In Europe the word gypsy has a negative connotation to it. In fact I heard that France has even started to expel gypsies from their country and that Spain may be next to follow. In Spain, gypsies are seen as a group that is completely separated from the Spanish culture and people. When Spanish people talk about gyspies you hear words like, "lazy, dirty, bad, and unemployed." At first I thought it was just a silly stereotype and even though people said these things, they really didn't mean them. Wrong. The majority of Spaniards- people who were born in and live in Spain- don't think too highly of gypsies. Now I know that every country has their problem with discrimination but in the school system of all places I thought there would NOT be problems with discrimination. Wrong again. Across the board, I have heard every professor that I have worked with make a negative comment about the gypsy kids that are in their classes. In my school there are maybe 1-4 gypsy kids per class. I personally, cannot always tell which kids are gypsies but they could very broadly be described as having darker skin than Spaniards and different features.
I have heard one of the professors that I work with say verbatim, "He's a bad kid. He's a gypsy." After nearly a month on the job and overhearing numerous comments made about these kids I finally played dumb one day and asked one of the professors WHY there was such a negative stereotype against these people. Her response was that gypsies exclude themselves from the Spanish society. They don't try to learn the language, they don't work, they don't care about education and they simply follow the norms of their own group of people. She said that gypsy kids do not care to learn and therefore didn't try. The gypsy kids, she said, are always the troublemakers, they never pay attention in class and always act out.
In response to her I asked her if it is POSSIBLE that the reason these "gypsy" kids act out is because they are treated differently than the other kids. You see it is very obvious that teachers here pick favorites. First are always Spaniards, then Latin Americans, followed by Moroccans and then lastly the gypsies. The gypsy kids are always overlooked and the teachers never pay attention to them. My professor said that gypsies don't WANT to be part of the Spanish culture. She said they purposely exclude themselves and don't speak the language well because they don't want to. Well than maybe its possible that the reason these kids act this way is because of the self-fulfilling prophecy. It's simple. When you predict something will turn out a certain way, you either directly or indirectly CAUSE it to turn out that way. Therefore, if the gypsy kids are treated differently from the moment they step into kindergarten then in turn they are will act out and become the troublemakers because it was only expected or assumed that they would. My professor responded that maybe 40 years ago this might have been true but that she had been teaching for 20 years and had always seen the same outcome, regardless of her actions. She said in the beginning of her teaching career she felt bad for the gypsy kids and actually made an effort to give attention to these kids and not overlook them but that she always saw the same thing happen- they wouldn't try and didn't care. She said professors simply know that this is going to happen and so don't expect them to succeed and that ultimately it's the gypsies fault because their culture resists immersion into the culture in Spain.
I guess I see both sides of the argument, however, I don't agree with Spaniards. I think these kids act out and don't try BECAUSE of the way they are treated. If I was a student and my professor didn't believe I could succeed than I don't think I would believe in myself and of course I would fail. It's hard being here in Spain and seeing this happen and feeling powerless. Because regardless of how I may treat these kids it ultimately won't change anything because in the rest of their classes they will be overlooked and ignored by their professors and fellow students. Therefore, what am I to do? I've been very torn about this. I guess the ONLY thing I can do is set an example to not discriminate against this group of students. So I am going to try my best to give these kids attention and treat them exactly the same as I treat the other students.
After all is said and done I would say this has really become the low-point of my job. It truly is unfortunate that even in a developed and modern European country like Spain, that this type of discrimination and stereotyping exists in such an obvious way.
No comments:
Post a Comment