Democracy Shuns Bigotry
Channel: Roy Smith
Date: 2020-10-16

Democracy Shuns Bigotry - EST535 A2 Roy Smith

Welcome to a video on the relationship between teachers and racism

As the effects of Racism is both felt, and permeates over time, this is a story about the average Aboriginal student.

According to creative spirits research, 60% of Aboriginal students are already significantly behind non-Aboriginal children in year 1. 36% of Aboriginal people don’t have access to a library and only 10% graduate from year 12. 18% fail to reach the minimum reading and writing standards. half of the aboriginal students in the NT achieved below the minimum national numeracy standards. 

As adults, 46% of Aboriginal people are considered functionally illiterate. Only 1% of teachers in Australia are Aboriginal while in the NT, 39% of students are Aboriginal people, from many nations. 

The government recently proved and admitted that gap is… opening. 

These statistics are education related but contribute to deficit thinking that can reinforce disadvantage. While undeniable, they don’t measure quality, or perspectives, and don’t show a complete picture of the advantages of, for example, living as part an extended community or being close to nature. 

Also, this is statistical evidence of disadvantage and not evidence of current racism… although the it is undeniable that the causes relate to past racisms, including the slow transition from overt to institutional. So as white people, although we may claim not to be racist, we are- because we have been.

Our role is to admit we are part of a system that, while providing opportunities and having good intentions, fails to engage and contextualise the curriculum in mainstream education. Promoting the idea of complicities make people accept that change is warranted.

We CAN respectfully negotiate under democratic principles seeking consensus and agency. We negotiate, what I call, the terms of freedom. Appling democratic principles and seeking to avoid elitism, teachers  CAN rule against aggression and bigotry while ‘merely’ expediting democratically agreed upon rules and processes,. 

Teachers can achieve true equality and fairness, at least in the context of class interactions.

We need to model for students, our logical disapproval of all wordings that are unfair, unkind, or un- constructive, starving racism of its fuel. That is, as Edmond Burke said, that’ the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

When it comes derogatory remarks and oppression- by any student, racism is usually not far behind. When I hear an Aboriginal student saying the ‘C’ word, I like to ask them how they would feel if a white person called them the ‘N’ word? 


Celebrating Aboriginal (and other) cultures and using these to contextualise the curriculum,fosters pride in Aboriginal students which act as a lifelong shield. Helping all students empathise with Aboriginality dispels myths and humanises. 

Most racist remarks and thinking, on both sides, festers in mostly familial and mono-cultural ignorance, misplaced blame, bigotry, and arrogance. Constructively, teachers should strive to see the perpetrators of racism as victims, of at least ignorance.  

Without questioning the validity of bigoted remark directly, teachers should, openly and without judgment, explore their effect on the victim. They should then fill knowledge gaps around context, in hope of making impact through the teachable moment. 

All curriculums should include Elements that help combat bigotry. For example, when the ugly head of racism has been reared,  the teacher can spontaneously intervene with this extra contextualised classic framework around a lesson, 

As created in 1968 by Jane Elliott to cope with the death of Dr. Matin Luther King, the teacher arbitrarily creates a metaphoric cast system following the division of the class. They enforce the idea of superior/inferior based on an absurd ‘class randomising’ factor such students with or without jewellery. The students need to agree to participate in the ‘experiment’.

The teacher will continue the lesson but will strategically gradually incorporate disparagements, terms of deficit, and sarcasm. They can refer to ‘them’ as “special” belittling with “brave answer” while to the ‘adorned’ they can say sincerely 'keep trying almost there…’. The teacher needs to be smart not to cross any lines and keep observations subtle and authentic to the situation, issue, and language.  They do not need to ‘target’ the offending individual but do need to follow up the lesson with an open and prompted discussion. The bigger lesson is that any student should stand up next time they are tried to make accomplices out of, or the next time they hear a bully bully.