Chapter 3: Understanding White Privilege: When a Good Task Is Not Enough

The racial demographics of the U.S. teaching force have changed very little over time and continue to fall short of reflecting the diversity of the U.S. student population. In 2011, 84% of U.S. teachers identified as non-Hispanic Whites, a decrease of only 7 percentage points from the data released in 1986 (Feistritzer, Griffin, & Linnajarvi, 2011), whereas only 55% of K–12 students identified as non-Hispanic Whites (Davis & Bauman, 2013). While it is critical that we better understand the lack of diversity in the pool of U.S. teachers, it remains a challenge for teacher educators to prepare a predominately White contingent of prospective teachers with the knowledge, beliefs, and perspectives they need to teach in equitable ways for all students. Despite issues of equity and social justice not yet being a central focus of my scholarship in mathematics education, it is a core commitment in my teaching of mathematics and my teaching of future mathematics teachers.