Toward a Coherent Theory of Race in the Education of School Leaders: fly fishing across the racial divide

ABSTRACT

The preparation of school leaders in an increasingly diverse country such as the USA has been hampered by the use of racial theories that are contradictory, disingenuous, or both. Educational researchers typically treat race as an objective and biological reality with explanatory powers; conversely, many teachers and principals have adopted the color‐blind perspective and insist that they do not see race. Using fly fishing as a metaphor, the author critiques the origins of racial categories and describes traditions of resistance by African‐Americans and, more recently, European‐American educators. Using Omi & Winant's (1993) framework, he describes some of the features needed to shape a coherent theory of race in the training of school leaders.