Page 264 - Microaggressions in Everyday Live Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation

238 microaggressive impact on education and teaching

problems. First, we can ask the question, how can any individual or group
be culturally deprived or “ lack a culture”? Such a phrase is contradictory

because everyone inherits a culture and no one was born “ culturally naked. ”
Second, it causes conceptual and theoretical confusions that may adversely
affect educational policy and practice. If African American family values and
behaviors are at the root of the problem, then it opens the fl oodgates for
us to infuse White Eurocentric notions into the family values of the Black
community. Third, a hidden microaggressive assumption is that cultural dep-
rivation is used synonymously with deviations from and superiority of White
middle - class values. In essence, these models and explanations send the same
message: People of color and many other marginalized groups lack the right
culture! White Eurocentric norms, masculine norms, and heterosexist norms
become the worldview that reflects racial, gender, and sexual-orientation

microaggressions in the educational setting.
A society based upon the concept of “ individualism ” — that one ’ s lot in life
is based upon individual effort, abilities, and skills — is said to be oriented
toward explaining behavior from a person - focused perspective. Three philo-
sophical outlooks derive from an internal explanation of behavior or outcome:
(1) stress is placed upon understanding individual motives, values, feelings,
and goals; (2) causal attribution of success or failure is determined by the skills
or inadequacies of the person; and (3) there is a strong belief in the relationship
between abilities, effort, and success in education. Educational performance,
educational attainment, and educational outcome of students of color, women,
and LGBTs, for example, are the result of their own internal attributes. Success
is explained as outstanding attributes, and failure is attributed to personal or
group defi ciencies.

External Causation — System Focus
While individual responsibility for achievement in school is an important
factor in explaining academic performance, ignoring external forces (preju-
dice, discrimination, poverty, etc.) to explain academic disparities in educa-
tion may result in blaming the victim. Many microaggressions originate from
a myth of meritocracy ( “ any one can succeed in life if they work hard enough ”

and “ the playing field is level ” ), and the failure to consider powerful exter-
nal forces that affect outcome. Native American students report that educa-
tional curriculum, teaching and learning styles, and the classroom climate
are unwelcoming, and ignore their cultural and social differences. They feel
“ pushed out ” and mistrusted by teachers and liken the educational experience

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