SoulfullyMe
General Manager
Do any of you black students get a little intimidated or skeptical when you get assigned a white teacher for a class you're enrolled in? Ever since I had sort of a racist encounter with a white female math teacher in high school, I have always been skeptical about a white teacher and always question their actions towards me. I know that sounds bad but I can’t help it after my experience with one in high school.
This experience is why I always give the side eye to my white teachers:
I was enrolled in an Algebra 2 class and had a teacher named Mrs karen (fake name), I didn't think anything of her as she is not the first and the last white teacher i'll ever have due to me living in a white neighborhood for almost a decade and have never ever had a black teacher in my life. I started off the semester slacking a little bit and even had a C on the first test. At the time, I had no idea that I was very good in math, and was always scared to put in effort because of the way algebra looked. However, I was starting to get interested in the algebra course when we would have little white board "games'' and students loved trying to come up with the answer first, which made me want to participate for some reason. So I started paying attention and trying to learn all the algebra material we were learning each week for the weekly white board games. I started realizing how fun algebra was, it was like playing a game. The second test came around and I did exceptional than I ever did in the class. Mrs Karen was shook and looked like she was not expecting me to do this well. Getting an A on that test was what gave me the confidence to never feel intimidated by a subject that is considered “hard” I have this same confidence to this day in college. Anyway, with my new found confidence I started my habit of studying and trying to understand the material. Even though I understood all the material, at times I got stuck on really hard questions. So I would go up to her and ask her to explain the concept again, mind you this was very normal with all her students in the class, if we did not understand the material she would encourage us to ask her for help. However, this time I walked up to her as usual when I did not understand a question and simply asked for clarification. Tell me why Mrs Karen blew up on me saying "I am NOT your personal tutor, go figure it out yourself" I was shook because she was the teacher and is supposed to help me understand the class material. I finally figured she was lowkey hating from the moment I stepped into the class from past interactions I had with her but just ignored it. For example, she would try to make me look like the dumb black kid in front of a class full of white kids by explaining problems to me like I’m in kindergarten. She would draw a pizza on the board and cut it into slices and explain (you know those little kid problems used to explain fractions to a child) which was not even my question. It was so crazy to me. After she blew up on me in front of all the white kids, I realized her intentions and stopped asking for help. But she was my motivation to finish strong in the class without her help. I started studying real hard and youtube was my teacher and lifesaver. One by one, I started acing all the tests and she was SHOOK and even asked me what my “trick” was. I straight up told Mrs Karen that youtube was my teacher. As finals came up, she called me up and said I won’t be able to get an A and that if I did well on the final I would get an 89.something which I believe she could have rounded or she was lying. lastly, my transcript was a B when it should have been a B+ this woman wanted me to fail so bad.
Anyway, white people like her is what gives me the motivation I have today to excel in school and get a high paying job.
But after that experience, I have always side eyed white teachers and I just can’t help it. Do yall have this problem? Please feel free to share your experience.
This experience is why I always give the side eye to my white teachers:
I was enrolled in an Algebra 2 class and had a teacher named Mrs karen (fake name), I didn't think anything of her as she is not the first and the last white teacher i'll ever have due to me living in a white neighborhood for almost a decade and have never ever had a black teacher in my life. I started off the semester slacking a little bit and even had a C on the first test. At the time, I had no idea that I was very good in math, and was always scared to put in effort because of the way algebra looked. However, I was starting to get interested in the algebra course when we would have little white board "games'' and students loved trying to come up with the answer first, which made me want to participate for some reason. So I started paying attention and trying to learn all the algebra material we were learning each week for the weekly white board games. I started realizing how fun algebra was, it was like playing a game. The second test came around and I did exceptional than I ever did in the class. Mrs Karen was shook and looked like she was not expecting me to do this well. Getting an A on that test was what gave me the confidence to never feel intimidated by a subject that is considered “hard” I have this same confidence to this day in college. Anyway, with my new found confidence I started my habit of studying and trying to understand the material. Even though I understood all the material, at times I got stuck on really hard questions. So I would go up to her and ask her to explain the concept again, mind you this was very normal with all her students in the class, if we did not understand the material she would encourage us to ask her for help. However, this time I walked up to her as usual when I did not understand a question and simply asked for clarification. Tell me why Mrs Karen blew up on me saying "I am NOT your personal tutor, go figure it out yourself" I was shook because she was the teacher and is supposed to help me understand the class material. I finally figured she was lowkey hating from the moment I stepped into the class from past interactions I had with her but just ignored it. For example, she would try to make me look like the dumb black kid in front of a class full of white kids by explaining problems to me like I’m in kindergarten. She would draw a pizza on the board and cut it into slices and explain (you know those little kid problems used to explain fractions to a child) which was not even my question. It was so crazy to me. After she blew up on me in front of all the white kids, I realized her intentions and stopped asking for help. But she was my motivation to finish strong in the class without her help. I started studying real hard and youtube was my teacher and lifesaver. One by one, I started acing all the tests and she was SHOOK and even asked me what my “trick” was. I straight up told Mrs Karen that youtube was my teacher. As finals came up, she called me up and said I won’t be able to get an A and that if I did well on the final I would get an 89.something which I believe she could have rounded or she was lying. lastly, my transcript was a B when it should have been a B+ this woman wanted me to fail so bad.
Anyway, white people like her is what gives me the motivation I have today to excel in school and get a high paying job.
But after that experience, I have always side eyed white teachers and I just can’t help it. Do yall have this problem? Please feel free to share your experience.