Slow violence Confronting dark truths in the American classroom

Black and brown children in America's schools are routinely subjected to demeaning treatment by teachers, according to this alarming exposé from sociologist Ray (The Making of a Teenage Service Class). In 2017, Ray embedded in a fourth grade classroom in Las Vegas, intending to study the effects of budget cuts. Instead, her observations became focused on how teachers were humiliating and mocking students on a regular basis. This "slow violence" stemmed, according to Ray, from a dehumanizing indifference to Black and brown students' unique situations and needs. Examples include Nagli, a "talkative and enthusiastic" Black student whose baby brother died, sending her into a spiral of grief completely ignored by her teachers; Reggie, another devoted Black student, who was treated by teachers like a "predator" after they caught him looking at pornographic photos on his iPad; and Miguel, a "distracted" Latino student whom teachers kept incorrectly calling autistic. Each student was subjected to mockery and beratement from teachers rather than any sustained attempt to connect or correct. The mostly white teachers range from one who expressed a desire for a "white history month" to others who seem genuinely "tolerant" but still, in Ray's unsettling assessment, don't seem to perceive students of color as "full humans." This adds to the chorus of provocative recent studies positing that majority-white environments negatively impact students of color. (Aug.)

A sociologist describes the subtle ways that teachers victimize schoolchildren and undermine their self-esteem. This book confronts a depressing truth--that many children suffer in school, and that Black and brown children receive an additional layer of misery. Ray, a sociologist at the University of New Mexico, observes the goings-on in a Las Vegas school district where white students are in the minority. The bulk of her account takes place in fourth-grade classrooms, with follow-up reporting through sixth grade. Ray focuses on several individual students, describing their behavior, their academic prowess, and their reaction to comments or disciplining by their teachers. One child is suspected of being on the spectrum, another is a bubbly class cutup, and a third is an eager people-pleaser. Ray joins the fourth-grade teachers--three white women who have been trained in culturally sensitive and antiracist pedagogy--on breaks and reports how they talk about themselves, their students, and their students' families. Scene by scene, the author recounts how a child's misstep in class can result in casual labeling of a student as a "lost cause," the kind of kid who might become a school shooter, or one of those who "could become sexual predators." She shares examples of seemingly minor incidents that are explained away for white students but stick to nonwhite students as fundamental flaws. She describes the disengagement of targeted students--one is talkative and funny at the start of the school year, but soon sits with his head down on his desk. It's an eyewitness account of the crushing of the human spirit, and it's heartbreaking. Yet as Ray tells these stories, she only sporadically zooms out to put her observations into broader sociological context. When she does, it's great; when she doesn't, readers may scratch their heads wondering what her point is. An unvarnished look at the troubling ways in which schools can harm students. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.