Today in my class there was quite the debate about race. I really had an issue with it. We've had to do these presentations on First Nations educational issues. We all (other than my teacher) brought up the point that the issues were related to all students, not just First Nations (parental involvement, drop out rates, Fetal Alcohol etc). Anyhow, we did our projects. One girl in my class is partly Cree and she brought up today how much emphasis there is on First Nations stuff and the racism of it all. My teacher basically said that since this girl looks white it's not a big deal and she doesn't experience it. I mentioned that I would prefer to see a project based around First Nations cultural pros. Meaning, take something good in their culture and present it to the class in a way that we can integrate it in our classrooms for all to benefit. She kind of brushed me off.
Later in the day we did this thing on culture and then she handed out an article called "White Privilege". She asked us to write down things that we were privileged for simply because we were white. There were 2 of us who said right off the bat that we didn't think we were privileged because we were white. Our teacher was like "oh think of something." Others started to mumble that they agreed. She looked at me and the other girl who weren't writing and was like "Why aren't you writing anything down." I said "I don't feel I'm privileged because of my race. I can say I am because I'm a female, or because I'm educated but not because I'm white". She was totally pissed and told me that I was "naive" for thinking that.
I chose to keep my mouth shut and flipped through the article she gave us. Here's a list of privileges this lady gives. My thoughts are in brackets.
- I can arrange to protect my children most of the time from people who might not like them (Is that not being a good parent? If I know someone isn't going to like my child I'm not going to leave my child with them. If I'm black and I know a daycare is racist, I'm not going to sign my child up for that daycare.... Not to mention just because my kids are white doesn't mean the world will love them. They could be horrible brats. Who knows?)
- I can if I wish arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time (It's a privilege to be around other white people? To me, it's a privilege to be around people who are responsible, intelligent and hardworking. Skin color has nothing to do with that)
- I can be casual about whether or not to listen to another person's voice in a group in which s/he is the only member of his/her race. (That's just rude. You're the only Chinese person here and I'm white so I don't have to listen to you?)
- I can be late to a meeting without having the lateness reflect on my race. (Maybe I'm out of the loop on stereotypes, but what race is made fun of for always being late?)
She's got 47 of these privileges. Perhaps my problem with this issue lays in that I see myself as Maltese not "white". I don't even know what "white" means. I felt the entire time that she was insinuating that I needed to feel guilty for who I am. And I'm proud of who I am. And I've had a lot of struggles in my life and worked hard to be where I am. Okay, my family was never poor. But I was teased for the way I look. I just don't get what bearing any of this has on education. My "white" students are going to be luckier and not come to class with any baggage because they are privileged? If that's what she was getting at then I'm going to say she is the naive one. I'm going to do homework now. Thanks for reading.
Later in the day we did this thing on culture and then she handed out an article called "White Privilege". She asked us to write down things that we were privileged for simply because we were white. There were 2 of us who said right off the bat that we didn't think we were privileged because we were white. Our teacher was like "oh think of something." Others started to mumble that they agreed. She looked at me and the other girl who weren't writing and was like "Why aren't you writing anything down." I said "I don't feel I'm privileged because of my race. I can say I am because I'm a female, or because I'm educated but not because I'm white". She was totally pissed and told me that I was "naive" for thinking that.
I chose to keep my mouth shut and flipped through the article she gave us. Here's a list of privileges this lady gives. My thoughts are in brackets.
- I can arrange to protect my children most of the time from people who might not like them (Is that not being a good parent? If I know someone isn't going to like my child I'm not going to leave my child with them. If I'm black and I know a daycare is racist, I'm not going to sign my child up for that daycare.... Not to mention just because my kids are white doesn't mean the world will love them. They could be horrible brats. Who knows?)
- I can if I wish arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time (It's a privilege to be around other white people? To me, it's a privilege to be around people who are responsible, intelligent and hardworking. Skin color has nothing to do with that)
- I can be casual about whether or not to listen to another person's voice in a group in which s/he is the only member of his/her race. (That's just rude. You're the only Chinese person here and I'm white so I don't have to listen to you?)
- I can be late to a meeting without having the lateness reflect on my race. (Maybe I'm out of the loop on stereotypes, but what race is made fun of for always being late?)
She's got 47 of these privileges. Perhaps my problem with this issue lays in that I see myself as Maltese not "white". I don't even know what "white" means. I felt the entire time that she was insinuating that I needed to feel guilty for who I am. And I'm proud of who I am. And I've had a lot of struggles in my life and worked hard to be where I am. Okay, my family was never poor. But I was teased for the way I look. I just don't get what bearing any of this has on education. My "white" students are going to be luckier and not come to class with any baggage because they are privileged? If that's what she was getting at then I'm going to say she is the naive one. I'm going to do homework now. Thanks for reading.
4 comments:
Maybe the problem was that she didn't back up her statements? Because racism still very much exists in our society and children of different races/cultural backgrounds often do have more/different challenges than those who grew up 'white' rather than a part of the 'others'. It can be hard for us as white people to see, because we have grown up in the most privileged culture.
While people of all races experience poverty, substance/domestic abuse, etc, those issues are far more prevalent in non-white communities.
First Nations/Aboriginal people in particular have experienced
an overwhelming loss of culture that has affected generations and they way they are able to care for their children. The result is that as a race they do have more obstacles to overcome
than the white race, generally.
I definitely agree and understand all those points. My question was why do I need to list out the reasons that I was better (because that was how she was making me feel) and what bearing did that have on me being a teacher. I'm also okay with talking about many cultures but there is no regard to American Americans, Chinese, Japanese, Philippino, etc... It was all First Nations versus "the whites". I probably would have a very different blog post had you presented the topic.
Yeah it is really awkward to go there.
At the same time, it's really important to be aware of the challenges/privileges in different cultures/races in order to most effectively communicate and understand one another.
Communication is such an important aspect of teaching, so it would be ideal to have as much cultural awareness as possible.
I'm guessing she focussed on First Nations/aboriginal culture because it is something unique to Canada, and especially in BC. This group has a lot of societal problems due to loss of culture and this affects their children, which would be reflected in the classroom.
I'm curious to know if your teacher is 'white' or not.
I do find it odd that she wanted you guys to list your priviledges. We as non-aboriginal people have grown up with many priviledges which we take for granted and don't even realize. It's not our fault, I think it's the education we've received. It has made us so ignorant of the big pictures/problems that surround us. Like I didn't learn till this year that Columbus was as bad as Hitler. I knew that Columbus wasn't as big of a hero as we celebrate him to be, but I didn't realize how he pretty much wiped out millions of aboriginals. It made me sick to think that I was never aware of that.
So I think the education programs now, are trying to change that.(which is good). It helps to close that gap between the 'whites' and first nations.
First Nations, even our generation, still struggle with who they are. Residentional schools also took a big toll on their culture. Europeans ripped them of who they are, so first nations today are trying to restore what they lost.
I know I'm going on a rant. It's just a good topic to discuss. I could probably go on ALL day on this, but I'll end this essay I wrote now lol
still want to know the race of your teacher....
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