In my first class, I had a student who attended the event who briefly touched on what they experienced and based on that recollection had students respond with a variety of questions about everything such as did the woman get fired and why would the university respond by providing counseling? That last question, was something I wasn't expecting because it came from a student who wasn't white. Honestly, as I'm sitting here writing this, I'm still trying to figure out how this response came up because it the student started laughing at the situation as a whole.
At this point it was obvious that this conversation needed to be wrapped up to avoid causing any other students to feel like they were in a situation where oppression based on race was being reinforced. I made a choice that I'm standing by with my closing statement for this discussion: as a white person I do not have the authority to use the language used by the controversial speaker, and I think the same is true for other white people. From day one I've said that all voices, opinions, and people deserve respect, so I hope by making that closing I reinforced the idea that all people should be respected.
I've been thinking about what critiques hooks and Freire would make about the original event and my choice to address the event and implications of the event in class. Does this fit their approaches by encouraging engagement and since it was one of the more lively discussions? I can recognize that by having this conversation oppression was reinforced by the fact that as the instructor I chose to bring up the conversation at all. My hope is that to some extent by engaging this discussion I played into hooks' idea that that showing care for students allows deeper learning.
This instance has left me feeling somewhere on the mother hen and chicken little spectrum. I feel like I made strides towards being that person who has enough sense about them to protect student interests, but I think my privilege as a white person puts me in a state of ignorance. Is there anything else I could have or should have done or said in this situation to try to communicate to my students that whatever concerns they had or continue to have about the situation are valid?
Amber-
ReplyDeleteLet me start by commending you for addressing such a sensitive topic in the classroom. It's never easy to address the uncomfortable or controversial, so I admire your commitment to addressing racial issues in the classroom that impact students' everyday lives and experiences, particularly within the broader UNT community. In my opinion, to simply ignore what happened at the event and not address the event in your classroom, especially when your students are discussing the specific event in their extra credit posts, would be much worse.
The situation you describe is difficult, when a student begins laughing at a serious matter it is hard to know how to react. I think you did your best to acknowledge your position and identity while also acknowledging the issue at hand.
I don't feel as though I can comment on what you could/should have done differently, but I hope my comments provide some insight!
Angelica,
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking the time to respond to this post. I left this class unsure about the impact of this conversation, so I'm feeling a bit better about it after reading about your perspective. I still worry that this event may have concerns other students, but they haven't seemed less willing to speak since this conversation/instance occurred.
Hi Amber,
ReplyDeleteI love your use of South Park in your blog. Did you feel that it was awkward to talk about hate speech with you class? I feel as though the counseling department is already pretty inundated for them to realistically try and see students about what happened. Did you say that a student laughed at the situation? I am not sure that there was anything else that you could have done in this situation. But, I think it was admirable of you to acknowledge the situation with your class. I do not think that I would have had the gonads to do so. I feel that acknowledging it was a necessary step to getting outside of your “state of ignorance” by challenging the status quo.