What makes for a great summer read? A suspenseful page-turner? An enchanting love story? A memoir about personal struggle and triumph? Perhaps, but my most memorable read this summer was the nonfiction Whistling Vivaldi: How Stereotypes Affect Us and What We Can Do by Stanford academic and researcher Claude M. Steele. It is a highly readable discourse about sociological and educational research. Doesn’t sound like a great beach read? Let me convince you otherwise...
Whistling Vivaldi was recommended by the academic leadership at my school, Sandy Spring Friends School, as the summer all-faculty-and-staff read for 2016. By all faculty and staff, I mean every employee, the maintenance staff, the support personnel, the teachers, and school leaders. We all read it. Why? This book outlines, in clear and convincing language, how and why stereotypes hurt us. By “us,” I mean individuals, groups, and our broader society. Steele does not just describe the problem, he outlines concrete steps that each of us can take to change potential-killing language into empowerment for ourselves and others. This is important to schools because, second only to parents, we have powerful influence over the lives of our students. Teaching is a complex and subtle art, where influence, nuance, and implied messages can have significant consequences for how students view themselves and others. It is important that we understand our impact so we can shape that impact to be as growth-supporting as it can be.
Steele provides us insights into how our assumptions about groups, both those we identify with and those we make assumptions about, even unconsciously, can shape the ability of others and ourselves to either reach, or fall short of, our potential. The relevance of this risk to those among us who teach is immediately obvious to readers. And, who among us does not teach in one way or another, as classroom teachers, coaches, supervisors, mentors, parents, or community participants, where we are seeking to help others fulfill their best potential?
The heart of Steele’s message alerts us to “stereotype threat.” This well-researched phenomenon shows how our own anxiety about how others may perceive us, through a stereotype lens, can predictably and significantly suppress our own performance. In a reciprocal way, our words and actions can trigger suppressive anxiety in others when we consciously or unconsciously play to stereotypes. Much of the book outlines how Steele and his colleagues discovered, explored, and documented the stereotype threat phenomenon and its consequences.
Women and math ability, and African-Americans and academic prowess, are just two false group stereotypes that continue to do damage despite their lack of substance. For example, references to math ability can trigger measurable sub-par performance in talented, motivated female mathematics students who, in other situations free of these triggers, will perform just as well as their equally talented male students. If our goal as educators is to support the best work of all students, such insights are valuable. A teacher who, even unknowingly, triggers stereotype threat responses in their students, is asking students to climb higher while slipping lead weights into students’ pockets. It is not what teachers want to do, which is why awareness-raising reads like Whistling Vivaldi are important growth experiences for educators.
Steele’s work has relevance beyond the classroom walls, to any situation where we seek to enable others to perform at their best, such as in, well, most of life. This is why every employee at SSFS was asked to read this book. Steele’s research shows that stereotype threat can be a factor in most any situation where a stereotype about performance differences may exist.
Our August opening of school meetings included faculty and staff discussions of stereotype risk and stereotypes to which each of us may be vulnerable. We explored the topic from many directions, including not only traditional identifiers historically tied to discrimination and entrenched stereotyping (such as age, race, sex, socioeconomic status, gender preference), but also less discussed or visible differences (body size, learning disability, adopted child or adopting parent, introvert/extrovert). In smaller faculty groups, teachers are talking about how to create classroom environments that are as free as possible from stereotype risk. The solutions can be quite simple. To paraphrase and abbreviate Steele:
- Communicate a growth mindset - everyone can learn and improve
- Be thoughtful about how to provide critical feedback,
- Be sensitive to having a “critical mass” of various groups
- Promote constructive inter-group conversations
- Affirm students’ “most valued sense of self,”
- Help student articulate their challenges within an inclusive and encouraging environment
The above list should not look novel - these describe basic elements of creating a positive space where people, from all kinds of perspectives and backgrounds, can come together and be successful. It represents good leadership and good teaching. These elements are endemic to the mission and values of SSFS. Yet we can do better. We will continue to explore how to implement these solutions, in our classrooms and meetings, throughout the year.
