Echo

   Had dinner and had a long warm shower. I feel exhausted. I cried in class tonight, well, after class.

So
there we were, talking about Conflict Theory and Functionalism - how
the dominant class imposes universal norms on the subordinate class,
creating false consciousness that fosters a hegemony. It was
unavoidable, then, to talk about the different classes and how people
who earn less usually go to schools that do not provide a curriculum
that is as challenging and fulfilling as the curriculum of the schools
where the more economically advantaged go. In effect, in a
functionalist society, "poor" kids get "bad" education, and therefore
land low-paying jobs; while "rich" kids get "good" education, and
therefore land high-paying jobs. The "poor" remain "poor," the "rich"
remain "rich." However, functionalists argue that if an individual
tries "hard enough," he/she will eventually succeed. Conflict Theory
(which yes, borrows a lot from Marxism) says that this isn’t
necessarily true, therefore the subordinate class must create conflict
to instigate change.

The discussion turned into the role of
education in our functionalist society and the roles we, as teachers,
take in the propagation of one theory over the other. One of my
classmates said that while it is unfortunate that class dictate who
becomes successful in life, at the end of the day, she would prefer a
surgeon who had good grades in school rather than a surgeon who did
so-so in school - and in effect, choosing the surgeon who came from a
"good" school.

Another classmate, however, felt that grades
did not necessarily reflect the skill of a person in the real world. He
gave himself as an example. He said that he did poorly in school, but
he thinks he’s doing pretty well as a teacher. He even went so far as
to say, "I wouldn’t want a teacher who had a 4.0 GPA in college to go
near my kids. He wouldn’t know how to speak to my daughter."

Well.

I
might not have gotten a 4.0 GPA, but I did pretty well in school. I
would’ve been excellent had Math not been a requirement (curse you,
Mathematics!) and I am now maintaining a 4.0 GPA in grad school (whew,
no more Math.) But I don’t want my performance in school to be held
against me. Bad grades should not be used to make untrue and hasty
generalizations about people’s performance in the real world - and
neither should good grades! I told him that it was unfair to make those
statements, especially since it implied that I would not be an
effective teacher. Schooling is not the only factor that influences a
person’s ability. I grew up in a third world nation where good
education is a luxury, even though it is said that it is a right.  Does
that not at least affect my effectability in the classroom with regards
to being able to reach out to the students who are doing poorly in
school? Also, those of you who know me personally and intimately know
what I had to go through in the past. I think that that should be
enough grounds to say that I would know "how to speak" to that that
guy’s daughter. Bad grades do not a person make, and neither do good
grades. I refuse to believe that my being a good student deters me from
being a well-rounded person! I told him that he should not be making
generalizations about one extreme while desiring not to be held against
the generalizations made about the other extreme.

Suddenly,
Mark (not his real name), another classmate of mine said he had had it
with the generalizations made in class. He took offense with how the
class was using words like "They" and "Them" to stress how the
subordinate class was this entity that was so separate from who they
were ("they" meaning my classmates.) As a teacher in a racially diverse
school, he felt that the least the class could do was to name "them" if
they were going to talk about "their" situation. African American.
Latino. Asians. Poor.

Well, that opened a nasty can of worms.
Immediately, my other classmates went on the defensive. He was telling
the class the disappointment he felt and the others took it against
him. Up until that point in class, I was limiting myself to the
theoretical arguments about functionalism and conflict theory. There
were a lot of generalizations going around and I chose not to play the
race chip, even though there were only two other girls who were not
white (one was African American, the other was Latina.) I always find
it interesting (to put it mildly) to watch white people talk about
racism and class inequality and see them talk about it passionately. I
often wonder what they would feel like if they were the ones who were
different. But here was a white man (and in any society, that is the
best representative of any dominant class: educated, white, male) and
he was standing up for me and the other "people of color"! He was a
virtual stranger, but I felt as if he knew exactly what I was feeling.

At
one of the lulls that followed the heated arguments, I said that there
is a difference between intent and effect. While the others might not
have intend their words to have that effect, the effect is undeniable.
Mark was offended, and frankly, so was I. He just had the chutzpah to
say it, I didn’t. And in the final analysis, I think effect is more
important. Intent is debatable, effect is undeniable. I couldn’t understand how my classmates’ resentment over the perceived accusation of some mild form of racism takes precedence over Mark’s real offense to the language my classmates inadvertently used.

The
class ended soon after that because we really were at a standstill.
Tempers were flaring and it was really very uncomfortable. When
everyone was filing out, I shook his hand and said, "Thank you." I
meant to say more, but I couldn’t let go of his hand and I started to
cry. I was so overwhelmed by his bravery to speak up for someone who
was so unlike him. Finally, since I couldn’t let go of his hand
(because I could hardly stand anymore), he hugged me and he said,
"Thank you."

Wow.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 21st, 2008 at 8:09 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.