In January 2018, I signed as much as work instead trainer at a public faculty in Columbus, Ohio. Once I confirmed up, I wore what I believed was skilled apparel for a faculty trainer, together with a long-sleeved shirt and gown pants. I additionally wore my hijab, which is a image of my religion and custom within the Muslim neighborhood. Once I arrived, the principal noticed me and instantly frowned as soon as she noticed my look and the hijab on my head. She then knowledgeable me that it could be my first and final day on the faculty earlier than I left to go to my classroom.
Whereas strolling the varsity hallways with the classroom assistant, I requested her what she thought concerning the principal canceling my task. She mentioned I regarded too completely different, and the scholars wouldn’t settle for me. It was then that I additionally seen that the majority the workers and college students had been white. This example left me disheartened, and I could not shake the sensation that my look — and maybe my outwardly Muslim expression — had affected their resolution.
That incident was a stark introduction to the challenges I face as a hijabi and Muslim lady in a predominantly white faculty. The hijab and what it represents in Islam is usually misunderstood and unfairly stereotyped. Nonetheless, regardless of these challenges, I consider my story is vital — not solely to create a greater understanding of Muslim tradition and Muslim ladies’s id, but in addition to construct a extra welcoming academic atmosphere for Muslim educators and college students.
A Lasting Impression
The expertise of being fired from my first educating job was undoubtedly a traumatic expertise — and one which I later realized could be an everyday, systemic expertise I might have due to my Muslim id.
As soon as I used to be let go from my substitute educating job, I made a decision to get one other two-month educating place in a governmental training establishment. But once more, I used to be met with apprehensive and displeasing appears. One workers member requested, “Did your father power you to cowl your self?” One other scholar even questioned if I used to be hiding a burn or bald head beneath my hijab.
Then, in 2019, after I grew to become the lead Arabic trainer at my present faculty, I attended my first skilled improvement convention. Much like my first educating expertise instead trainer, I used to be surrounded by a room filled with white educators, and but once more, I used to be the one individual carrying a hijab — that’s, till one other trainer, a Black American lady, got here as much as me and whispered that she was an American Muslim. She instructed me that she is Muslim like me, and whereas she wears a hijab in her day by day work, she determined to take it off for the convention for worry of not becoming in. Her resolution highlighted the strain and the feeling of otherness Muslims typically expertise, that to be accepted, you need to conform — even in a convention that supposedly promotes variety and inclusion.
Even in my present educating place, working at a faculty the place 90 p.c of scholars determine as Muslim, I nonetheless see the division. Regardless of a various scholar physique, social interactions are sometimes segregated, and through file days {and professional} improvement workshops, Muslim college students and white American college students typically sit individually. An academic aide as soon as instructed me she felt offended by my hijab and thought it was disrespectful to her spiritual decisions. Once I shared my ideas and why I put on it, I defined that the hijab is a part of an Islamic philosophy the place ladies cowl their hair and put on modest garments to be valued for his or her minds fairly than their look.
As a trainer, I witness the results of those biases on my college students. Lots of my feminine college students worry how they are going to be perceived outdoors our colleges. Relatedly, one in every of my male college students instructed me that he’s fortunate that he can disguise his id as a Muslim, however his sisters can not as a result of, very like me, they put on their hijabs at college and through class.
After this expertise, I felt an awesome sense of Islamaphobia and racism. Whereas scholar our bodies develop into extra demographically various and colleges expertise a rise in anti-Muslim hate, it’s clear that these biases nonetheless exist and are a day by day problem that Muslim college students and educators should cope with.
As somebody who has been negatively portrayed as an educator, I really feel compelled to brazenly share my voice and reveal the struggles of being marginalized, in hopes that colleges, significantly these which can be majority white and non-Muslim, can start to see us as human and never a stereotype.
Humanizing the Hijab
These situations from dad and mom, fellow academics and college students not solely revealed their lack of information of Islamic tradition but in addition underscored the significance of explaining and dismantling these stereotypes inside my very own faculty. Fortunately, my experiences throughout varied academic establishments have influenced my improvement however haven’t modified my core id, aspirations or the individual I attempt to current to my college students. Due to this, I made it my accountability to proudly and unabashedly put on my hijab to humanize my expertise so my college students, friends and faculty leaders might study what it means to be a Muslim scholar or educator in these establishments.
Regardless of the media’s portrayal of Muslim ladies as oppressed, I persistently interact in conversations with my colleagues to appropriate these misconceptions. I began by organizing cultural consciousness classes in my faculty in the course of the in-service days, the place I shared my private tales and the importance of the hijab. Then, I created a mentorship collaboration with the center faculty ladies to file and discuss their id by means of Flipgrid’s digital classroom program to help Muslim college students and assist them really feel extra assured about their id. I additionally initiated open dialogues with college students and workers by means of the Arabic educating dialog membership to debate variety and inclusion.
Exterior of constructing these initiatives, I’ve discovered power in connecting with fellow educators who perceive the complexities of being a minority trainer in public colleges, each inside and past the Muslim neighborhood. I’ve collaborated with different educators to develop inclusive curricula reflecting various cultures and views. I additionally advocated for coverage adjustments inside the faculty to make sure that Muslim college students’ spiritual practices are revered, resembling accommodating prayer instances and permitting spiritual apparel.
These relationships have been instrumental in sustaining my advocacy efforts; by partaking in these efforts, I attempt to create an academic panorama the place each scholar and educator feels valued and revered.
The Journey Continues
My journey as a Muslim trainer in a predominantly white faculty has been difficult, however deeply rewarding, oddly sufficient. Though I’m solely 5 years into my training profession, I want to consider my experiences haven’t solely fostered a higher understanding of Muslim tradition and id but in addition challenged misconceptions and realities Muslim ladies face.
My resolution to put on a hijab is a testomony to my id, religion and resilience and never a stereotype that must be internalized on the expense of Muslim college students and workers. As educators, we’re chargeable for embracing variety wholeheartedly and supporting each other in our mission to teach and encourage.
By amplifying various voices and selling dialogue, we will dismantle obstacles, have fun variations and nurture an atmosphere the place each scholar and educator feels valued and revered.
