A ‘bad fit’ for ‘our’ kids: politics, identity, race and power in parental discourse on educational programming & child well-being

ABSTRACT

Issues of race and class have long been at the center of discourses involving the American public education system. Although contemporary discourse regarding issues of race and power in American schools may be less overt in racist ideology than in previous decades, the impact of coded racist discourse can be equally powerful and dangerous. A need exists to identify racist and classist discourse in educational contexts so that the ideologies and practices these discourses reflect can be challenged. This paper uses critical discourse analysis and Critical Race Theory to examine how the discourses of race, class, and power are enacted within a discussion of educational programing and child well-being in a predominantly White, upper-middle class suburban public school.

KEYWORDS:

• Critical discourse analysis
• critical race theory
• whiteness as property
• parental discourses on education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Erin P. Sugrue, PhD is an assistant professor in the Department of Social Work at Augsburg University. Prior to receiving her doctorate, she spent over a decade as a school social worker in a public school district. Her research focuses on issues of racial and economic equity and justice in the U.S. public education and child welfare contexts, moral injury, and policies and systems as sources of trauma. Augsburg University, Memorial Hall 12, 710 22nd Ave. S, Minneapolis, MN 55454, USA.

Notes

1 Pseudonyms are used throughout this paper to refer to the school and the community in which it is located.

2 Pseudonyms are used throughout this paper to refer to the school and the community in which it is located.

3 The River Hills principal was new to his position as of July 2015. He was also the first African American principal in the Lakeside Public Schools. Although he was not involved in the decision to bring Playworks to River Hills, some parents initially believed he had brought the program to the school (River Hills teacher A, personal communication, October 24, 2015).

4 Although I was unable to confirm the racial identity of all 144 parents who signed the recess petition, the parents who drafted the petition, spoke at the school board meetings, appeared in the news reports, and wrote on-line blogs were all White.

5 The name of the school has been changed from the original petition.