Popular White Teachers of Latina/o Kids

This article presents a year-long qualitative study conducted in an “urban” high school, where 77% of the students were Latina/o and 100% of the teachers were White. A teacher in the school, the author studied four popular teachers for the (a) ways they could relate to students, (b) ways they could not relate, and (c) influences of teachers' Whiteness on relating. Findings show that teachers could relate to students through personal experiences but not through race or culture. Most teachers held exceedingly deficit views about the students' home lives, cultures, and families. Implications for the education of Latina/o schoolchildren are discussed.