Field Yates

With all of the messages directed towards students today through social media, television and other online outlets, one of the most problematic lessons Black students hear comes from home. “Michael, when you get out there [in the workforce], you are going to have to be twice, maybe three times as good as white people.” My mother told me this the day I turned sixteen. I made my first “C” in school and it made my poor mom worry that I wouldn’t be successful.

Every week we must endure it—the dreaded faculty meeting. While some teachers arrive to meetings, shall we say, struggling, others ride in on cloud nine. In each faculty meeting I’ve ever attended, I’ve seen the same personalities over and over. Confession: I’ve even been a few of these myself. Here are the personalities you can spot at every faculty meeting. 1.

During my first year of teaching, I remember quite vividly the feeling of being forgotten. February rolled around and, strangely I might add, no one said one word about the fact that it was Black History Month. No one! Not a parent, not a student, no administrator or fellow teachers … no one. As a black person living in the United States, who is always very aware of the realities surrounding race in this country, I was shocked and even hurt that an entire school would overlook this important time.