Unfortunately, Audre Lorde’s teachers growing up were not
very inspirational. They did not encourage her to do better, and they did not
believe that she could do as well as she did. When she “showed up” her
pre-school teacher by writing her full name instead of just the letter “A”, she
was punished for not following directions. In reality, she should have been
praised for doing so well, and been encouraged to continue. But instead, the
teacher told her mother that she was a naughty child who couldn’t follow
directions at all.
When she was moved to the catholic school across the street,
and placed in the first grade (where she SHOULD have been to begin with), the
teacher there didn’t have faith in her either. She was cast into the bad kids’
group, called “the brownies” and was not given the opportunity to shine. When
the other students were writing short sentences like “the boy ran”, Audre
wrote, “I like White Rose Salada Tea”. Did she receive any kind of compliments
or positive feedback for her exemplary work? Of course not! Instead, the
teacher said she was lying, and that someone else had done her work for her.
Basically, Audre Lorde’s essay is yet ANOTHER example of bad
teachers who either lack the knowledge, the patience, or the desire to actually
teach their students. And that is really sad.
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