This article addresses issues of ethics, power, and privilege within the context of educating African American learners with disabilities and gifts and talent. After offering pertinent perspectives drawn from critical theory, the authors discuss selected salient critical issues in education, as these issues relate to ethics, power, and privilege. A discussion of special education teacher educators, teachers, and related personnel as change agents follows. Subsequent to this discussion, the authors offer an analysis of three ethical themes and suggest that their use could serve to guide the transformative education of African American learners with disabilities and gifts and talents. The article ends with a preview of subsequent articles of a planned series on ethics, power, and privilege.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Artiles, A.J. (1998, Spring). The dilemma of difference: Enriching the disproportionality discourse with theory and context. The Journal of Special Education, 32, 32-36.
2.
Artiles, A.J. & Trent S.C. (1994). Overrepresentation of minority students in special education: A continuing debate. The Journal of Special Education , 27, 410-437.
3.
Delpit, L. (1995). Other people's children: Cultural conflict in the classroom. New York: The New Press.
4.
Gay, G. (1993). Building cultural bridges. Education and Urban Society. 25(3), 285-299.
5.
Gilligan, C. (1977). In a different voice: Women's conception of self and morality. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
6.
Hamayan, E.V. & Damico, J.S. (1991). Limiting bias in the assessment of bilingual students . Austin, TX: PRO-ED.
7.
Harry, B. & Anderson, M.G. (1994). The disproportionate placement of African American males in special education programs: A critique of the process. Journal of Negro Education, 63(4), 602-619.
8.
Howe, K.R. & Miramontes, O.B. (1992). The ethics of special education . New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
9.
Johnson, J.L. (1969). Special education in the inner city: A challenge for the future or another means of cooling the mark out? Journal of Special Education, 3, 242-251.
10.
Kauffman, J. (1999). How we prevent the prevention of emotional and behavioral disorders. Exceptional Children., 65(4), 448-468.
11.
McIntosh, P. (1988). White privilege and male privilege: A personal account of coming to see correspondences through work in women's studies. (Anna Wider Phelps Fund) Wellesley, Massachusetts: Wellesley College, Center for Research on Women.
12.
Noddings, N. (1984). Caring: A feminine approach to ethics and moral education. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
13.
Noddings, N. (1988). An ethic of caring and its implications for instructional arrangements. American Journal of Education, 96, 215-230.
14.
Patton, J.M. (1997). Disproportionate representation in gifted programs: Best practices for meeting the challenges. In A. J. Artiles & G. Zamora-Duran (Eds.), Reducing disproportionate representation of culturally diverse students in special and gifted education (pp. 59-86). Reston, VA: Council for Exceptional Children.
15.
Patton, J.M. (1998, Spring). The disproportionate representation of African Americans in special education: Looking behind the curtain for understanding and solutions. The Journal of Special Education, 32, 2-31.
16.
Perry, T. (1993, March). How racial and ethnic family and community characteristics affect children's achievement. Research and Development Report, 3.
17.
Polite, V.C. (1995). The method in the madness: African American males, avoidance schooling, and chaos theory. Journal of Negro Education , 63(4), 588-601.
18.
Reitzug, U.C. (1994). Diversity, power and influence: Multiple perspectives on the ethics of school leadership. Journal of School Leadership , 4, 197-222.
19.
Rosenthal, R., & Jacobson, L. (1968). Pygmalion in the classroom: Teacher expectation and pupils' intellectual development. New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart, & Wilson.
20.
Starratt, R.J. (1991). Building an ethical school: A theory for practice in educational leadership. Educational Administration Quarterly , 27(2), 185-202.
21.
Starratt, R.J. (1996). Transforming educational administration: Meaning community, and excellence. New York, NY: McGraw Hill.
22.
Townsend, B.L., & Patton, J.M. (1995). Three warring souls of African American high school students. International Association of Special Education monograph. (pp. 1-8).
23.
Townsend, B.L., Thomas, D., Witty, J.P., & Lee, R.S. (1996). Diversity and school restructuring: Creating partnerships in a world of difference. Teacher Education and Special Education , 19(2), 102-118.
24.
U.S. Department of Education (1992). Fourteenth annual report to Congress on the implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Washington, DC: Author. CEC
