Skateboarders......
another look.
They will jump off of almost anything, grind down rails, fly through the air doing unbelievable tricks, and they get a bad rap. They are incredible athletes who may or may not be seriously misunderstood. We know one thing for sure – skateboarders are definitely stereotyped. They are most often thought of as punk kids who constantly break the law, who fail their school classes, who buy, sell, or use drugs, and who are definitely up to no good.
In their book “Catching Air: The Excitement and Daring of Individual Action Sports, Bill Gutman and Shawn Frederick explain how this came to be. “When the sport’s popularity began to grow in the mid-1970’s skateboard parks began springing up all over. Soon, however, they were forced to close because of insurance problems and questions of liability when skaters were injured, as well as lawsuits and the threat of lawsuits. That’s when the kids who loved to skate were forced to take their boards to the streets and a whole new style of sport evolved. At the same time, town officials and pedestrians alike began viewing skateboarders as troublemakers who had little regard for either people or property. They would skate anywhere, with any kind of public property becoming an object to jump over or ride on. And, of course, there were inevitable collisions on public streets and sidewalks, with both pedestrians and automobiles. By this time, skateboarding was considered an outlaw sport. People perceived the street skaters as different in a negative way…
Now take a look at this video clip. (Please excuse the language)
From the video clip, we can see what most people think about skateboarders – that they are hooligans without morals. They want skateboarders to forgo their risky sport and assimilate into the majority culture. We also see the skateboarders’ point of view – that everyone is out to get them when all they want to do is have their agency to skate. These messages are being sent out in several ways. One way is through the media, in video clips just like this one. Skateboarders often put videos of themselves up on YouTube or similar sites of them or their friends getting in trouble or even being arrested. They want to portray themselves as being picked on for being skateboarders; however, the main message that comes across is that skateboarders are constantly getting into trouble. Movies make skateboarders seem defiant and dangerous by showing them doing unsafe tricks, using drugs, skipping class, and vandalizing property. Another source for these negative messages is the language that skateboarders are portrayed using in video games, magazines, etc. Some skateboarders use words such as “bro”, “dude,” etc. making them sound uneducated or lazy. My point is not to side with either of the groups, but to recognize that it could cause problems in my future classroom if I do not address them appropriately.
The messages portrayed in the media will definitely have an impact on me and my future students of this culture. If stereotypes about skateboarders are correct, I will have students with a bad attitude and little regard for the rules. If stereotypes are incorrect, I will have to overcome my preconceived notions about this subculture. Students of the skateboarding culture may be faced with passive or maybe even institutionalized racism about their culture from peers and teachers who believe they are rebels and rule breakers. They could also be faced with the Deficit Theory, where teachers won’t believe them as capable as other students because of their association with skateboarding. I believe that teachers should judge their students based on what they do in the classroom and not by how much air they get at the skate park.
It is critical that teachers do not rely on media, curriculum, or policy when examining a student from a particular culture. No matter what the student’s background, the teacher has stewardship over that student, and it is the teacher’s responsibility to provide nurturing pedagogy to all students, not just ones of the dominant cultures. If teachers go to the media for their beliefs about their students instead of the students themselves, they may develop racist notions or may even doubt their teacher efficacy in being able to make a difference to that child. Perceptions about students should come from personal interaction between teacher and student, to create a positive relationship and effective learning environment.
