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Ideologies in Education Unmasking the Trap of Teacher
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/';-=09 )(8* =-0/']
Ideologies in Education
 <<OV/VŤ<RI>OI/VtS ►>

Studies in the
Postmodern Theory of Education

Joe L. Kincheloe and Shirley R. Steinberg

General Editors

Vol. 319

PETER LANG
New York • Washington, D.C. /Baltimore • Bern
Frankfurt am Main • Berlin • Brussels • Vienna • Oxford
Ideologies in Education

Unmasking the Trap

of Teacher Neutrality

EDITED BY

Lilia I. Bartolomé

PETER LANG
New York • Washington, D.C. /Baltimore • Bern
Frankfurt am Main • Berlin • Brussels • Vienna • Oxford
 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ideologies in education: unmasking the trap
of teacher neutrality / edited by Lilia I. Bartolomé,
p. cm. - (Counterpoints: studies in the postmodern
theory of education; v. 319)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Discrimination in education- United States. 2. Teachers-
United States - Attitudes. 3. Postmodernism and education - United States.
4. Critical pedagogy - United States. I. Bartolomé, Lilia I.
LC212.2.I33 371.001- dc22 2007003553
ISBN 978-0-8204-9704-4
ISSN 1058-1634

Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Bibliothek.

Die Deutsche Bibliothek lists this publication in the "Deutsche
Nationalbibliografie"; detailed bibliographic data is available
on the Internet at http://dnb.ddb.de/.

Cover design by Clear Point Designs

The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability
of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity
of the Council of Library Resources.

@>
© 2008 Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New York
29 Broadway, 18th floor, New York, NY 10006
www.peterlang.com

All rights reserved.

Reprint or reproduction, even partially, in all forms such as microfilm,
xerography, microfiche, microcard, and offset strictly prohibited.

Printed in the United States of America

To all those teachers whose political clarity ruptures all forms
of discrimination, social injustices, and undemocratic
classroom practices
/';-=09 )(8* =-0/']
 Table of Contents

Introduction: Beyond the Fog of Ideology

Lilia I. Bartolomé

Section I. White Supremacist I

Chapter 1 . Hysterical Blindness and th

Preservice Teachers' Resistance to Multicultural Education

Ricardo E. Consalves

Chapter 2. Shooting the Messenger: T

an Ideology of Social Justice

Maria V. Balderrama

Section II. The Invisib

Chapter 3. Underprepar
on Racist and Classist Ideologies

Felicity A. Crawford

Chapter 4. Teachers' D/disc

Literacy Practices in a Mexican High School

Cuadalupe López Bonilla

VIII I IDEOLOGIES IN EDUCATION

Section III. Hegemonic Ideologies in U.S. History Curricula

Chapter 5. Unlearning the Official History: Agency and Pedagogies

of Possibility

Panayota Co

Section IV.

Chapter 6. Cr
and Practices Toward Literacy Instruction: A Process of Praxis

Karen Cadiero-Kaplan
Chapter 7. Sharing the Wealth: Guiding All Students I
Professional Discourse

Stephanie Cox S

Section V. Gai

Chapter 8. "I'm W
in Teachers' Pedagogy

Paula S. Martin

Chapter 9. Reflection
Preservice Teachers (Dis)Covering Their Cultural Identities

Neida L. Barron

Chapter 1 0. Mapping the Terrain(s) of Ideology in N

Teachers' Professional Development Experiences

Paula Elliott

Section VI. Ideologically Clear Teachers: Two Case Studies

Chapter 1 1 . Developing Ideological Clarity: One Teacher's Journey

Cristina Alfaro

Chapter 1 2. Politicized Mothering: Authentic Caring Amo

African American Women Teachers

Tamara Beauboeuf-Lafontant

Afterword: The Importance of Ideology in Contemporary Education

Joe L. Kincheloe

Contributors

Index
 Introduction: Beyond
THE Fog of Ideology
LILIA I. BARTOLOMÉ

[A] ruling ideology does not so much combat alternative ideas as thrust them beyond
the very bounds of the unthinkable. Ideologies exist because , there are things which
must at all costs not be thought, let alone spoken. How we could ever know that there
were such thoughts is then an obvious logical difficulty. Perhaps we can just feel that
there is something we ought to be thinking, but we have no idea what it is.
(Eagleton, 1 991, P. 58)

The invisible yet pervasive nature of oppressive dominant ideologies and the
urgent need to clearly perceive and speak of their existence and the harmful
impact they have on education are courageously taken up by the contributors
to this volume, Ideologies in Education : Unmasking the Trap of Teacher Neutrality.
Educators and the general public typically do not understand that the solu-
tions to many of the educational challenges facing subordinated students are not
purely technical or methodological in nature, but are instead rooted in typically
unacknowledged discriminatory ideologies and practices. In this book, readers
are invited to confront the continuing existence and vigorous resurgence of not
easily named discriminatory perspectives toward students from subordinated cul-
tural groups, as well as their numerous manifestations in schools. However, it is
not enough to struggle to name and critique these discriminatory ideologies and
practices; there is also an urgent need to identify effective counter-hegemonic
orientations and pedagogical interventions that work to neutralize unequal

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X I IDEOLOGIES IN EDUCATION

material conditions and biased beliefs. The authors presented in this book do just
that - address hegemonic and counter-hegemonic ideologies at both the practi-
cal and theoretical levels.

As Eagleton expresses explicitly in the epigraph, the insidious invisibility of

dominant ideologies prevents educators from more accurately identifying and
analyzing current challenges in the education of subordinated and marginalized
populations. A solution to a problem cannot logically be imagined until one has
a firm grasp of the particular problem or challenge. In the field of teacher edu-
cation, it is particularly urgent that preservice educators develop the ability to
analyze educational challenges critically and thoroughly so as to develop equally
critical and comprehensive solutions.
In much of the current teacher education literature on preparing teachers
to deal effectively with diversity, scholars focus on increasing teachers' cultural
responsiveness and their knowledge about various ethnic cultural groups; their
familiarity with second-language acquisition processes and second-language ped-
agogy; their ability to utilize constructivist teaching and mediating approaches;
and their knowledge of best practices with diverse student populations. These and
other efforts to prepare teachers effectively are certainly necessary, despite the fact
that most programs concentrate on these areas without addressing the ideological
and political dimensions of educating subordinated students. For example, in mul-
ticultural education courses across the country, teacher educators toil diligently to
provide their students with the information necessary to effectively work with
minority students in a relatively short period of time - usually a semester. Despite
good intentions, I maintain that the invisible foundation - hegemonic ideologies
that inform our perceptions and treatment of subordinated students - needs to be
made explicit and studied critically in order to comprehend the challenges pre-
sented in minority education - and possible solutions - more accurately.
Paulo Freire (1985) encouraged educators to uncover the influence of domi-
nant ideologies when they confront educational problems or obstacles faced by
subordinated student populations. He argued that in order to solve an educa-
tional problem, educators must first comprehensively and historically situate the
problem - that is, "construct" the problem. After situating the problem, the next
step is to critically analyze or "deconstruct" the issue, and in so doing make the
oppressive ideologies evident. The final step is to imagine realistic alternative pos-
sibilities, to envision and then dare to implement more humane and democratic
solutions - solutions that lead to the reconstruction of the problem as a means to
develop liberatory solutions.
The precise intent of this book is both to expose hidden and invisible hege-
monic ideologies and their myriad manifestations in education and to offer poten-
tial intervention strategies that reflect a more democratic and counter-hegemonic

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 INTRODUCTION | xi

ideological orientation. Before delving into the books content, however, it will be
useful to discuss the concept of ideology.

WHAT IS IDEOLOGY?

Before addressing the concept of ideology, I want to share an example of th

tendency in education to embrace technical solutions and to reject discussion
of ideology and its possible influences on teaching and learning. At an educa
tional conference on linguistic minority education held at the Harvard Gradua
School of Education, a visiting professor challenged my focus on ideology an
argued that, based on her teacher education research, ideology has very little
do with the effective preparation of preservice teachers. Instead, she argued, the
focus lies on providing preservice teachers with technical knowledge and ski
such as second-language acquisition theory and methodology. This professo
maintained that in her research on preservice teachers and practicing teacher
the teachers clamored for more technical knowledge, not greater understandi
of ideology. While I certainly recognize the need to provide preservice teache
with expertise in theory and instructional methods, I found her protest that ideo
ogy is not relevant especially disturbing and somewhat disingenuous given th
she teaches and conducts research in California - a state that has recently pass
numerous legislative propositions that clearly reflect racist ideologies meant
subordinate Latino/Mexican immigrants. For example, in 1986, Proposition 6
which required that all official documents be printed solely in English and a
government proceedings be conducted solely in English, passed in Californ
This initiative sparked similar English-only and anti-bilingual education init
tives and policies in other states. A few years later in California, Proposition 187,
which passed in November 1994 (though declared unconstitutional in 1997), w
known as the anti-immigration and anti-immigrant bill. It advocated bannin
undocumented immigrants, especially those from Mexico, from public educati
and other state-provided social services. In 1996, Proposition 209, also known
the anti-affirmative action legislation, prohibited gender- and race-based pre
erences in public education, employment, and contracting in California, thu
reversing civil rights gains made by Latinos since the 1960s. Finally, in June 1998
Proposition 227 outlawed bilingual education and prohibited the use of languag
other than English for instructional purposes in California public schools.
John Halcón (2001) powerfully points out the harmful ideologies that inform
these laws and their consequences at the school and classroom levels:

While these legislative initiatives in California may seem far removed from the class-
room and irrelevant to the teaching of literacy, they have had a far-reaching influence

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XII I IDEOLOGIES IN EDUCATION

in shaping negative public attitudes toward Latinos and toward the use of Spanish in
the classrooms. The truth is, we live in a society that currently boasts of its intoler-
ance for non-English speakers through passage of English-only amendments, anti-
immigrant, anti-bilingual education, and passage of anti-affirmative action amend-
ments to keep "foreigners," especially Mexicans, in check. This negative rhetoric does
not remain in the public domain, but filters down from the mass media and the larger
sociopolitical context to Mexicano/Latino homes, to parents and their children who
embrace it, subconsciously and uncritically, without understanding it. The result is,
at best, ambivalence toward one s language and culture, and, at worst, a self-hate that
hinders learning, (pp. 72-73)

I would add that these negative ideologies do not merely affect the victims of
these harmful belief systems, but are also internalized by educators and mani-
fested in their teaching and their treatment of Latino and other immigrant and
minority students. Given the importance of recognizing and interrogating dis-
criminatory ideologies and their manifestation in classrooms, I was taken aback at
the insistence of this Harvard visiting professor that ideology was not a significant
factor in teacher education. This seemingly progressive academics resistance to
acknowledging the significance of ideology exemplifies what Macedo and Freire
(forthcoming) label as the predominance of educators' willingness to "kill ideol-
ogy ideologically."
This tendency to "kill ideology ideologically" signals an urgent need to study
ideology in education. I begin my discussion of ideology by first providing an
accessible definition and then answering questions that I believe readers may
ask when they approach this book. Many readers might respond to the title of
this book by asking, "What is ideology?" "Is it important for educators to study
ideology?" "If ideology is significant, what can educators do to develop a greater
understanding of it?" "What are some of the challenges that teacher educators
face in assisting their preservice teachers' development of ideological understand-
ing?" Furthermore, importantly, "What are the characteristics of educators who
have increased their understanding of ideology and what effects does it have on
their teaching?" The book s eleven contributors eloquently address one or more of
these questions in their courageous and powerful chapters. In this introductory
chapter, I address the first two questions, and direct you to the various authors'
chapters for their responses to the others.
The primary challenge is responding to the first question, "What is ideol-
ogy?" In his book on ideology, Andrew Heywood (2003) explains that "the word
ideology was coined during the French Revolution by Antoine Destutt de Tracy
(1754-1836) and was first used in public in 1796. For de Tracy, idéologie referred
to a new 'science of ideas,' literally an idea-ology" (p. 6). However, the original
meaning of the term had little impact on later use. In fact, Heywood informs us

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 INTRODUCTION | xiii

that w[t]he first problem confronting any discussion of the nature of ideology is
the fact that there is no settled or agreed definition of the term, only a collection
of rival definitions" (p. 5). He lists various definitions that have been attributed to
ideology and that have a direct impact on this books use of the term. Heywood s
list includes the ideas of the ruling class, the worldview of a particular social class
or social group, and an officially sanctioned set of ideas used to legitimize a politi-
cal system or regime (p. 6). Terry Eagleton (1991) also takes on the "tangled con-
ceptual history of the notion of ideology" (p. xiii). Like Heywood, he emphasizes
the conceptualization of ideology as legitimizing the power of a dominant social
group or class. Eagleton quotes John B. Thompson when he explains that "[t]o
study ideology is to study the ways in which meaning (or signification) serves to
sustain relations of domination" (p. 5).
For our purposes, ideology refers to the framework of thought constructed
and held by members of a society to justify or rationalize an existing social order.
Dominant ideologies are typically reflected in both the symbols and cultural prac-
tices of the dominant culture that shape people s thinking such that they uncon-
sciously accept the current way of doing things as "natural" and "normal." Although
this definition conveys the position that various social classes, and not just the rul-
ing class, hold and perpetuate particular ideologies, a key focus of this book is to
identify and interrogate hegemonic ideologies that generally reflect dominant class
values and interests and that are detrimentally imposed on subordinate classes in
schools. In other words, the focus of this book is on ideological hegemony and
its manifestations in various educational contexts. The aim of the book is to help
educators perceive the influences of hegemonic ideologies in the teacher education
literature more clearly. For example, the literature on teacher beliefs and attitudes
tends to treat these matters as separate and unrelated to discriminatory hegemonic
ideologies, such as white supremacist ideologies that mark nonwhite and poor stu-
dent populations as "deficient." If one does not uncover the influence such hege-
monic ideologies have on teachers' thinking, then teachers often "normalize" these
racist and classisi ideological orientations and treat them as "natural."
Hegemonic ideology was defined by Antonio Gramsci (1935/1971) as the
power of the ideas of the ruling class to overpower and eradicate competing views
and become, in effect, the commonsense view of the world. Furthermore, "Gramsci
emphasized the degree to which ideology is embedded at every level in society, in
its art and literature, in its education system and mass media, in its everyday lan-
guage and culture" (Heywood, 2002, p. 8). He explained that it is precisely because
of schools' and other institutions' success in perpetuating dominant ideologies and
legitimizing the existing social order that dominant groups need not deliberately
oppress people or alter their consciousness (although this can happen). Instead,
given their pervasiveness, ruling cultural ideologies as perpetuated in schools are

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XIV I IDEOLOGIES IN EDUCATION

generally unseen, and if they are perceived they are deemed "natural." Thus, uncon-
scious acceptance is perceived as legitimate and normal.
Eagleton (1991) lists five different strategies employed by dominant cultures
to legitimize and render hegemonic ideologies "invisible":

1. Promoting beliefs and values congenial to the dominant culture

2. Naturalizing and universalizing such beliefs so as to render them self-
evident and apparently inevitable
3. Denigrating ideas that might challenge the dominant culture
4. Excluding rival forms of thought, perhaps by some unspoken but system-
atic logic
5. Obscuring social reality in ways convenient to itself

It is precisely these strategies that render discriminatory hegemonic ideologies

invisible and thus difficult to name and identify. Eagleton further explains that
because hegemonic ideologies are perceived by members of a society as natural
and self-evident, alternative ideas are not considered because they are perceived to
be beyond the bounds of the thinkable. He maintains that dominant "[i]deologies
exist because there are things which must at all costs not be thought, let alone
spoken" (p. 58). Gramsci (1935/1971) also made the crucial transition from ideol-
ogy as a system of beliefs to ideology as concrete lived social practices reflecting
the unconscious lived social experience and the influences of societal institutions.
This shift and focus on the lived and personal dimensions of ideology has been
taken up more recently by Antonia Darder, Rodolfo Torres, and Marta Baltodano
(2002).

IDEOLOGY AT THE PERSONAL LEVEL! WHY IS IT IMPORTANT FOR

EDUCATORS TO STUDY AND BETTER UNDERSTAND IDEOLOGY?

Darder et al. (2002) discuss how seemingly invisible hegemonic ideologies and
explanations of existing social hierarchies are internalized and manifested at
the individual level. They explain how important it is to identify these uncon-
sciously accepted social worldviews and to make them concrete for teachers so
they can learn to consciously resist accepting ideologies that can potentially
translate into discriminatory classroom practices. In their discussion of ideology,
Darder et al. explain that in addition to understanding ideology as a societal level
phenomenon,

[Ideology must also] be understood as existing at the deep, embedded psychologi-

cal structures of the personality. Ideology more often than not manifests itself in the

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 INTRODUCTION | XV

inner histories and experiences that give rise to questions of subjectivity as they are
constructed by individual needs, drives, and passions, as well as the changing material
conditions and social foundations of a society, (p. 13)

Darder et al. make a strong case for studying the ideological dimensions
of educators' views and experiences. Although there is no research that defini-
tively links teachers' ideological stances with particular instructional practices,
many scholars suggest that a teachers ideological orientation is often reflected
in his or her beliefs and attitudes and in the way he or she interacts with, treats,
and teaches students in the classroom (Bartolomé, 2004; Cochran- Smith, 2004;
Nieto, 2003; Sleeter, 1994). Interestingly, while there is a plethora of writings that
examine educators' beliefs and attitudes, there have been few systematic attempts
to examine the political and ideological dimensions of these beliefs and attitudes
and how these worldviews reflect particular ideological orientations. Indeed, in
the literature teachers' beliefs and attitudes tend to be treated as apolitical, overly
psychologized constructs that magically spring from the earth and "merely" reflect
personality types, individual values, and personal predispositions that have little to
do with the existing larger political, social, and economic order. In other words,
we know little about whether or how teachers view and rationalize the existing
social order in terms of race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, gender, and so on,
and whether or not their views influence how they treat and teach subordinated
students. Moreover, it has not yet been acknowledged that teachers' conscious and
unconscious beliefs and attitudes regarding the legitimacy of the greater social
order and the resulting unequal power relations among various cultural groups at
the school and classroom level are significant factors to take into account in order
to improve the educational processes and outcomes of minority education.
Given this lack of research, critical educators such as Henry Giroux maintain
that exposing and interrogating dominant ideologies is fundamental to any dis-
cussions of education, pedagogy, and teacher preparation. According to Giroux
(1983), there is an urgent need for additional research that identifies teachers'
ideologies and explores the possible harmful effects of uncritical and narrow
ideological belief systems. Preservice and practicing teachers too often emerge
from teacher education programs having unconsciously absorbed assimilationist,
white supremacist, and deficit views of nonwhite and low-income students. This
ideological stance often constitutes the foundation upon which future teacher
education efforts are built. In teacher education programs, aspiring teachers are
typically not required to reflect critically on their ideological orientations, and
thus may bring with them unconsciously held racist and xenophobic views that
have the potential to taint teacher-student teaching and learning. This reality is
especially disturbing because, despite demographic shifts and dramatic increases

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XVI I IDEOLOGIES IN EDUCATION

in the number of students of color, the majority of teachers continue to be white

females. Sherry Marx and Julie Pennington (2003) warn of the detrimental pos-
sibilities of unchecked racist ideologies in this teacher population:

White, female, preservice teachers strongly influenced by and readily perpetuat-

ing white racism . . . were not "hood-wearing Klan members or name-calling Archie
Bunker figures." . . . However, the ways in which they perpetuated racism were even
more destructive that the hateful, virulent rants of a white supremacist, (pp. 101-102)

EXPOSING DOMINANT DISCRIMINATORY IDEOLOGIES: MERITOCRACY,

WHITE SUPREMACY, AND DEFICIT VIEWS OF MINORITY STUDENTS

Teacher education research studies like Marx and Penningtons suggest that pro-
spective teachers, regardless of their ethnic background, often uncritically and
unconsciously tend to hold beliefs and attitudes about the existing social order
that reflect dominant ideologies that are harmful to many students (Bloom,
1991; Davis, 1994; Gomez, 1994; Gonsalves, 1996; Haberman, 1991; Marx &
Pennington, 2003; Sleeter, 1992, 1993, 1994). Key dominant ideologies include
the belief that the existing social order is fair and just - a meritocracy - and
that disadvantaged cultural groups are responsible for their own disadvantages.
Educators and the general public tend to view nonwhite and poor students as
cognitively, genetically, and/or culturally deficient (Valencia, 1997; Valencia &c
Solorzano, 1997). Furthermore, most educators believe that students from subor-
dinated groups - both immigrant and domestic minorities - must assimilate into
the dominant culture and be schooled solely in English.

THE IDEOLOGY OF MERITOCRACY

Meritocracy refers to a "form of society in which educational and social succ

is the outcome of ability and individual merit" (Jary Sc Jary, 1991, p. 303). John
Farley (2000) elaborates on a key component of meritocracy ideology - the be
that blacks and Latinos are responsible for their own disadvantages. Farley write
that this belief "appears deeply rooted in an American ideology of individu
ism, a belief that each individual determines his or her own situation" (p. 6
Implicit in this ideology is the belief that the socioeconomic hierarchy resulting
from this system is appropriate and fair and need not be questioned by edu
tors. Educators operating according to this ideology generally believe that t
socioeconomic hierarchy is based on merit, and that nonwhite and linguis
minority students who want to achieve simply need to learn English and ad
the mainstream culture. Adi we have to do is look at the situation of African

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 INTRODUCTION | xvii

Americans and Native Americans to understand that proficiency in English in

and of itself does not guarantee first-class citizenship: English has been rendered
the dominant language by the forced loss of their native languages. Interestingly
though, both prospective and experienced educators often resent having to take
courses that challenge their meritocratic views of society (Gonsalves, 1996; also
see Gonsalves chapter 1 and Elliott chapter 10 in this book). Even when teachers
recognize that certain minority groups historically have been economically worse
off than Whites, have academically underachieved, and have higher mortality
rates than Whites, their explanations for such inequalities are usually under-
developed or nonexistent (Bartolomé, 1998; King, 1991; also see Balderrama,
chapter 2 of this book).

ASSIMILATION AND DEFICIT IDEOLOGIES!

TWO DEEPLY EMBEDDED DOGMAS

Assimilationist ideology, as used here, is treated as synonymous with the A

conformity model, which refers to the belief that immigrants and subordinat
indigenous groups should be taught to conform to the practices of the domina
Anglo-Saxon culture.
Despite the fact that the dominant culture tends to equate the assimila
experiences of nonwhite minorities with those of European White immigrants
the past, it is crucial to highlight the reality that the United States has indige
groups and people of African origin who are essentially colonized subjects
that this history of internal colonization is very much evident today. In parti
when we examine assimilation efforts related to domestic minority groups, su
as Native Americans, Native Hawaiians, Mexican Americans in the South
and descendents of enslaved Africans, we find that the sanctioned practice of
tural assimilation to achieve domestication and linguistic suppression has
the historical norm, rather than assimilation to achieve integration as has been
case for most white immigrant groups.
According to Ronald Schmidt (as cited in Wiley, 1999), the experience of li
guistic minorities of color in the United States has been noticeably different
that of European immigrants in several respects:

• Nonwhite linguistic minorities were extended the benefits of public educ

tion more slowly and grudgingly than were European Americans, despi
the fact that they too were taxed for this.
• When education was offered to nonwhite linguistic minorities, it w
usually done in segregated and inferior schools.

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XVIII I IDEOLOGIES IN EDUCATION

• Nonwhite linguistic minority groups' cultures and languages were deni-

grated by public educators and others. In addition, these groups were
denied the opportunity to maintain and perpetuate their cultural heritage
through the public schools.
• Reflective of these visible forms of rejection and exclusion by the dominant
group in the society, the education that was offered was exclusively assimi-
lationist and functioned not to integrate the groups into the dominant cul-
ture, but to subordinate and socialize them for second-class citizenship.

It is important to reiterate that, even though educational and language policies

aimed at European immigrants and nonwhite linguistic minority groups can also
be described as assimilationist, in the case of nonwhites they involved a domes-
tication rather than an integration dimension. However, despite this long history
of assimilation to achieve subordination, many educators continue to negate this
reality and cling to the ideological myth that assimilation is a desired goal in the
education of minority students. In fact, when preservice educators are confronted
with this well-documented history of subordination, they often violently rebel and
blame minorities for their subordination and continue to insist that assimilation is

a most desired goal of schooling (Gonsalves, 1996; King, 1991).

A second belief system related to an assimilationist orientation is the deficit
ideology, also referred to in the literature as the social pathology model or the cul-
tural deprivation model, which has the longest history of any educational perspec-
tive or "theory." Richard Valencia (1997), who has traced its evolution over three
centuries, finds that the deficit model explains disproportionate academic problems
among minority students as being due largely to pathologies or deficits in their
sociocultural background (e.g., cognitive and linguistic deficiencies, low self-esteem,
poor motivation). Barbara Flores (1993) documents the effect this deficit ideology
has had on schools' past and current perceptions of Latino students. Her historical
overview chronicles descriptions used to refer to Latino students over the last cen-
tury, which range from mentally retarded, linguistically handicapped, culturally and
linguistically deprived, and semilingual to the more current euphemism for Latino
and other poor and minority students: the at-risk student. Valencia (1997) explains
that deficit explanations continue to be the most prevalent in education:

The most common understanding of school failure among low-income children

of color and the one deeply embedded in the individual consciousness of teachers,
scholars, and policy-makers "blames the victim." (p. 38)

Furthermore, by not unmasking deficit thinking for what it really is - hegemonic

ideology - it continues to exist and mutate in teacher education classrooms because,
even though multicultural education efforts attempt to "interrupt notions of deficit

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 INTRODUCTION | XIX

thinking, [they] are often contaminated by other forms of deficit thinking" (Pearl,
1997, p. 215).
The combination of a meritocratic view of the social order combined with
an assimilationist ideology and a deficit orientation proves to be an especially
deadly one because it rationalizes disrespect for minority students' native lan-
guages and primary cultures, misteaching them English and about the dominant
culture, and then blaming their academic difficulties on the students themselves.
Unfortunately, teachers' lack of understanding of these hurtful ideologies often
translates into their uncritically accepting the status quo as "natural" and refusing
to question if, how, and when they subscribe to and replicate these ideologies. This
lack of educator clarity can also lead them down a path to teaching that includes
assimilation for subordination and unknowingly perpetuating deficit-based views
of poor and nonwhite students. Educators who do not identify and interrogate
their negative racist and classisi ideological orientations may often unknowingly
reproduce the existing social order (Bartolomé, 1998; Bloom, 1991). Even master
methodologists with the best of intentions can unknowingly end up perverting
and subverting their work because of unacknowledged and unexamined harm-
ful ideologies, such as dysconscious racism (King, 1991) and other discriminatory
tendencies - tendencies that in the end reproduce the very dominant oppressive
ideologies that created the need for the latest teaching methodologies.

FORMAL AND EXPLICIT STUDY OF IDEOLOGY

It is important that educators formally study ideology and learn about the harm-
ful manifestations various ideologies can have in the school context. Furthermore
they should be challenged to increase their ideological clarity so they can improv
their own teaching, and thus increase their students' chances of having academic
success. In earlier writing (Bartolomé, 2000), I describe ideological clarity as t
process by which individuals struggle to identify and compare their own explana-
tions for the existing socioeconomic and political hierarchy with those propagated
by the dominant society. I argue that when teachers are forced to name and juxta
pose ideologies, they can better understand if, when, and how their belief system
uncritically reflect those of the dominant society, and thus unknowingly serve t
maintain the unequal and unacceptable conditions that so many students expe
ence on a daily basis.
I further describe political clarity as a never ending process by which ind
viduals achieve an ever-deepening consciousness of the sociopolitical and ec
nomic realities that shape their lives and their capacity to transform such mater
and symbolic conditions. It also refers to the process by which individuals co

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The Project Gutenberg eBook of Manette
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 ROMANS
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EDMOND ET JULES DE GONCOURT

MANETTE
SALOMON

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MANETTE SALOMON
 I

On était au commencement de novembre. La dernière sérénité

de l'automne, le rayonnement blanc et diffus d'un soleil voilé de
vapeurs de pluie et de neige, flottait, en pâle éclaircie, dans un jour
d'hiver.
Du monde allait dans le Jardin des Plantes, montait au
labyrinthe, un monde particulier, mêlé, cosmopolite, composé de
toutes les sortes de gens de Paris, de la province et de l'étranger,
que rassemble ce rendez-vous populaire.
C'était d'abord un groupe classique d'Anglais et d'Anglaises à
voiles bruns, à lunettes bleues.
Derrière les Anglais, marchait une famille en deuil.
Puis suivait, en traînant la jambe, un malade, un voisin du jardin,
de quelque rue d'à côté, les pieds dans des pantoufles.
Venaient ensuite: un sapeur, avec, sur sa manche, ses deux
haches en sautoir surmontées d'une grenade;—un prince jaune, tout
frais habillé de Dusautoy, accompagné d'une espèce d'heiduque à
figure de Turc, à dolman d'Albanais;—un apprenti maçon, un petit
gâcheur débarqué du Limousin, portant le feutre mou et la chemise
bise.
Un peu plus loin, grimpait un interne de la Pitié, en casquette,
avec un livre et un cahier de notes sous le bras. Et presque à côté
de lui, sur la même ligne, un ouvrier en redingote, revenant
d'enterrer un camarade au Montparnasse, avait encore, de
l'enterrement, trois fleurs d'immortelle à la boutonnière.
Un père, à rudes moustaches grises, regardait courir devant lui
un bel enfant, en robe russe de velours bleu, à boutons d'argent, à
manches de toile blanche, au cou duquel battait un collier d'ambre.
Au-dessous, un ménage de vieilles amours laissait voir sur sa
figure la joie promise du dîner du soir en cabinet, sur le quai, à la
Tour d'argent.
Et, fermant la marche, une femme de chambre tirait et traînait
par la main un petit négrillon, embarrassé dans sa culotte, et qui
semblait tout triste d'avoir vu des singes en cage.
Toute cette procession cheminait dans l'allée qui s'enfonce à
travers la verdure des arbres verts, entre le bois froid d'ombre
humide, aux troncs végétants de moisissure, à l'herbe couleur de
mousse mouillée, au lierre foncé et presque noir. Arrivé au cèdre,
l'Anglais le montrait, sans le regarder, aux miss, dans le Guide; et la
colonne, un moment arrêtée, reprenait sa marche, gravissant le
chemin ardu du labyrinthe d'où roulaient des cerceaux de gamins
fabriqués de cercles de tonneaux, et des descentes folles de petites
filles faisant sauter à leur dos des cornets à bouquin peints en bleu.
Les gens avançaient lentement, s'arrêtant à la boutique
d'ouvrages en perles sur le chemin, se frôlant et par moments
s'appuyant à la rampe de fer contre la charmille d'ifs taillés,
s'amusant, au dernier tournant, des micas qu'allume la lumière de
trois heures sur les bois pétrifiés qui portent le belvédère, clignant
des yeux pour lire le vers latin qui tourne autour de son bandeau de
bronze:

Horas non numero nisi serenas.

Puis, tous entrèrent un à un sous la petite coupole à jour.

Paris était sous eux, à droite, à gauche, partout.
Entre les pointes des arbres verts, là où s'ouvrait un peu le rideau
des pins, des morceaux de la grande ville s'étendaient à perte de
vue. Devant eux, c'étaient d'abord des toits pressés, aux tuiles
brunes, faisant des masses d'un ton de tan et de marc de raisin,
d'où se détachait le rose des poteries des cheminées. Ces larges
teintes étalées, d'un ton brûlé, s'assombrissaient et s'enfonçaient
dans du noir-roux en allant vers le quai. Sur le quai, les carrés de
maisons blanches, avec les petites raies noires de leurs milliers de
fenêtres, formaient et développaient comme un front de caserne
d'une blancheur effacée et jaunâtre, sur laquelle reculait, de loin en
loin, dans le rouillé de la pierre, une construction plus vieille. Au delà
de cette ligne nette et claire, on ne voyait plus qu'une espèce de
chaos perdu dans une nuit d'ardoise, un fouillis de toits, des milliers
de toits d'où des tuyaux noirs se dressaient avec une finesse
d'aiguille une mêlée de faîtes et de têtes de maisons enveloppées
par l'obscurité grise de l'éloignement, brouillées dans le fond du jour
baissant; un fourmillement de demeures, un gâchis de lignes et
d'architectures, un amas de pierres pareil à l'ébauche et à
l'encombrement d'une carrière, sur lequel dominaient et planaient le
chevet et le dôme d'une église, dont la nuageuse solidité ressemblait
à une vapeur condensée. Plus loin, à la dernière ligne de l'horizon,
une colline, où l'œil devinait une sorte d'enfouissement de maisons,
figurait vaguement les étages d'une falaise dans un brouillard de
mer. Là-dessus pesait un grand nuage, amassé sur tout le bout de
Paris qu'il couvrait, une nuée lourde, d'un violet sombre, une nuée
de Septentrion, dans laquelle la respiration de fournaise de la grande
ville et la vaste bataille de la vie de millions d'hommes semblaient
mettre comme des poussières de combat et des fumées d'incendie.
Ce nuage s'élevait et finissait en déchirures aiguës sur une clarté où
s'éteignait, dans du rose, un peu de vert pâle. Puis revenait un ciel
dépoli et couleur d'étain, balayé de lambeaux d'autres nuages gris.
En regardant vers la droite, on voyait un Génie d'or sur une
colonne, entre la tête d'un arbre vert se colorant dans ce ciel d'hiver
d'une chaleur olive, et les plus hautes branches du cèdre, planes,
étalées, gazonnées, sur lesquels les oiseaux marchaient en sautillant
comme sur une pelouse. Au delà de la cime des sapins, un peu
balancés, sous lesquels s'apercevait nue, dépouillée, rougie, presque
carminée, la grande allée du jardin, plus haut que les immenses toits
de tuile verdâtres de la Pitié et que ses lucarnes à chaperon de crépi
blanc, l'œil embrassait tout l'espace entre le dôme de la Salpêtrière
et la masse de l'Observatoire: d'abord, un grand plan d'ombre
ressemblant à un lavi, d'encre de Chine sur un dessous de sanguine,
une zone de tons ardents et bitumineux, brûlés de ces roussissures
de gelée et de ces chaleurs d'hiver qu'on retrouve sur la palette
d'aquarelle des Anglais; puis, dans la finesse infinie d'une teinte
dégradée, il se levait un rayon blanchâtre, une vapeur laiteuse et
nacrée, trouée du clair des bâtisses neuves, et où s'effaçaient, se
mêlaient, se fondaient, en s'opalisant, une fin de capitale, des
extrémités de faubourgs, des bouts de rues perdues. L'ardoise des
toits pâlissait sous cette lueur suspendue qui faisait devenir noires,
en les touchant, les fumées blanches dans l'ombre. Tout au loin,
l'Observatoire apparaissait, vaguement noyé dans un éblouissement,
dans la splendeur féerique d'un coup de soleil d'argent. Et à
l'extrémité de droite, se dressait la borne de l'horizon, le pâté du
Panthéon, presque transparent dans le ciel, et comme lavé d'un bleu
limpide.
Anglais, étrangers, Parisiens, regardaient de là-haut de tous
côtés; les enfants étaient montés, pour mieux voir, sur le banc de
bronze, quand quatre jeunes gens entrèrent dans le belvédère.
—Tiens! l'homme de la lorgnette n'y est pas,—fit l'un en
s'approchant de la lunette d'approche fixée par une ficelle à la
balustrade. Il chercha le point, braqua la lunette:—Ça y est!
attention!—se retourna vers le groupe d'Anglais qu'il avait derrière
lui, dit à une des Anglaises:—Milady, voilà! confiez-moi votre œil… Je
n'en abuserai pas! Approchez, mesdames et messieurs! Je vais vous
faire voir ce que vous allez voir! et un peu mieux que ce préposé aux
horizons du Jardin des Plantes qui a deux colonnes torses en guise
de jambes… Silence! et je commence!…
L'Anglaise, dominée par l'assurance du démonstrateur, avait mis
l'œil à la lorgnette.
—Messieurs! c'est sans rien payer d'avance, et selon les moyens
des personnes!… Spoken here! Time is money! Rule Britannia! All
right! Je vous dis ça, parce qu'il est toujours doux de retrouver sa
langue dans la bouche d'un étranger… Paris! messieurs les Anglais,
voilà Paris! C'est ça!… c'est tout ça… une crâne ville!… j'en suis, et je
m'en flatte! Une ville qui fait du bruit, de la boue, du chiffon, de la
fumée, de la gloire… et de tout! du marbre en carton-papier, des
grains de café avec de la terre glaise, des couronnes de cimetière
avec de vieilles affiches de spectacle, de l'immortalité en pain
d'épice, des idées pour la province, et des femmes pour
l'exportation! Une ville qui remplit le monde… et l'Odéon,
quelquefois! Une ville où il y a des dieux au cinquième, des éleveurs
d'asticots en chambre, et des professeurs de thibétain en liberté! La
capitale du Chic, quoi! Saluez!… Et maintenant ne bougeons plus!
Ça? milady, c'est le cèdre, le vrai du Liban, rapporté d'un chœur
d'Athalie, par M. de Jussieu, dans son chapeau!… Le fort de
Vincennes! On compte deux lieues, mes gentlemen! On a abattu le
chêne sous lequel Saint Louis rendait la justice, pour en faire les
bancs de la cour de Cassation… Le château a été démoli, mais on l'a
reconstruit en liége sous Charles X: c'est parfaitement imité, comme
vous voyez… On y voit les mânes de Mirabeau, tous les jours de midi
à deux heures, avec des protections et un passe-port… Le Père-
Lachaise! le faubourg Saint-Germain des morts: c'est plein d'hôtels…
Regardez à droite, à gauche… Vous avez devant vous le monument
à Casimir Périer, ancien ministre, le père de M. Guizot… La colonne
de Juillet, suivez! bâtie par les prisonniers de la Bastille pour en faire
une surprise à leur gouverneur… On avait d'abord mis dessus le
portrait de Louis-Philippe, Henri IV avec un parapluie; on l'a
remplacé par cette machine dorée: la Liberté qui s'envole; c'est
d'après nature… On a dit qu'on la muselait dans les chaleurs, à
l'anniversaire des Glorieuses: j'ai demandé au gardien, ce n'est pas
vrai… Regardez bien, mylady, il y a un militaire auprès de la Liberté:
c'est toujours comme ça en France… Ça? c'est rien, c'est une
église… Les buttes Chaumont… Distinguez le monde… On
reconnaîtrait ses enfants naturels!… Maintenant, mylady, je vais vous
la placer à Montmartre… La tour du télégraphe… Montmartre, mons
martyrum… d'où vient la rue des Martyrs, ainsi nommée parce
qu'elle est remplie de peintres qui s'exposent volontairement aux
bêtes chaque année, à l'époque de l'Exposition… Là-dessous, les
toits rouges? ce sont les Catacombes pour la soif, l'Entrepôt des vins,
rien que cela, mademoiselle!… Ce que vous ne voyez pas après,
c'est simplement la Seine, un fleuve connu et pas fier, qui lave
l'Hôtel-Dieu, la Préfecture de Police, et l'Institut!… On dit que dans le
temps il baignait la Tour de Nesle… Maintenant, demi-tour à droite,
droite alignement! Voilà Sainte Geneviève… A côté, la tour Clovis…
c'est fréquenté par des revenants qui y jouent du cor de chasse
chaque fois qu'il meurt un professeur de Droit comparé… Ici, c'est le
Panthéon… le Panthéon, milady, bâti par Soufflot, pâtissier… C'est,
de l'aveu de tous ceux qui le voient, un des plus grands gâteaux de
Savoie du monde… Il y avait autrefois dessus une rose: on l'a mise
dans les cheveux de Marat quand on l'y a enterré… L'arbre des
Sourds-et-Muets… un arbre qui a grandi dans le silence… le plus
élevé de Paris… On dit que quand il fait beau, on voit de tout en
haut la solution de la question d'Orient… Mais il n'y a que le ministre
des affaires étrangères qui ait le droit d'y monter!… Ce monument
égyptien? Sainte-Pélagie, milady… une maison de campagne, élevée
par les créanciers en faveur de leurs débiteurs… Le bâtiment n'a rien
de remarquable que le cachot où M. de Jouy, surnommé «l'Homme
au masque de coton», apprivoisait des hexamètres avec un
flageolet… Il y a encore un mur teint de sa prose!… La Pitié… un
omnibus pour les pékins malades, avec correspondance pour le
Montparnasse, sans augmentation de prix, les dimanches et fêtes…
Le Val-de-Grâce, pour MM. les militaires… Examinez le dôme, c'est
d'un nommé Mansard, qui prenait des casques dans les tableaux de
Lebrun pour en coiffer ses monuments… Dans la cour, il y a une
statue élevée par Louis XIV au baron Larrey… L'Observatoire… Vous
voyez, c'est une lanterne magique… il y a des Savoyards attachés à
l'établissement pour vous montrer le Soleil et la Lune… C'est là
qu'est enterré Mathieu Laensberg, dans une lorgnette… en long… Et
ça… la Salpêtrière, milady, où l'on enferme les femmes plus folles
que les autres! Voilà!… Et maintenant, à la générosité de la société!
—lança le démonstrateur de Paris.
 Il ôta son chapeau, fit le tour de l'auditoire, dit merci à tout ce
qui tombait au fond de sa vieille coiffe, aux gros sous comme aux
pièces blanches, salua et se sauva à toutes jambes, suivi de ses trois
compagnons qui étouffaient de rire en disant:—Cet animal d'Anatole!
Au cèdre, devant un vieux curé qui lisait son bréviaire, assis sur
le banc contre l'arbre, il s'arrêta, renversa ce qu'il y avait dans son
chapeau sur les genoux du prêtre, lui jeta:—Monsieur le curé, pour
vos pauvres!
Et le curé, tout étonné de cet argent, le regardait encore dans le
creux de sa pauvre soutane, que le donneur était déjà loin.
 II

A la porte du Jardin des Plantes, les quatre jeunes gens

s'arrêtèrent.
—Où dine-t-on?—dit Anatole.
—Où tu voudras,—répondirent en chœur les trois voix.
—Qu'est-ce qui en a?—reprit Anatole.
—Moi, je n'ai pas grand'chose,—dit l'un.
—Moi, rien,—dit l'autre.
—Alors ce sera Coriolis…—fit Anatole en s'adressant au plus
grand, dont la mise élégante contrastait avec le débraillé des autres.
—Ah! mon cher, c'est bête… mais j'ai déjà mangé mon mois… je
suis à sec… Il me reste à peine de quoi donner à la portière de
Boissard pour la cotisation du punch…
—Quelle diable d'idée tu as eue de donner tout cet argent à ce
curé!—dit à Anatole un garçon aux longs cheveux.
—Garnotelle, mon ami,—répondit Anatole,—vous avez de
l'élévation dans le dessin… mais pas dans l'âme!… Messieurs, je vous
offre à dîner chez Gourganson… J'ai l'œil… Par exemple, Coriolis, il
ne faut pas t'attendre à y manger des pâtés de harengs de Calais
truffés comme à ta société du vendredi…
Et se tournant vers celui qui avait dit n'avoir rien:
—Monsieur Chassagnol, j'espère que vous me ferez l'honneur…
 On se mit en marche. Comme Garnotelle et Chassagnol étaient
en avant, Coriolis dit à Anatole, en lui désignant le dos de
Chassagnol:
—Qu'est-ce que c'est, ce monsieur-là, hein? qui a l'air d'un vieux
fœtus…
—Connais pas… mais pas du tout… Je l'ai vu une fois avec des
élèves de Gleyre, une autre fois avec des élèves de Rude… Il dit des
choses sur l'art, au dessert, il m'a semblé… Très-collant… Il s'est
accroché à nous depuis deux ou trois jours… Il va où nous
mangeons… Très-fort pour reconduire, par exemple… Il vous lâche à
votre porte à des heures indues… Peut-être qu'il demeure quelque
part, je ne sais pas où… Voilà!
Arrivés à la rue d'Enfer, les quatre jeunes gens entrèrent par une
petite allée dans une arrière-salle de crêmerie. Dans un coin, un
gros gaillard noir et barbu, coiffé d'un grand chapeau gris, mangeait
sur une petite table.
—Ah! l'homme aux bouillons…—fit Anatole en l'apercevant.
—Ceci, monsieur,—dit-il à Chassagnol,—vous représente… le
dernier des amoureux!… un homme dans la force de l'âge, qui a
poussé la timidité, l'intelligence, le dévouement et le manque
d'argent jusqu'à fractionner son dîner en un tas de cachets de
consommé… ce qui lui permet de considérer une masse de fois dans
la journée l'objet de son culte, mademoiselle ici présente…
Et d'un geste, Anatole montra mademoiselle Gourganson qui
entrait, apportant des serviettes.
—Ah! tu étais né pour vivre au temps de la chevalerie, toi! Laisse
donc, je connais les femmes… j'avance joliment tes affaires, va,
farceur!—et il donna un amical renfoncement au jeune homme
barbu qui voulut parler, bredouilla, devint pourpre, et sortit.
Le crêmier apparut sur le seuil:
—Monsieur Gourganson! monsieur Gourganson!—cria Anatole,—
votre vin le plus extraordinaire… à 12 sous!… et des bifteacks… des
vrais!… pour monsieur…—il indiqua Coriolis—qui est le fils naturel de
Chevet… Allez!

—Dis donc, Coriolis,—fit Garnotelle,—ta dernière académie… j'ai

trouvé ça bien… mais très-bien…
—Vrai?… vois-tu, je cherche… mais la nature!… faire de la
lumière avec des couleurs…
—Qui ne la font jamais…—jeta Chassagnol.—C'est bien simple,
faites l'expérience… Sur un miroir posé horizontalement, entre la
lumière qui le frappe et l'œil qui le regarde, posez un pain de blanc
d'argent: le pain de blanc, savez-vous de quelle couleur vous le
verrez? D'un gris intense, presque noir, au milieu de la clarté
lumineuse…
Coriolis et Garnotelle regardèrent après cette phrase, l'homme
qui l'avait dite.
—Qu'est-ce que c'est que ça?—Anatole, en cherchant dans sa
poche du papier à cigarette, venait de retrouver une lettre.—Ah!
l'invitation des élèves de Chose… une soirée où l'on doit brûler
toutes les critiques du Salon dans la chaudière des sorcières de
Macbeth… Il est bon, le post-scriptum: «Chaque invité est tenu
d'apporter une bougie…»
Et coupant une conversation sur l'École allemande qui
s'engageait entre Chassagnol et Garnotelle:—Est-ce que vous allez
nous embêter avec Cornélius?… Les Allemands! la peinture
allemande!… Mais on sait comment ils peignent les Allemands…
Quand ils ont fini leur tableau, ils réunissent toute leur famille, leurs
enfants, leurs petits enfants… ils lèvent religieusement la serge verte
qui recouvre toujours leur toile… Tout le monde s'agenouille… Prière
sur toute la ligne… et alors ils posent le point visuel… C'est comme
ça! C'est vrai comme… l'histoire!
—Es-tu bête!—dit Coriolis à Anatole.—Ah ça! dis donc, tes
bifteacks, pour des bifteacks soignés…
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