We Can't Teach What We Don't Know: White Teachers, Multiracial Schools (Multicultural Education (Paper))

I had the chance to meet the author during a conference to review this book and his work. I was looking forward to hearing about his approach for improving relationships between races. What a disappointment, we could even make it to the stage of having a trusting conversation. I felt my religious beliefs were under attack and he was not open to an honest and complete conversation.

Gary Howard is not the spokes person for white males ... nor is he the spoke person for improving cultural relationships. He speaks for promoting himself and making money.... any another false prophet making a profit.

This is a good read, Howard presents the issues well. It is thought provoking, and an important text (especially for people with no experience of other cultures). However, it could also have been 20 pages instead of 121 pages. There is a lot of repetition. Also the writing is dense, it seems like it was written for his colleagues.

Two stars overall

Three stars just for the "crazy uncle in the attic" metaphor. I intend to borrow that one someday- it captures what I've been trying for years to articulate.

The first two thirds of the book were interesting, though nothing you haven't heard elsewhere. Well, maybe not everyone was blessed with parents as enlightened as mine. That's the only explanation I can come up with.

The last third of the book, which SHOULD have been practical How-Tos instead turned into diffuseness and academic word play. It was very disappointing after how direct the first part was.

All authors claiming to teach me how to do something should first write a draft that lays out their proposals in point form. If you can't put it in point form, it's too academic. I want things I can take to a classroom.

This is an important topic, but this book is written in a research language type way, not an easy to read lay-person kind of way.

The author spends half the book trying to establish (and burnish, in my opinion) his "Culturally Sensitive White Guy" credentials and the other half stating the freaking obvious. If you've ever lived in an area with more than one race, you'll get precious little from this book. On the other hand, if you're from northern Idaho, this might be just the ticket...