Exploring White Fragility

Book excerpt: Exploring White Fragility uses both existing research and anecdotal classroom observations to examine the effects whiteness studies is having on America’s schools, and investigates how the antiracist movement to dismantle “white supremacy culture” is impacting student and teacher morale and expectations, school discipline, and overall academic achievement. Specifically, it analyzes the major tenets of whiteness studies, including awareness of white privilege and white fragility; the belief in colorblindness, individualism, and meritocracy; white racial identity development (WRID); implicit bias and microaggressions; and the methodologies underlying these concepts. The book also compares traditional multicultural education to antiracist education; examines the impact of family and culture on learning, discipline, and achievement; investigates how whiteness studies and antiracism influence stereotype threat, the school-to-prison pipeline (STPP), and teacher and student expectations (Pygmalion Effect); studies the impact of race-based discipline approaches on student learning and achievement; and finally, offers solutions and improvements for whiteness scholars, teachers, administrators, and school reformers.