In January 2018, I signed as much as work in its place instructor at a public faculty in Columbus, Ohio. Once I confirmed up, I wore what I assumed was skilled apparel for a college instructor, 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 group. 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 might be my first and final day on the faculty earlier than I left to go to my classroom.
Whereas strolling the college hallways with the classroom assistant, I requested her what she thought concerning the principal canceling my project. She stated I seemed too totally different, and the scholars wouldn’t settle for me. It was then that I additionally observed that the majority the employees and college students have 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 determination.
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 imagine my story is vital — not solely to create a greater understanding of Muslim tradition and Muslim girls’s id, but additionally to construct a extra welcoming academic setting for Muslim educators and college students.
A Lasting Impression
The expertise of being fired from my first instructing job was undoubtedly a traumatic expertise — and one which I later realized can 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 instructing job, I made a decision to get one other two-month instructing place in a governmental schooling establishment. But once more, I used to be met with apprehensive and displeasing appears. One employees member requested, “Did your father drive you to cowl your self?” One other pupil 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 instructor at my present faculty, I attended my first skilled improvement convention. Much like my first instructing expertise in its place instructor, I used to be surrounded by a room stuffed with white educators, and but once more, I used to be the one individual sporting a hijab — that’s, till one other instructor, a Black American lady, got here as much as me and whispered that she was an American Muslim. She informed 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 concern of not becoming in. Her determination highlighted the strain and the feeling of otherness Muslims typically expertise, that to be accepted, you have to conform — even in a convention that supposedly promotes variety and inclusion.
Even in my present instructing place, working at a college the place 90 % of scholars establish as Muslim, I nonetheless see the division. Regardless of a various pupil 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 informed 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 girls cowl their hair and put on modest garments to be valued for his or her minds slightly than their look.
As a instructor, I witness the results of those biases on my college students. Lots of my feminine college students concern how they are going to be perceived outdoors our colleges. Relatedly, one in every of my male college students informed me that he’s fortunate that he can conceal his id as a Muslim, however his sisters can’t as a result of, very like me, they put on their hijabs at college and through class.
After this expertise, I felt an amazing sense of Islamaphobia and racism. Whereas pupil our bodies grow to be 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 take care of.
As somebody who has been negatively portrayed as an educator, I really feel compelled to overtly 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 additionally 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 try to current to my college students. Due to this, I made it my duty to proudly and unabashedly put on my hijab to humanize my expertise so my college students, friends and faculty leaders may study what it means to be a Muslim pupil or educator in these establishments.
Regardless of the media’s portrayal of Muslim girls as oppressed, I persistently have interaction in conversations with my colleagues to right these misconceptions. I began by organizing cultural consciousness periods in my faculty through 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 speak about their id by means of Flipgrid’s digital classroom program to assist Muslim college students and assist them really feel extra assured about their id. I additionally initiated open dialogues with college students and employees by means of the Arabic instructing dialog membership to debate variety and inclusion.
Outdoors of constructing these initiatives, I’ve discovered power in connecting with fellow educators who perceive the complexities of being a minority instructor in public colleges, each inside and past the Muslim group. I’ve collaborated with different educators to develop inclusive curricula reflecting various cultures and views. I additionally advocated for coverage modifications inside the faculty to make sure that Muslim college students’ spiritual practices are revered, equivalent to accommodating prayer occasions and permitting spiritual apparel.
These relationships have been instrumental in sustaining my advocacy efforts; by participating in these efforts, I try to create an academic panorama the place each pupil and educator feels valued and revered.
The Journey Continues
My journey as a Muslim instructor in a predominantly white faculty has been difficult, however deeply rewarding, oddly sufficient. Though I’m solely 5 years into my schooling profession, I want to imagine my experiences haven’t solely fostered a larger understanding of Muslim tradition and id but additionally challenged misconceptions and realities Muslim girls face.
My determination to put on a hijab is a testomony to my id, religion and resilience and never a stereotype that needs to be internalized on the expense of Muslim college students and employees. As educators, we’re accountable for embracing variety wholeheartedly and supporting each other in our mission to teach and encourage.
By amplifying various voices and selling dialogue, we are able to dismantle boundaries, have a good time variations and nurture an setting the place each pupil and educator feels valued and revered.
