The Between Teachers And Their Students During History...

There is a major disconnect occurring between teachers and their students in history classrooms nationwide. The main themes of United States history like freedom and liberty are individual to each person as well as each culture and ethnicity. This is an issue in the classroom because 92% of teachers are white while 80% are female. These predominantly white, female educators are attempting to teach a subject that is largely malleable among cultural and ethnic groups to a student population that is largely diverse. With the minority student population expected to increase by 30% within the next decade, it is imperative for secondary educational history teachers to understand the implications of teaching history to a diverse student†¦show more content†¦After a full academic year of twice weekly observations, Epstein and Cook interviewed ten working class students individually, five of which were African American and five who were European American. In the first part of the stu dy, students were asked to select and explain the ten most important historical actors from a deck of twenty-four cards containing pictures of people from the 16th century up through the 19th century. Part II of the study asked students to do the same thing, only pulling from a deck of twenty-eight cards containing images of historical actors form the late 19th century up through the Nixon presidency. In the final step of the study, the students needed to construct themes in US history that framed their previous selections. All five of the European American students made selections that indicated European Americans were major historical subjects responsible for shaping the nation’s development. These students argued that from America’s inception, the nation represented individual rights and democratic rule. All of these students also acknowledged that African Americans, Native Americans, and women all lacked fundamental rights; however, through their themes they still constructed a nation that gave rights to a majority of citizens while actively striking down racist policies where they stood, rather than promoting them. African American students who participated in the study all constructed a nation marked