Since learning of Dr. A. Wade Boykin’s passing in January 2025, I have been rather distraught, wanting to ensure that his legacy is in the forefront of educators’ minds
Dr. Donna Y. Ford
In 2010, curriculum violence was coined by Ighodaro and Wiggan in Curriculum Violence: America’s New Civil Rights Issue, defined as “the deliberate manipulation of academic programming in a manner that ignores or compromises the intellectual and psychological wellbeing of learners”. While the authors use ‘deliberate’ in their definition, I urge readers to understand that such violence can also be unintentional. Specifically, whether intentional or unintentional, harm has been done to students/learners.
Borrowing on the notion of ‘violence’, I discuss instruction herein to honor Boykin’s research-based Afro-centric Cultural Styles Framework and to disrupt instructional violence. Combined and individually, curriculum and/or instruction can traumatize students, in this case Black students. I define ‘instructional violence’ as intentional and unintentional teaching/pedagogical styles and strategies that negatively affect the academic, psychological, emotional, and behavioral needs of students.
Signs of Academic Trauma by Cognitive/Learning, Emotional, and Behavioral Developmental Areas
Academic/educational trauma, per Sharony, shows up among students with behaviors similar to anxiety, depression, ADHD, and intermittent explosive disorder. Next, I highlight signs of school-related trauma cognitively (learning-related), emotionally, and behaviorally. Their model does not include a psychological component, but they go on to discuss PTSD in which students may be irritable, angry, depressed, detached, have trouble sleeping, and be triggered by activities, objects, and individuals, for example.
Cognitive and Learning-Related: difficulty concentrating in class; being easily distracted; test anxiety; trouble adapting to changes; reduced memory capacity
