When Race Breaks Out

Summery:
In Chapter 8 of Fox's book When Race Breaks Out, the author suggests that, in order to "break the ice" with ones students, it would be beneficial to have a meeting outside of the classroom. Fox lists some ways in which you could break out of the school environment- by meeting at the teacher's home, going outdoors or meeting at a student co-op. According to Fox, this could allow for a more "friendly, low-stakes interaction" between students and teachers.

Critique:
The classroom environment carries a lot of history for so many students. Sometimes these are positive associations but for many students, their school memories may include negative experiences of oppression, humiliation, fear, competition etc. The classroom, in a way, can easily become a loaded environment where students fall into their usual comfort zones of behavioral tendencies and ways of thinking and acting that may be comfortable for oneself but harmful to others. I do agree that when and even before such harmful actions come up in class, involving racism, sexism, homophobia, ageism etc., it could be very helpful to remove the class from it's familiar environment. Out in the world, beyond the confines of the school, everyone has a better opportunity to shake their usual roles and the almost hierarchical structure of a class. In a neutral environment, equality has more of a chance to surface between all races, genders, personalities, professions and ages.
One weakness in Fox's piece of advice can be found in the more long term effects of such a meeting. The author does not mention how to integrate such an activity back into the classroom context- a task which i would find challenging. In some ways, i feel that it would be more effective to hold a similar community building activity in the actual classroom environment in order to break it's boundaries from within. Being out of context, at someones home or in the freedom of the outdoors, would make difficult the task of applying ones experiences to the classroom. Working to break out of restrictions in the classroom might help the teacher and students to avoid falling back into old habits in the long term.