White Privilege and its Academic Consequences

White Privilege and its Academic Consequences
By Hakim Shahid, Ph.D.

Because of the self-appointed status of mainstream society’s ideologies being the standard of “true American values,” some of its members began to acquire a certain mentality that validated their position in American life. Dr. Peggy McIntosh termed this mentality “White Privilege” in her article, White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, written in 1993. According to McIntosh, as a result of White Privilege, most people of Euro-Anglo descent are afforded rights and Privileges that are not enjoyed by people of color. The mystery of White Privilege lies in the fact that many of the members of mainstream society are not aware of this phenomenon. To further illustrate this point, McIntosh stated her shock when realization came upon her based on the advantages of her “whiteness.”

As a White person, I realized I had been taught about racism as something that puts others at a disadvantage, but had been taught not to see of its corollary aspects, White Privilege, which puts me at an advantage (Pg. 1).

Although McIntosh came to grips with understanding and acknowledging her racial group’s advantages based on their heritage, others in her group are not so reluctant to concede acknowledgement of this self-actualization. According to Janet E. Helms in her article titled, “Reaction: I also said, "White racial identity influences white
Researchers", In The Counseling Psychologist in 1993, mainstream White America is not aware of itself as being the benefactors of racism. Instead they deny, distort, and repress the overwhelming realities they are presented with in cohabitating in a region with other cultural groups. Helms states, “I argue that Whites must become consciously aware of the ways in which racism works to their advantage and make a deliberate effort to abandon it in favor of positive non-racist definitions of Whiteness (page 241).”

Though Helm’s point is important, some White people are reluctant to acknowledge the unequal practices people of color are subjected to. This would mean they must educate themselves on the major contributions made by people of color to this country. I saw this reluctance firsthand in my years as a middle school science teacher when I asked my administrators and educational superiors why do we still teach science as a Greek and European-inspired discipline when we have scientific and scholarly evidence that Africans introduced the study of science to the world? In response to my inquiry, I was given weak excuses like, “Well, we know the truth,” “You know they (mainstream society) won’t allow that,” and my personal favorite, “Boy, are you a trouble-maker?”

White Privilege is dynamic in its presence in the psyche of some Whites. Because of this, some Whites view cultural scholarship as important when it encompasses the perspectives of White America. In other words, the more comfortable they are with their Privileges, the more they gauge people of color’s scholarship contributions by their own cultural standards. This ideology plays a huge part in the type of scholarship American students receive in the educational institutions across the country. Helms posited six components of White identity development to explain how the White Privilege mentality is nurtured in the mindsets of whites and how it can be alleviated for the introduction of a true multicultural society.

1. Contact- is mainstream society’s ignorance to the social, economic, and political plight of other races in this country.
2. Disintegration- refers to mainstream’s consciousness of the despair of other races.
3. Reintegration- is the conscious or unconscious glorification of the White cultural while belittling every culture that is not part of the White race.
4. Pseudo-Independence- the premise that other cultures would do well to adopt the standards and ideals of White culture.
5. Immersion-Emersion- this calls for the realization of Whites to reeducate themselves of the inequality of their own whiteness and educate others in their race.
6. Autonomy- this ensures that Whites do away with all racist behaviors and assumptions.

Impact On Literacy
White Privilege and the accepted identity that controls it is the underlying theme of classroom instruction and assessment development. To the advantage of mainstream children, it is expected that they will succeed in learning to read, speak, and write. This rings true for any people who receive an education based on their own cultural perspective. This means that white children are taught to read using a curriculum based on their cultural experiences, and in it, they master the art of “appropriately speaking” because usually their home language is synonymous with the school language. I have to ask if this is the case, using an analogy, how would a person know if it was day if they never witnessed night?

This is what has happened to education. It only teaches “day” and never acknowledges “night.” It only teaches “dry” and never teaches “wet”. The content areas are the teaching of skills for the student to acquire in order to become literate.

Because the skills that white children receive are encrypted with bias premises and notions while celebrating their cultural thought, they could grow into adults who view the rest of the world around them as primitive to their own culture and intelligence (Hilliard, 1998). This may cause them to assess other cultures by their own language and educational approaches without venturing out of their own comfort zone.

Furthermore, the White Privilege phenomenon has far more consequences than only those acknowledged in Whites. In this phenomenon, Whites have the choice to either choose to correct this horrendous practice of enjoying the perks of racist superiority or chose to ignore it and their lives would not be affected in the least. On the other hand, people of color are mentally, economically, socially, and politically affected by either conscious road they decide to venture down.

Dr. Hakim Shahid is the Science/Social Studies Curriculum Coordinator for Detroit Edison Public School Academy District and an adjunct professor at Marygrove College. He holds a Ph.D. in Reading Education; a M.Ed. in Educational Administration; and a B.S. in Biology and Chemistry. He has presented at national education conferences and lectured at universities across the United States and abroad. For inquiries regarding availability for presentations and workshops, contact Dr. Shahid at haklife22@aol.com.