Caste

By Isabella Wilkerson

Culture is something that can't be defined clearly, but a more generic term can be 'caste'. In the Middle Eastern times of old, it was used to differentiate people based on uncontrollable factors. Wilkerson does an amazing job characterizing this belief in America, and citizens are in those social castes as we speak.  In education, she also makes the same analogy to different students based on different viewpoints - she goes into detail on how forcing a viewpoint onto a class can be the downfall of that group. Sadly, the reality is many teachers still have those biases. Ergo, educators need to rid themselves of these inherent biases in their classrooms. When I man the proverbial ship, I want my students to feel like they can count on me. Conversely, I want to count on my students to be their authentic selves when they come into my class.