Hooks, POC, and education

Blogs r h@rd
idk how to let my personaliti shine in these things like 0ther people do so well
could some1 who writ3s like this p0$$ibly h@ve s0mething to say w0rth ur time?

maybe!
I think we all have something worth expressing that is valuable and worthy of contribution! We have experiences unique to us, and only us. At the same time, there are groups of people who share a similar collective experience determined by social class, race or gender.


"Add to this the widely held assumptions that blacks, other minorities, and white women are taking jobs from white men, and that people are poor and unemployed because they want to be, and it becomes most evident that part of our contemporary crisis is created by a lack of meaningful access to truth.

That is to say, individuals are not just presented untruths, but are told them in a manner that enables most effective communication (p. 29)."


How can we, as co-creators of education with our students, navigate the labyrinths of untruths and false social realities that students hold onto so dearly? Dialogue is a two way street that can help, but when mistruths are held onto even in the face of facts, and mistruths are spread faster than the truth, what can we do in the classroom to make sure we are creating transformative educational experiences that can dispel some of those truths? This is where debate comes in - sometimes it isn't the information that is being presented that is particularly persuasive, but the way it is communicated. Debate requires a collection of information and evidence to be presented by two opposing side, and at the end of the debate, only the most persuasive arguments that are backed by evidence are still standing. We listen to what we think we know about a subject, then challenge those thoughts. We have the power to produce emancipatory change and find vulnerabilities in new ideas. Debates promote in-depth knowledge on subjects and stimulates critical thinking skills that can shake students from their established opinions. This will create better communicators who are able to present truths "in a manner that enables most effective communication."


"There is a link between the silencing we experience, the censoring, the anti-intellectualism in predominantly black settings that are supposedly supportive, and that silencing takes place in institutions wherein black women and women of color are told that we cannot be fully heard or listened to because our work is not theoretical enough (p. 69)."


Outside of debate, bell hooks reminds us that different voices come from different places, and just because something (a work or text) isn't high-theory or critical jargon heavy, does not mean that voice isn't just as valuable, and that perspective isn't just as unique. hooks compares this silencing to academia where women of color are often not taken seriously, or are not fully heard. I believe there's something we can do as educators (since we work at an institution) to have the opposite effect, and enrich voices and lives (similar to how Palmer says we should do). It is, of course, our job to make sure opinions are informed, but there are insightful thoughts that people with different backgrounds can contribute to conversations in the classroom, but are often told they are not worth listening to. For all of us to stay #wokeaf we need to make sure these voices are heard in our classrooms, and those students feel they are able to vocalize themselves anytime.



#woke #teaching #wokeaf

stay woke kids

hooks, b. (1994). Teaching to transgress: education as the practice of freedom.
                          New York: Routledge