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Christina McDade is not afraid to have difficult conversations. While many school counsellors and teachers will talk around the topic of racism, Christina has no qualms in talking about it directly. 

Whether that’s the casual racism from universities towards the students she works with (Christina works as a school counsellor at an international school in Ghana) or the concerns from her students about the racism they might face in other countries, Christina communicates to her students that she is always open to having these conversations.

“The proximity to greatness equals the proximity to whiteness and that is something that people don’t talk about in our field – but I talk about it because I have no problem talking about those things,” Christina says.

“We have to have a comfort in talking about the things that make people uncomfortable and open up those doors and windows to bigger conversations. That is something that I am bringing to this work,” she adds.

Christina credits two colleagues that she worked with in Kuwait for encouraging her to open those channels of dialogue.

“In my first counsellor role, I didn’t really know how to talk about racism. I had two colleagues in Kuwait who saw that that was needed, that we should be talking to students about the words they shouldn’t use and being honest about the topic. I’ve since taken that into the rest of my roles,” she says.

The first way in which Christina is having these conversations is around a student’s university choice. Most counsellors will know that many students and families are set on attending the big-name universities, those that consistently rank in the top 100 of global rankings.

However, they might not always be the right choices for all students. Christina states that many of those institutions “have a history and a legacy of racism and sexism and were built on structures of white greatness”.

This means that for students to be accepted into these institutions “they have to measure themselves against this level of whiteness, which wasn’t built for them in the first place and should not be the only measure of how awesome they are”.

Christina says she always works with her students and parents to assure them that “being awesome” does not equal the name and label of the university they end up attending and that they do not have to conform to expectations of such universities to find success.

It is instead about finding a university that will invest in the student and nurture them and allow them to flourish within their own measures of greatness, Christina adds. In other words, the right university for a student is the one that encourages a student to be themself and invests in their future, not just a university with a strong global reputation.

Another way that Christina has seen racism manifest within higher education is the assumptions that universities might have about students from the continent of Africa.

While many admissions officers will recognise that students from the continent are “tenacious, kind and hard-working” there are still some naivetés that can come across when processing these applications.

Christina says there is often an assumption that students from the continent don’t have the financial means to study abroad, which simply isn’t the case. As in many other countries, such as China and India, there will always be students who need financial aid and some that don’t.

“I also still get notices from universities to submit English proficiency tests [for students] when English is the national language of Ghana. Why are we asking that question?” says Christina. 

Again, it's about finding the institution that realises how to support those ambitious students who want to study abroad and will contribute to wider society. 

Students will also often express concerns about facing racism when moving abroad and they “know that I have no problem talking about (racism), so they ask the question and I will discuss it”, Christina says.

“I always ask students to look at the news around the university they are choosing; about the community and what has happened there. Going to university is more than just studying and building connections,” she adds.

“Some counsellors don’t speak about racism because it is uncomfortable, but some do. And as I tell my students every day, I might not know everything. I can only speak from my experience, and I know the things that I have to be educated on as well. That is all part of growth, and we can find out together. How students are feeling about these things are valid, but I will not always have the answers,” she says.

“I get excited when I get to talk to kids about things aside from university, because they can be so intelligent and courageous, more courageous than I was when I was younger. They really are the future,” she adds.

That is perhaps a beautiful lesson that many of us can take into our working lives and beyond – the opportunity to learn and grow together while keeping the channels of conversation open in those uncomfortable topics that are still so relevant today.