Schools Need a Little More Color—And Teachers Can Help

By Hafsah Syed

I learned about the importance of representation the hard way.

The lack of representation among my teachers affected me deeply, particularly in high school. I dreaded US and World History classes because my teachers always made snide remarks about Muslims, fueling Islamophobia and American-supremacy among my peers. I was constantly on guard for the inevitable conflation of Islam and terrorism, as well as Orientalist stereotypes about how backwards the ME/SWANA region was and why those weird brown people couldn’t get over their trivial ethnic in-fighting. Instead of enriching me, school reinforced fallacies that had been forced onto me by the media.

When there isn’t enough representation among teachers, students absorb the Orientalist and Eurocentric narratives that exist within Western academia. This leads to a perverted worldview一one that targets the “Other”一among future generations of American voters, who have the power to influence domestic and international affairs.

Representation in social science departments is especially important given that most schools cannot afford to buy new textbooks. Because these textbooks are outdated and biased, teachers are crucial counterweights that help students develop a holistic understanding of the world, those who inhabit it, and the historical injustices that still impact people today. My POC teachers, who taught about colonization and the devastation it wreaked on the world, showed me the importance of learning different perspectives. However, in order to attract teachers from various backgrounds, we need to ensure teachers are well-paid.