University of Massachusetts Boston ScholarWorks at UMass Boston Graduate Doctoral Dissertations Doctoral Dissertations and Masters Theses 6-1-2014 "True, She Has the Culture You Need": A White Teacher in an Urban School Critically Reflects on the Hidden, Social, and Academic Curriculum Mathew Arlen McLean University of Massachusetts Boston Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.umb.edu/doctoral_dissertations Part of the Educational Leadership Commons, and the Education Policy Commons Recommended Citation McLean, Mathew Arlen, ""True, She Has the Culture You Need": A White Teacher in an Urban School Critically Reflects on the Hidden, Social, and Academic Curriculum" (2014). Graduate Doctoral Dissertations. Paper 155. This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Doctoral Dissertations and Masters Theses at ScholarWorks at UMass Boston. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at UMass Boston. For more information, please contact [email protected]. “TRUE, SHE HAS THE CULTURE YOU NEED”: A WHITE TEACHER IN AN URBAN SCHOOL CRITICALLY REFLECTS ON THE HIDDEN, SOCIAL AND ACADEMIC CURRICULUM A Dissertation Presented by MATHEW ARLEN MCLEAN Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies, University of Massachusetts Boston, In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF EDUCATION June 2014 Leadership in Urban Schools Program © 2014 by Mathew Arlen McLean All rights reserved “TRUE, SHE HAS THE CULTURE YOU NEED”: A WHITE TEACHER IN AN URBAN SCHOOL CRITICALLY REFLECTS ON THE HIDDEN, SOCIAL AND ACADEMIC CURRICULUM A Dissertation Presented by MATHEW ARLEN MCLEAN Approved as to style and content by: ________________________________________________ Tricia Kress, Associate Professor Chairperson of Committee, University of Massachusetts, Boston ________________________________________________ Jack Leonard, Assistant Professor Member, University of Massachusetts, Boston ________________________________________________ Donna DeGennaro, Assistant Professor Member, University of Massachusetts, Boston _________________________________________ Tricia Kress, Graduate Program Director Leadership in Urban School Program _________________________________________ WenFan Yan, Chairperson Department of Leadership in Education ABSTRACT “TRUE, SHE HAS THE CULTURE YOU NEED”: A WHITE TEACHER IN AN URBAN SCHOOL CRITICALLY REFLECTS ON THE HIDDEN, SOCIAL AND ACADEMIC CURRICULUM June 2014 Mathew Arlen McLean, B.A., University of New Hampshire M.Ed., University of New Hampshire Ended, University of Massachusetts Boston Directed by Assistant Professor Tricia Kress This dissertation is an auto|ethnography, meaning it places the author’s experiences at the center of analysis. The thesis argues that educators from the dominant culture can share the burden of change placed on students of color by critically reflecting on their positionality—or the way they socially construct their understanding of who they are in the world and therefore their relationship to educational structures and school actors. The v analysis focuses on the author’s transition from suburban to urban teaching and how this experience, combined with a broadening of theoretical perspectives, increased his criticality and, therefore, ability to re-conceptualize his experience with the hidden, social and emotional, and academic curricula. The author employs a variety of theoretical perspectives including critical constructivism, critical pedagogy, socio-cultural theory, critical race theory, and deculturalization to examine his understanding of himself and Others. Data sources include the author’s personal archive of academic writing, a semi-structured interview with the author’s former students, and the academic literature. Central to the thesis is the argument that educators from the dominant culture have a tendency to subscribe to the deficit model for student failure and therefore use the banking concept of education to deposit knowledge into students from subordinated cultures. This is perpetuated by hegemony and creates a dynamic where educators from the dominant culture place added burdens on students from subordinated cultures to change, which often sparks resistance and other unintended consequences. The data demonstrate that the overuse of positivist approaches to discipline and pedagogy in the researcher’s former school sparked student resistance and invalidated the knowledge and various ways students from diverse backgrounds made sense of their world. Given the insights provided by the participants in this study, the research suggests that many of the perplexing problems in urban education can be better addressed if those in power radically listen to students in urban schools. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I dedicate this dissertation to my gifted and loving wife Veronica for all her sacrifices as I spent precious family time to complete this endeavor (Thanks for “taking the kids”!), to my parents, George and Gloria McLean, for nurturing and supporting my learning over a lifetime, to Adelaide and Silas with the hope they will learn to appreciate the complexity and beauty at the cross-roads of cultures, to Dr. Kress for pushing me towards increased criticality, and to my students whose voices made this work possible and taught me it is time to listen! vi PREFACE This dissertation is an auto|ethnography. As such, it does not conform to the traditional structures of a dissertation; data and theory informs my own story. The opening serves as an introduction, includes the statement of the problem, rationale, research questions, an overview of the theories utilized, and other pertinent information that relates to the structure and design of the study. Chapters two through five examine my two research questions in-depth and is placed in the context of my own lived experiences. The literature is examined throughout the auto|ethnography as themes from the data and my story connect to theoretical concepts. The final chapter includes final thoughts, limitations and implications of the study. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................... vi PREFACE ................................................................................................. vii LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES ......................................................... xi CHAPTER Page I. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................1 I am the Problem ....................................................................10 My Rationale and Purpose for this Study ..............................17 Placing my Experience into a Global-Historical Context ......18 The Liability of My White Privileges ...............................22 Theoretical Framework ..........................................................25 Research Questions ................................................................27 Methods..................................................................................27 Overview of Dissertation .......................................................27 Conclusion .............................................................................28 II. REVEALING MY STORY LAYER BY LAYER ..................31 Introduction ............................................................................31 Theoretical Framework ..........................................................32 Critical Constructivism .....................................................34 Critical Pedagogy ..............................................................35 Socio-cultural Theory .......................................................38 Critical Race Theory .........................................................41 Deculturalization ...............................................................41 Methods..................................................................................42 The Definition and Roots of Auto|ethnography ................45 The Data .................................................................................48 Personal Academic Writing ..............................................50 Semi-structured Interview .................................................51 Authenticity Criteria ..............................................................54 Conclusion .............................................................................57 viii CHAPTER Page III. FORCING CHANGE WITH THE HIDDEN CURRICULUM ......................................................................59 Introduction ............................................................................59 Unpacking the Hidden Curriculum ........................................62 A Suburban Hidden Curriculum in an Urban School ............64 Hidden Curriculum and White Identity .................................69 Whiteness and the Hidden Curriculum .............................71 Hidden Curriculum and Resistance ..................................74 Hidden Curriculum and Deficit Thinking ..............................76 Hidden Curriculum and Like Minded Colleagues .................85 Hidden Curriculum and the Model Minority .........................93 Hidden Curriculum and Mr. Harrison ..................................100 Forcing Change Through Punishment .................................111 Strengthening the Hidden Curriculum with Demerits ....113 The Failure of the Demerit System .................................115 Conclusion