MY TEACHER IS RACIST...I think...what should I do?

Question

I go to a small unknown HBCU...most of the students here are pretty stupid...the problem is, my philosophy teacher is always accusing me of plagarizing my papers and always accusing me of cheating...my friends told me it's because the white teachers here aren't used to a black male student who is well-read and articulate...I'm tired of him accusing me of cheating and grading me hard on tests just because I know what I'm talking about, and everybody else has the IQ of a screwdriver....

I've corrected his German before... and I was even able to figure out what "pantheism" means just by breaking down the words, "pan", "the" and "ism." He said somebody must've told me, and I said, "No...I just broke the word down to by its Latin terms," and he didn't believe me...how can I convince this guy that there ARE smart black guys and we're not all concerned about rims and white T shirts and Adidas flip-flops???

Answer 1

Well, if there is some other prof, definitely switch out of this class. Or better, transfer to a smart school. If you can't do either, just have intellectual conversations with the guy to let him know you have all that knowledge.

Answer 2

I'm not sure which is your actual question, so I shall answer both as they appear.
If you believe this teacher to be racist, report him to the head of the school and they will open an investigation.
If, in fact, he is racist and already convinced that there is no such thing as the "smart black guys" you speak of, then there is nothing that can be done to convince him otherwise.
Speak to the head of the school, transfer to a different class, there are options available.
I do have to say that there is really no reason to insult the other students, as you hove done twice in your opening statement, and this really does little to prove your intellectual point. I can call anyone names, and claim to be smarter than everyone else, that does not make it so. Maybe you should look into the possibility that you may not be as smart as you think you are.

Answer 3

Wow. Sounds pretty frustraing.

Here are some of my suggestions:

1) In your papers, do the research (don't just write from your heart/head, but back up your ideas by citing published scholars), make sure you really give credit to your sources (use MLA citation style, or whatever your University suggests), and make sure your Works Cited is impeccable, so he has no proof to back up his accusations of plagurism.

2) Keep a journal of his unprofessional/hostile behavior. Record his words, the circumstances under which they were said, and the dates on which he said them. Also, record the names of any witnesses present who might be friendly to your cause.

3) Find out if your school has an Ombudsman or a person who handles student complaints against faculty members. If the professor continues to treat you in a way that makes you suspect he is racist, you may need to go to the head of the department, and then to the Ombudsman, to get as formal complaint attached to that teacher's record.

4) Go to websites like www.ratemyprofessor.com, talk to peers, and make friends in academic organizations on campus. Find out if others have had experiences like yours. If so, record their names for the Ombudsman (also, make sure they fit a similar demographic profile, if your goal is to have this person marked as a racist...if you find others that this professor has been hostile to, but they turn out to be mostly white, or women, or people with certain body types, you might just want to file a complaint on your professor for unprofessional/insulting behavior).
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Finally, for my part, I do NOT think that all black guys are "concerned about rims and white T-shirts, etc."

I commend you for pursing a college degree and I wish you the best of luck with professors; they are a bitter lot at the best of times, and if you go to a small school or stand out from the crowd, they can make life particularly difficult. Best wishes!

Answer 4

You cannot correct your teacher. If you do, you deserve his job. Since he won't be giving up that anytime soon, this is a life lesson. He might be doing this to show you how to get along with people in industry or anywhere were you have differing opinions, but still have to work with the people.

This is harsh, but here it goes:
Keep your mouth shut in class.
If he tells you abortion is good, it's good.
If he tells you religion is sympathetic magic, it is.
If he tells you the President is evil, he is.
If he tells you not to salute the flag, you dont.
These types of people are divorced, drunk, and are often just trying to get a rise out of the students and they WILL take you out.

Agreed. This makes no sense. If you can see the pattern of 'irrational', then it is 'irrational', but you don't need to identify this to him or anyone else. Your job is to get out of the class with an A. Question: Can you do this? You have to swallow your pride and answer. (People do this at work every day.)

Also, if you are different, you have the advantage. You will wade chest deep in more problems than most of us in your life time. In dealing with different cultures you get to pick and choose from a larger group of tools. You will be wise if you want to or not. Treat these as lessons, and you will learn from them. Treat them as discrimination, and they will bite you. Learn from this, so you don't have to repeat it.

I would advise against giving any personal information away on line, but you asked the question so...try:
http://www.whototake.net/

Answer 5

I really want to respond thoughtfully to your question. First, can you help with some details? You say your teacher has accused you of cheating and plagarizing. Can you give specific examples? What happened? What, specifically, did he say? Finally, just for clarification purposes, what is an "HBCU" (for those of us who don't know)?

Answer 6

As far as the plagiarizm goes it's a pretty serious charge since it could get you expelled at most schools. However speaking as someone with 12 years experience on college campuses it can be pretty touch to fight entrenced faculty and/or administrators. It sounds too me like you might want to consider cutting your losses and switching to another instructor or dropping the class if its feasible for you.

Answer 7

omg....how can he do that?? Discuss it with him about what is going on. That is just so mean. There are alot of africans who are totally smart. There was one famous doctor sfrican and american performed a successful 22 hour surgery on the seperation of siameise twins. Tell him that. Good luck.
I can tell u are pretty smart by ur details.

Answer 8

Don't get upset with him. It's a sign of immaturity, weakness, and will just reinforce his beliefs. If you are patient with him and happy, he will attain good feelings about you and feel as though " You know I was wrong, you're alright." and perhaps, if not for all of the genre mentioned, you will no longer have the problem.

Answer 9

if he is racist, you won't be able to reason with him - I'd take specific, provable examples of racism to administration and let them handle it - don't come to conclusions so quickly about predjudice on race, he may just not like you because you are smart - you do sound a bit overly confident in your abilities by what you've written and that may put him off - I am white and I've had white people not like me because I've shown them up with higher IQ but it would be ignorant for me to conclude that they don't like me because I'm white

Answer 10

Hey! I had one of those kind of teachers too, the best thing to do is to just ignore her or polietly tell her that you weren't and ask her if she or he is having a problem with you. If that doesnt work then notify a teacher or principle you trust