student teaching. I ended up getting hired by the same district, and at one point, I was the only Black person in the classroom! Even though I had only worked with Black children before then, that experience was so powerful to me. These precious 3rd graders had no knowledge of my experience or the political climate that plagues our country. So this began my journey into evolving into a teacher that seeks to reach ALL students, no matter what their ethnicity or history is. I did not hide the story of my ancestors, but I shared it in a way where they did not feel I was placing the guilt of their ancestors on their 8-year-old backs. It was taught in a way where we all developed a desire for justice and took responsibility for that. By teaching them about their White ancestors who fought to end slavery, they came to see my history as not Black against White, but Humanity against racism. I also did not only focus on this narrative, but we did projects about our heritage, and each student was given the freedom to share about who they were, and I shared my story with them. I do not see how we can reach our children by centering one ethnicity, but we can reach all children by centering our unique human experiences and creating space for all of us to learn from one another’s human experiences.

I think of the Korean student I had who spoke no English. How would I reach her if I only shared about Harriet Tubman or Rosa Parks? She learned about them because if you’re in any class I teach, you will learn Black history, but you will also learn about your history and everyone else’s. I had to meet her where she was, teaching her the literacy needed to thrive in an American school. Her experiences caused me to teach her alone after school and at various times during the school day. She was the only one who could not speak, read, or understand English, and she felt so alone. Working with her one-on-one, connecting with her family, and teaching her the building blocks of the English language is what she needed. She thrived, and even though it has been ten years, her mom still reaches out to thank me.

I started my journey into education thinking I would change it by creating a space that focused on the Black experience because Black children have rarely had the opportunity to learn about their history. Instead, my journey led me to want to reach all children and to think of a more human-centric way of reaching all students so that no student feels isolated, guilty, ignored, unseen, devalued, or unheard. I cannot allow my Black experience to lead me to silencing the stories of other children. My experience does not justify that, not even for White children. Even if their parents may still be plagued by racism and White supremacy, while children are young, they can still learn to love all human beings equally, and it is up to us teachers to be part of that process. I remember teaching my predominately White class that there was no such thing as a nice slave owner. The next day a student came to class and said, “My dad said that George Washington was a nice slave owner.” I then asked him a question, “If I came to your house, took you from your parents, and made you live with me, is that nice?” He said, “No.” “What if I took you from them, clothed you, fed you, and treated you like one of my children, is that nice?” He said, “No.” We then talked about how the enslaved people felt being taken from their families. No matter how nice a slave owner was, taking a child from their parents or separating families is not nice. Asking people to work for you without compensation is not nice. I will never forget the light bulb that went off in his eyes as we talked through this. It wasn’t done in a way to make him feel guilty, but it taught him empathy and understanding of a human experience that he has not had. We can do the same thing as we teach about the plight of the immigrant, the disabled, or whoever. School should not be about centering any one people group, but it should be about centering all of humanity so that we learn how to love one another better.

I know many disagree with me because, on one hand, I have chosen the path of forgiveness and grace and will not center my Black story because of what has happened to my ancestors. At the same time, I will not silence my Black story to make White people feel comfortable. Centering any ethnicity in how we teach children does not reach them. It either makes one set of students feel superior and the other feel inferior and unseen, or it makes one feel empowered and the other feel like the bad guy or the enemy. Neither way teaches how to LOVE unconditionally. I know that I work in all types of spaces, and not all are Christian, but even still, I have to follow the example of Christ. I am a Christian before I am Black (although the racial challenges of the country make it so hard to remember this!). Christ did not even center his own ethnicity, but when he crossed over into Samaria and constantly humbled himself to love everyone, I see a path forward. Centering my or anyone’s ethnicity is not the way forward. Instead, I will walk in the truth of God’s light and love for everyone, teaching all children about themselves, their history, and others’ history, all in a way that shows them how much they are loved by their Creator. Maybe in doing this, they will learn to give love to all of humanity too.