Chapter 8: Schooling Future Oppressors: Teaching Global Communities about White Privilege

The world has many borders, but the United States/Mexico one attracts a great deal of attention worldwide due to immigrant crossings from all over the world through Mexico. Why is there so much tension around this border? What does the tension reveal about the consciousness of people in the United States?

The United States is a country that has accumulated a lot of wealth, resources, and brain power, by and large drawn from other countries. This means that the collective consciousness of those living in the United States is constructed within a context of advantage that prevents many from understanding themselves within a worldwide context. Many students I have taught in the United States have a difficult time acknowledging their privilege and their sense of self within a global economy perspective. I have to be extra careful to avoid offending my students’ sense of patriotism because many are not educated to think critically about their reality and the exploitive structures in which they participate. Thus my focus here is to call for new pedagogies that challenge students’ internalization of oppressive ideologies and their sense of entitlement. Educators in the U.S. have the obligation to challenge these perceptions to avoid enabling the establishment of potential future oppressors. The U.S.’ (and Europe’s) status as a super power empire (perceived as being relentless) leads to an almost worldwide perception of U.S. citizens as oppressors (Azevedo, 2002).