Reflecting on the past two day's readings, I am a bit unnerved that unknowingly, I am this white, elitist, Western-music pushing power tripping snob. However, upon brief reflection I realized that both in my undergrad years and my current job, I am the minority race/culture. And I feel extremely comfortable and have thrived both personally and professionally in these atmospheres. Conversely, I have had some miserable years in all-white institutions. Things for me to reflect upon!
I also teach English--usually one section a year; either ESL or American Lit. And I found that if you truly let your students speak and really talk to you, there is little negative cultural mis-understandings. Maybe I'm completely naive, but this has been my experience. Immigration and border patrol are hot topics in California; our school had a family deported last year. My classroom has become a safe place for students to vent and to explore their own thought process and values. Our discussions range from English as a national language (all of our ATM's are in Spanish, Vietnamese, and Chinese) to freedom of speech (the whole Don Imus incident was a great discussion starter!). I also ask my students to explain cultural things to me--everything: food, dress, speech patterns, religious views, relationship to time (which cultures show a hour late, which ones arrive early), etc. All these things have been valuable in my understanding and communicating with students and parents.
As for choral music, as I become more comfortable and confident as a teacher and conductor, I am beginning to branch out from Western music. It is only baby steps at this point and some of my experiments have crashed, but I am enjoying the process of stretching my comfort zone--most days!
As for choral music, as I become more comfortable and confident as a teacher and conductor, I am beginning to branch out from Western music. It is only baby steps at this point and some of my experiments have crashed, but I am enjoying the process of stretching my comfort zone--most days!
4 comments:
The Delpit article was a little frustrating at times, especially the quotes in the beginning. These quotes were quotes by blacks about being discriminated by whites but they way they were speaking made it come across as prejudice (and certainly pigeon holing) whites. So many times I want to say, "this has nothing to do with black and white." But then other times I think it has everything to do with black and white. I can say that I teach in Bayside Queens where our school is about 35% asian (mostly korean), 30% black and 25% hispanic (mostly dominican). I am certainly in the minority. I had only a handful of white students and only one italian student. The Italian student in my class was a Jehovah's Witness so I was the only Italian Catholic in all of my classes. Unbeleivable to think that I was the only Italian Catholic in a large group of people from NYC. But it is true. But back to the point- I dont feel that even though we are different in many way that we really have major differences in the way we understand eachother. I think part of this has to do with age. I am not that much older than many of my highschoolers. I am 23 and many of them are 18. Although they dont remember Thundercats I can still talk to them to a certain extent about their world. I know about the hip hop they listen to and the sports they watch. Maybe some teachers are just out of touch with the students they teach! This is regardless of race or ethnicity
I teach in a private Catholic high school where there is no majority. It is 50% white and 50% black. However, the school is run by Dominican Sisters, all of whom are over the age of 45 and all are white. I feel that my classroom is a safe place for students to come and discuss a variety of issues. In my first year, I found it difficult to relate to some of the black students after coming from a predominately white educational background. But, when I started to include music from diverse cultures, including African American spirituals, the students were more willing to talk about their cultures. This opened many doors of communication and my students and I were better able to understand and work with each other. Delpit sometimes suggested that you either taught as a "white" or "black" teacher. I know that I did not grow up with a lot of black students or teachers in my education, but I agree with Joe and Laurie in the sense that you have to reach out to your students and find out more about them. Then, they will be more willing to discuss a variety of subjects.
I felt the Delpit article was very interesting and I agreed with the many things that were involved. Coming from an ethnically diverse school system in Queens, then Jersey and to Westminster I experienced a culture shock. Twelve black people...in the entire school?! Even less Hispanics, about 30 Asians, 90% of whom are South Korean, literally 2 Japanese woman and about 5-8 Chinese any give year. Not one Indian and only a small handful of Jewish students. To me that is not diverse...at all. This is not to put down Westminster or to point out that something needs to change...I am simply trying to prove this next point. Not all whites are the whites described in the Delpit article. Thank goodness...just like not all blacks are criminals. Generalizations are harsh and sometimes uncomfortable, but imagine coming to WCC from the mid-west and the first black person you ever meet is at WCC. That baffled my mind. Of course the breed of people that are at WCC are a minority in general...the opera world is getting smaller and smaller, so perception is important to remember.
My step-grandmother is 81, from the south and very Southern and old fashioned. She came to one of my concerts at WCC and it just so happened to be a Jubilee concert (for those of you who don’t know Jubilee is an Africa-American Sacred Music ensemble of about 16-20 auditioned members, and I am the first non-African-American president). After the concert she mentioned something to me about all the blacks that attend my school. I was rather confused since there are in fact only twelve…yes I have counted. Because the ensemble and the audience were predominantly black she assumed that my school’s population was also predominantly black, first impressions are lasting ones. My grandmother would be one of the people Delpit mentions in her article.
On the opposite end of that I would like to use myself as an example as many of you did in defending or disputing this article. I am a second generation Greek and Maltese American, I speak Greek and am extremely proud of my heritage and deeply rooted in my cultural beliefs and identity. Anyone whom has ever met me knows my heritage because I manage to work it into every conversation I have, in fact it is a running joke with some of my friends, “Okay, Helen, we get it, you’re Greek.” With that being said I am also a cultural chameleon, I like to immerse myself (as much as humanly possible) into other cultures and learn as much as I can about them. I find our similarities and differences extremely fascinating. I found what she wrote in culture of power rule four, if you are not already a participant in the culture of power, being told explicitly the rules of that culture makes acquiring power easier. In other words, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” Delpit notes that if one is not apart of the community then communication breaks down because there is a comfort in knowing that someone has similar experiences as you. My high school was a perfect example of this, the Asian students hung out with each other and the “ghetto kids” hung out, the “band geeks,” the thespians…and this goes on. People naturally feel comfortable with those whom are like them.
I do not believe that Delpit wrote this article to put down whites or to exploit them; I think she wrote it to say, “Hey, this is how we feel. Do you even notice that there is a problem here?!” To me, this article is a white flag, most whites do not know what it feels like to be a minority until they walk into a building, room, part of town where they are the “only,” just think of how often a black or Latino experiences that. Aside the one black female voice teacher and the one black director who comes and goes in the night black students at WCC do not see any professors like themselves on this campus, and there is not even one Latino role model. The only blacks or Hispanics on the WCC campus besides the few mentioned are kitchen and facilities workers, and WCC wonders why their enrollment and in minorities is down (and once they do come, WCC cannot seem to keep 50% here).
However, let it be known that I am not saying that whites cannot teach blacks or vies versa, I am however saying that it is important to acknowledge and to be open and sensitive to the struggles and feelings of others. If someone hurts their finger with a hammer who are you to decide how much pain if at all they are suffering or how they should deal with that pain. Similarly we cannot judge someone who is expressing how they feel. Now that this article was written let us try to understand each other better, educate one another on the misconceptions. Being offended only delays the process. Like Laurie said about listening and trying to understand your students is key. I think that is what Delpit is talking about. This article is trying to open not just white peoples’ eyes, but every one’s, even blacks are ignorant to underling racism, their own portrayal in the media is proof of this. Whites are always saying, “why are they so focused on race, it’s not about race, I do not see color.” What an insult, blacks always were their skin, to not see color would be to not see them. And to say it is “don’t pull the race card” is ridiculous, race is not a card or a thing it is a representation of a people. Blacks in the field of education have many more obstacles to contend with. I am not trying to say that blacks should be pitied, but I am saying that these things need to be brought to white peoples’ attention. The best way to understand someone is to walk a day in his or her shoes, even if it is hypothetical.
Helen-
I am with you on these thoughts but it is still very frustrating-instead of speaking of race for a moment lets move to gender. I recognize that their are men and women in our philosophy class. I suppose that causes me to act differently with them than I would with men. I also suppose that I might act differently with people of other religions or from other areas- people with accents, etc. At what point is it just several differences that we may or may not recognize and at what point do those differences need to be addressed in an article like Delpit's or informally? This makes me crazy thinking about it. And by the way some of your blog reminded me of Mean Girls- great movie.
Post a Comment