Racism Today

Leave a reply

The lecture last Tuesday informed us all about the raw, harsh truth of society today. It reminded us that there is a long history of racism in the world; yet at the same time it is a current affair that lots of people are still having to deal with, today.

We first were told about the different sociological perspective of racism, which showed the many different theories e.g, Group Closure and Ethnocentrism. Next we were told about the hard-hitting case of Emmet Till, a 14 year old boy from a thriving middle class neighbourhood in the south side of Chicago. What happened to him was extremely disturbing and upsetting. It was 1955 when this case occurred, so his jury was all white males and it took them just 67 minutes to wipe all charges from the murderers of an innocent child. It is appalling that cases like this were so prominent in the past with little to no punishment for crimes against black people and such inequality in court.

We have to appreciate the progress we have made from the lynching of 3,959 African Americans between 1877 and 1950 and the offensive “Blackface” that was not only accepted but seen as entertainment. Although we are making progress in some ways, it is not nearly enough. There is still reoccurring and new forms of racism in society today. Some examples of these include “Islamophopia”, racism in politics and police violence. These are all extremely relevant issues happening all around us.

I think it is inevitable that we will come across people in our lifetime using racial slurs, perhaps unknowingly, due to the lack of education of racism. As future teachers, it is not enough to just wait until we witness racism happening and then address it; we must educate and explain that it is not acceptable and try as much as possible to eliminate racism and teach children (and adults) to celebrate diversity.

Managing My Learning

Leave a reply
Recognition/ Reflection Action
What helps my learning? How can I utilise this?
Discussing the topic with others
  • Set up a study group of like-minded peers
  • Engage with the online community
Having a good support system
  • Keep up my good relationship with my second-year buddy.
  • Keep in contact with my mum regularly for advice when I’m struggling.
Colour co-ordinating
  • Use different colours for each module and topic in my notes.
  • Make colourful mind maps linking to my notes.
Having a plan
  • Update my whiteboard weekly planner at the start of each week so I know when all my classes are.
  • Have specific days for getting things done, e.g. blog post on a Wednesday
Being organised
  • Make a homework ‘to do’ list which I update regularly.
  • Having different note books for each module.
Quiet Spaces
  • Plan a library trip alone so I don’t have as many distractions.
  • Know that for writing tasks, such as essays and blog posts, that I am more productive being on my own.

 

Recognition/Reflection Action
What hinders my learning? How can I address this factor?
Easily distracted
  • Study in a place where distractions are minimal
  • Turn my phone off when sitting down to do work/study
Struggling to start
  • Don’t allow myself to do fun things or go on my phone until my work is done.
  • Remember I can go back to the opening line and try and start on a different paragraph.
Bored easily
  • Take reasonable breaks in between each task I complete.
  • Make notes in a more fun way, like posters or mind-map.
Stressing out
  • Don’t push myself to get everything done in one day.
  • Contact other students on my course or my advisor for help.
Forgetting tasks
  • Add any homework or reading to my ‘to do’ list as soon as hearing about them.
  • Look back on Blackboard to find reading tasks or ask in the group chat.
Doubting myself
  • Stop spending so much time on making blog posts perfect and just get my point across the way I want to.
  • Don’t seek reassurance after everything I do, just have confidence in my abilities.

 

 

 

Thinking outside the envelope…

Leave a reply

During the Values class on Tuesday, the class was split into 5 groups, each group receiving the same big brown envelope (or so we thought). We were then all given the same task of thinking of and creating something that we would have found useful as new university students, using only the supplies given to us in the envelopes. However, after opening our envelope and finding a mere pencil, blue tack, rubber band, sticky note and three paper clips, we soon lost hope of our amazing plans of a “google maps” inspired online app for the Dalhousie Building, that could guide you to class. Unfortunately, we resorted to a basic paper version. 

Being the nosey person I am, I soon realised that all the other groups had considerably more supplies than our group. I mainly noticed as the other groups had coloured paper that they had so much of, that they had discarded some after making a mistake and just started on a new piece, whereas my group were drawing on the envelope as we weren’t supplied paper. After our lecturer made many sharp comments and “subtle” digs to our group, including during our presentation (we received a solid 1/10), we eventually caught on the deeper meaning that we were being taught. All throughout the task the groups with more supplies were treated with encouragement and respect for their ideas. Whereas, when it got to the groups with less, her whole demeanour changed and we were shown a much colder reaction to anything we said or presented. Even as young adults, her lack of enthusiasm made us feel discouraged and as though we shouldn’t bother as clearly there was something about us she didn’t like. As aspiring teachers we were shown that if we can feel like that, children will be effected even more. 

This class showed us that structural inequality can go unnoticed by more privileged people as the groups with more resources were not aware of our disadvantage. Being in a group with little supplies was a powerful, emotional experience as we were genuinely annoyed and confused about our treatment. We need to remember that there will always be children in our care that are from all different types of backgrounds. Some will be used to luxuries and others may only dream of coming home from school to an iPad and a cooked dinner everyday. The world will never be completely equal and secretly most of us don’t want it to be, as this would mean giving up some of our luxuries. However, as in the GTCS values, I think everyone will agree that all schools and societies should show equal care, respect and encouragement to everyone and understand and celebrate diversity.

My Princess Popstar Alternative

1 Reply

I’m not going to lie and say that if you’d asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up that I would have always replied “a teacher” (because to be honest, I still kind of want to be a Princess Popstar). However, as my mum is a teacher, I have grown up with the (hopefully) realistic idea of being as successful and happy as she is, being a teacher. No matter how much my mum has told me how challenging it can be, it has never put me off as I know this profession is as equally rewarding.

The idea of being able to be the person to spark the interest of education into a child has always been exciting to me. I believe that education is the key to reaching your goals, whatever they might be. I am lucky to say that I have had a positive school experience and my memories of Primary School are exciting and special to me. I can always remember the nervous anticipation of finding out who my teacher will be that year, praying that I never got the teacher who lived in black and white as she thought colour was distracting. It is my secret dream to one day be the teacher that everyone hopes to get. And although I never quite made it as a Princess Popstar, maybe I’ll be lucky enough to teach someone who does.