Why Teacher Sensitivity Is So Important

By: Olivia Gorum

Witnessing a teacher use “education” as an excuse or free pass in order to offend an entire marginalized group allows for a better understanding as to why sensitivity training in education is so important. Sensitivity training focuses on making people more aware of their attitudes and behavior towards others, ensuring that everyone is respected and treated appropriately. This includes people who are of different races, gender, religion, age, ability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, and all other categories protected under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. 

In my own experience, when thinking about racial sensitivity specifically, I’ve found it to be quite harmful as a student of color learning about your ancestor’s history through the eyes of a teacher who often doesn’t quite understand how their behavior and teaching style actively affects their students. Growing up, many of my teachers had no problem displaying brutal imagery in presentations for the class, not understanding that many of us have experienced severe emotional repercussions as a result. Being shown imagery of whippings, hangings, police brutality, the desecration of Indigenous populations, and other violent imagery is extremely painful for us, because these are our direct ancestors. If we had been born only a few generations back, this would have been us. While white students often have the privilege of disconnecting from this imagery, we don’t. Teachers need to recognize this and work to create a better learning environment for all students.