Tabitha Peterson says inclusive curriculum and cultural awareness create safe classrooms

Good afternoon.

First, I want to thank Chair Dinowitz and the rest of the council for allowing this conversation.

My name is Tavi, and I'm a junior at Brooklyn Technical High School.

I'm also a youth advocate for the Asian American Student Advocacy Project, ASAP.

What does it take to create a truly safe space?

Well, a whole bunch of factors, really, with two of the most important ones being critical thinking and cultural awareness.

I understand critical thinking to be the ability to take in your surroundings with observations and create thoughtful inferences based on what you observe, and define cultural awareness as being thoroughly educated on your own social identity and how it can impact your interactions slash relationships with others.

When I walk into the classroom, the first thing I want to be is open-minded.

Not only does this make classroom conversations more conducive, but it also lets the people around me know that their presence is welcome.

Being aware of my cultural background, like my race and ethnicity, and how it can indicate ways in which I'm similar and different from my peers, grants me the ability to be sure that I'm creating an inviting space for everybody.

Unfortunately, a common problem that minorities face in the classroom is a lack of knowledge about their own history and impact in America.

In the case of the AAPI community, there is a severe lack of inclusive curriculum.

This in turn makes it difficult to foster a thoughtful environment and perpetuates an uncomfortability for the AAPI community and other minorities while in the classroom and even in their everyday lives.

I can say that I have witnessed firsthand the result of shared unawareness creating

misunderstanding and discomfort in my own community.

Often in the black student union of my school, there is talk about demographics of the student body and how it makes us feel uncomfortable.

One time there was a conversation that mentioned how the majority of students in the school are AAPI.

Because of what I've learned in spaces like ASAP, I could see how the model minority myth harmfully impacted and shaped the conversation that unfolded.

Now, if our school had included AAPI history into the curriculum, students would be educated on the model minority myth and learn that it is completely untrue and should be dismantled while minorities focus on bridge building and solidarity.

Although our struggles are different, minorities should be able to find community with each other instead of fighting to be second place in a hierarchy that shouldn't even exist.

This is just one example of how inclusive curriculum and shared understanding across differences can help support critical thinking, cultural awareness, and ultimately school safety for all students.