Ferguson: A Teachable Moment. Today, my students gave oral presentations in my class on their joint assignments within an Allied Health Learning Community. (The Learning Community consists of an Anatomy and Physiology class, a Freshman English class, and my Freshman Seminar class.) All three instructors were present today, and the students could choose one of the three joint assignments they had done in English and Bio to present. One of the choices was an assignment which focused on the biological reasons for skin pigmentation and the social construct of race. A few students commented how they felt that it was silly that a few melanocytes producing more melanin would mean that there would be such prejudice and injustice in society. Most students decided to avoid the issue altogether and chose to talk about the obesity assignment or the one about ethics in neuroscience. One student, an Asian girl, hit the issue head on. She said that before 8th grade, she believed that black people were bad. Her parents had taught her to be distrustful of black people, and she lived in a neighborhood where there werent many black people, so all she had to rely on were stereotypes and things her parents said. When she said this, a bunch of students in the class laughed. I distinctly heard one say something like thats horrible. Of course, we all know prejudice is socially unacceptable, so hearing a student admit in front of a diverse classroom that she had been prejudiced made them uncomfortable. She was a bit thrown by their laughter, but she continued. She said that when she was in 8th grade, she moved to a neighborhood that was predominantly black. Her new neighbors were kind and friendly, and they held the elevator for her when she was running for it. Her experiences were positive, and she began to realize that her prejudice was based in a lack of experience. She had been taught prejudice, but when she actually interacted with black people, she unlearned it. While she was talking, several students continued to snicker. I could see it was making it more difficult for her to do her presentation, so I warned them, and asked her to continue. When she finished, she dove back into her seat, very uncomfortable. As teachers, we love teachable moments, and this was one. The Biology professor remarked that she thought it was a really brave thing that this student had done, to stand in front of the class and admit that she had been biased. The English professor reminded the class that it was important to recognize from the story that people can grow, can learn, and can become more accepting. I mentioned that some people have their first experience with racial diversity in the way that the student described when they are Freshmen in College, and that it shows real maturity to be able to be as self reflective as that student was. The real problem with Ferguson is that the maturity that my student displayed, the capacity to reflect and grow, is lacking. That requires thought, rationality. Police brutality, racial profiling, widening inequality, and prejudice are all important issues that must be addressed. But they must be addressed rationally. Violence only begets more violence. Racial violence only begets more racial prejudice. Pretending that we dont have prejudice, judging people who admit their prejudice, or ignoring the issue is not a way to solve the problems that still exist regarding race in America. The only way to solve these problems is to talk about them openly, honestly. Only one of my students was willing to do that today. The rest chose to talk about something else, reduce the issue to a simple biological difference and pretend it isnt significant, or laugh at the person who confronted her prejudice head on. A Teachable Moment. We can all learn from that students courage. (HEA)
Posted on: Tue, 25 Nov 2014 20:02:53 +0000
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