A White Teacher Talks About Race - Book Review

Arts & Activities, Feb, 2003 by Jerome J. Hausman

(2001; $22.95), by Julie Landsman. Scarecrow Press, Inc., 4720 Boston Way, Lanham, MD 20706.

This book does not include explicit references to the teaching of art. The author, however, has taught in the Minneapolis Public Schools for 25 years, has been active in teacher-education programs and has had numerous books published. She has observed that in our 25 largest cities, students of color are in the majority in all but two.

We have long asserted that the arts are a vehicle for personal expression and realization. Art and classroom teachers (most of whom are white) need to understand and deal with the realities of a multi-racial classroom. As is stated by Julie Landsman (p. 45): "I always come back to the necessity for white men and women who are the leaders in this country to recognize the deep-seated inequality in our school systems and in our economic structure. It is our job to encourage such recognition by our actions, by our instruction, and by our commitment to change it." The author offers suggestions pertaining to the teaching of writing--"writing to understand," "writing to capture their voices," "writing to plan for the future," "writing to bring in reality," and "writing to counter alienation." These same emphases can be applied to the teaching of art.

In conclusion, Landsman observes (p. 156): "I am thinking with more 'specificity' these days. I am not spending as much time on abstractions as I used to." So, too, for art teaching. It's a "real world" with "real problems" that we must face. In doing so, we must keep in mind, students whose orientation and perceptions are different from our own. As Landsman puts it: we need to "recognize the differences among ourselves in positive ways, in ways that teach us." For information about this publication, circle No. 392 on the Reader Service Card.