Now Huffington post is now writing about it. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/16/white-privilege-class-at-_n_2489997.html
Does this validate the discussion more for those reading that hate Fox News? Huffington
Post can be just as biased leaning Left in reporting news just as much as Fox
is leaning Right.
I don’t mean to start my response with a blatant Troll but
if you want to make comments about one news agency then please tell me where I
can find true unbiased news. Honestly I
feel most our news agencies do a piss poor job of being unbiased and showing
only what they want to show with heavy political slants instead of honestly
bringing both sides of an issue for true reporting and discussion. Ratings are
King after all and you can’t be profitable in the News without generating them
through sensationalism for the people to eat up sometimes.
However that is another topic that does not fit into the one
at hand here.
I want to be clear that I have nothing against the teacher. I
am glad to see that this class is being taught and I also don’t think the class
should be stopped from being taught.
What I have issue with is the part where "white
guilt" and the “Doll test” comes into play as part of the course. I truly
believe more diversity needs to be taught in schools. I believe that more
critical thinking should be taught as well. I also believe diversity should not
be taught just in its own separate class but as part of a school’s American
History, Literature, and Humanities classes.
Our history and culture is made up of more than “White
History”. Even when we all were in High School together that was something I
disliked and talked about with Mr. Keefe (and Mr. Love after taking his
Sociology class). This is also why I
originally wanted to be a History Teacher when I first thought about going to
University because I felt that we did not teach a balanced view of our History.
As Crist said and was quoted in both articles:
[“A lot of red flags go up in my mind when I look at the
materials," Crist told Fox News. "Ideally, you would want to present
one theory that might be way on the left and another theory that may be way on
the right and if you find one in the middle you can present that too … now you
have a well-rounded discussion, in my opinion.”]
This quote to me highlights what I believe as well. Children
should be taught how to think not what to think. Give information from all sides and teach them
look at it all critically to form an opinion for themselves based on that
evidence then have a discussion about the opinions the student forms. Teaching
kids to feel guilty for who/what they were born as no matter the color of skin
does not promote critical thinking. It perpetuates the racial theories such as “white
privilege” when we need to get rid of it. Yes white privilege exists in some
areas of society still. However you can’t look that theory without looking at
non-whites that have broken that theory as well (Neil deGrasse Tyson and France
Anne Cordova just to name two off the top of my head). You also can’t discount
the number of poor whites that are treated just as unfairly by the wealthy (of
all racial colors).
You also can’t look at this theory without looking at and
discussing the amount of people that would rather receive government handouts
than strive to better themselves to improve their conditions. This is also
happening across racial lines.
The Delavan Wal-Mart is not a good place for the Doll test.
The Doll test fails because stores will stock what sells. That is not racially
based it is consumer based. Stores are there to make a profit and if item A
sells more than item B then item A is going to be stocked on shelves more.
Again that is not racially motivated, that is not White man being oppressive
that is pure economics 101 at work. If you go to a Wal-Mart on the north side
of Milwaukee you will see more ethnically colored dolls than white dolls.
The question gets raised when you look at the economic and
population statistics how is having students go into a store where the dominant
purchasing population is White and that the store will stock inventory based on
that demographic going to help students understand “white privilege”? What true
facts is the teacher trying to convey in this lesson?
(Delavan population statistics base on 2010 census: The
racial makeup of the city was 81.2% White, 1.7% African American, 0.7% Native American, 1.0% Asian, 12.7% from other races, and 2.6% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 29.4% of the
population. Taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delavan,_Wisconsin
)
Maybe I’m too “Utopian” in my thinking. Maybe the life
lessons I have learned over the last 20 years are all wrong.
Maybe the lessons I learned from being in the Military where
you see the Race line wiped away and redrawn again between soldiers on a daily
basis or from living overseas in Asia for a year and interacting with Korean
University Students to learn their perspective on understanding why they
disliked American Soldiers.
Or having a non-White South African professors teaching in
my Diversity and Sociology classes at University that strove to give students a
view point from people that have worked to overcome race and class based stereo
types and prejudices.
Or from working for global technology and manufacturing companies
where I interact with Americans of all backgrounds as well as people from all
over Europe, the Middle East, India, Africa and Asia have given me a unique
social view on how we need to move forward as a human race that is completely
off base.
But I truly believe that it is possible for anyone of any
race, color, creed, sexual orientation and even religion to better themselves and
that it is achievable for anyone willing to work for it. That the need to teach
our history in a manner that shows the good and bad without condensation or
guilt placed on children for actions that are not their own is greater than
ever if we want our nation and our human race as a whole to move forward to untie
and unravel the racial prejudices, stereotypes and modes of thinking we have consistently
dragged along with us.
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