February 16, 2015 - 14:14
As I began reading Dance’s chapter “Social Capital, Cultural Capital, and Caring Teachers”, I was immediately struck by a critique I wanted to offer. Initially, it seemed to me that she was proposing that schools, and teachers, should be tools to assimilate students who are not culturally “mainstream”. For example, fairly early on, Dance remarks:
“Limited school-based access to social and cultural capital resources is particularly problematic for at-risk youths of color because these students are likely to lack the social class and family heritages that ensure alternative means for acquiring these types of capital” (Dance 74).
I interpreted this passage as advocating that teachers fill in the gaps of, urban, “at-rick” students’ cultural home-lives (i.e. that they teach student’s the proper way to speak, behave, and learn). This sentence in particular shocked me, as it seemed to be a departure from the earlier tone Dance had begun to develop in the piece. However, after reading the entire chapter, I realized that my earlier impressions had been incomplete. Dance is in no way idealizing white, middle/upper class culture. Instead she reaffirms the ability of all students to learn these (dominant) cultural norms and harness them for their own benefit, and of teachers to help them maximize these benefits:
“At-risk students attended to by caring teachers are not merely passive beneficiaries of social and cultural capital resources. Instead, teachers like Ms. Bronzic inspire and compel at-risk youth to participate actively in their own academic success. Caring teachers compel at-risk, street-savvy students who are viewed by the mainstream as ‘culturally deficient’ to view themselves as academically competent.” (Dance 84)
When taken in its entirety, I think Dance’s argument is really refreshing. This quote in particular demonstrates how Dance rejects “mainstream” ideals of cultural competency, and that she does so in a manner that suggests a tangible alternative while acknowledging student agency. Urban, students of color like Malcom don’t need teachers to show them the way to cultural enlightenment, they need their teachers to care about them, and to give them the tools and knowledge base to find a way themselves.