Looking back on everything that we have studied and discussed over the course of the past semester, the things that I find continuously sticking out in my mind are the things that have since become noticeable in my everyday life. Working in a school (and a school open to students of many different cultural backgrounds, at that), I have been able to observe many of the different advantages and disadvantages demographics of students have in real time, and it has truly brought my ability to understand the readings to a new level. Likewise, the readings that reflect my real-life observations have given me insights on how to best aid and connect with students that I’d otherwise never bond with the way I have been able to.
Richard Rodriguez’s Tongue Tied comes to mind as a prominent example here. In his writing, Rodriguez reflects on how his school treated English as a prominent and important language and Spanish as a taboo, altered his perception of his own languages, and left him to struggle with his cultural identity for a long time. This reading led me to think of my own kids from non-english speaking countries (ie. most of them, especially the Mexican boys I have who struggle with English) and how I’ve bonded with each of them. Since this reading, I’ve worked to make an effort to learn some (albeit very little in the grand scheme of things) basic Spanish, and have made an effort to show an interest in the culture. I watched the World Series with them, as they are big soccer fans, and it was a lot of fun. I’ve never even watched a soccer game before, and now I can name players!
Meanwhile, Beverly Daniel Tatum’s Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations About Race discussed the segregation of students of different race and class through social division, and how that affects student’s perceptions of the world and different cultures. This reading helped me realize why I was struggling to connect with a student I had, a black boy from New York. Surely, it was difficult for the student to feel as though it was easy to connect with me, a white kid who grew up in Connecticut with authority over him, and until now I hadn’t stopped to think about this. Since reading this piece, I have made efforts to both make it clear that I am interested in bonding with my student and learning about his life, and given the student space so as to take off the stress and pressure that comes with being forced to bond with someone you have such a different experience from. I have also been working to take a look at my own unconscious biases and correct any assumptions I may have about other cultures.
Finally, our newest readings on gender laws and gender activism in Rhode Island have stuck with me pretty strongly. I am a genderqueer student, who has struggled with my own identity and other’s perceptions openly since middle school and privately for as long as I can remember. Though I have my reservations about everything now being discussed and protected under gender laws and activism (which may be caused by internalized hatred I have to re-examine, I’m not sure), it hits me pretty hard to know just how far we’ve come in such little time in terms of acceptance of student identity and self-expression on all levels. I believe this is a vitally important message to instill in students at a young age, and is key to ushering in an era of acceptance and identity exploration that my child will be able to enjoy freely.
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