I will never forget an experience I encountered during my Junior year of undergraduate studies. I asked an important and valid question that tied into the lesson and the overall subject. The course was International Global Studies and the subject of the week was discussing colonialization. I asked my professor the following question, "Dr. X (I will not disclose her name due to protecting her identity), I understand that Christopher Columbus followed orders from the King and Queen of Spain but, how and WHY did he think it was okay to dehumanize people (slaves) in the process?!!" She then said, "Cynthia, I am sick of your stupid questions!!" I truly felt defeated not only as a human but, also as a student. I was raised to ask questions because that is how you learn! I could not believe she told me that she was not going to answer my question which in my eyes, was a totally appropriate question. I was born under the title of being oppressed. Therefore, the older I have gotten, the more I have wanted to know about myself, my culture and to understand how the world works. Which is why I am on the conquest of the truth. I majored in Hispanic Studies and minored in International Global Studies and Business Foundations in undergrad to discover the truth.
Fast forwarding to now, I am a graduate student who is now a Teaching Assistant at the University of North Texas. I now have the power to #disversifyit and invite deeply interesting questions in the classroom. I can now allow students to talk to me while I talk back to them and not at them. I will never allow a student to feel how I felt in IGS. I felt like she truly shut me down and was not inviting a person of color to ask such an important question. She was a Caucasian woman and I felt like the question that I asked triggered her in some sort of way. I am not sure if she felt as if I was attacking her or what but, she did leave me feeling dumbfounded. I do NOT understand why she talked at me!!! Even if she did not have an answer for me, she could have angled her answer in a different manor.
As professors, it is IMPORTANT to treat all students, including students of color as students!!! Students that are eager to learn and to seek their own truth through their studies. That is how we make the classroom more powerful for ALL students especially students who are marginalized. By inviting students to ask ANY question that ties into the course, we validate their voice. This was influenced to me by reading, "Treat me like a person, rather than another number" written by Faulkner et al.
It is important to do so because throughout history, it has been shown that any person of color that tried to educate themselves was a person who wanted to be better than a Caucasian student or wanted to be radical. Which was never the case.
We as students desire our teachers to make us feel validated through our intelligence no matter our skin color. I always incorporate every student's knowledge and questions. This is how I personally #diversifyit. I allow their voices to be heard!!! That is the power sharing of being a teacher. They matter to me and are very much so important to me. If the rest of the world wants to invalidate them, in my classroom they will not have that feeling. THEY MATTER AND I WILL CELEBRATE THEIR DIVERSE BACKGROUNDS!!! By doing that, I am making sure that they are HEARD because we as educators SHOULD INVITE questions to be asked. WE SHOULD VIEW STUDENTS WITH THE INTELLIGENCE THAT THEY BRING TO THE TABLE, NOT THEIR SKIN COLOR!!!!!! We should NOT BE INTIMIDATED BY ANY QUESTION THAT IS ASKED!!! ESPECIALLY AT THE COLLIGATE LEVEL WHERE LEARNING IS PAID BY THE STUDENT!!! Not only the financial aspect of it but also this is a level where students can learn NEW material. The government has control over K-12 material whereas at the collegiate level there is minimal to no control. This is the first time in a student's life where they can truly learn and ask questions in their academic journey. I refuse to shut them down and absolutely pledge to make ALL of my students feel validated and empowered through their academic journey.
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