Hi Shadi and Amy,
I had the same question in my mind as I was reading Shadi’s central statement about deconstructing the norm. While I don’t have a theoretical answer to the question, I can think of several practical thoughts experiments that aim to directly reverse the roles of “majority/minority” in education. One that I clearly see change people’s perspectives is Jane Elliot’s brown-eye blue experiment. because its fundamental assumption about eye color is so obviously false (to the participants) and yet it closely re-creates the problems with race in education.

Hey man,
I sometimes wonder where these lines were originally drawn, and I keep coming to the idea that we have lived in a divided world because of our social constructs. Science says that our DNA is the same no matter what race, ethic origin, or background. We however did not start as a scientifically minded civilization. We were originally built on religion and geographic area. Once people began to move around, migrate, travel long distances did we use technology or religion to divide people. We still today use our differences in our ideas of ourselves in order to classify people. We are one species, one human race, and the only way to advance ourselves further away from our animal status is to develop a world community that is no longer out to prove that they are better than a group of people. See ya in class this week.
-Britton

Thank you for your post. I agree what you pointed out here. As you mentioned that education is not the only field that requires these discussions, I believe that it cannot be achieved without changing individuals’ thought throughout whole society because it’s a part of it. I guess that it is a good point to start to aware of privilege and biases.

Great post! I agree with you about how diversity can be really beneficial. However I do think there is space for conversations around it in the science field! Its not just about issues that arise within the class, but also about making sure that everyone’s voices are equally heard and everyone has an equal chance to participate and complete assignments in class. It kind of makes me think about that famous image about equality vs. equity.

This is definitely interesting to think about! I could see how the terminology could make a difference specially if time is taken to explain it to the students in the classroom.

Great post! I really enjoyed reading and looking at all the cute pictures. I completely agree with the points brought up in this post… we can learn lessons specially about empathy from animals.

Hey Luisa,

I agree this is a very timely topic in our current political climate. I sometimes wonder if people still don’t understand that race is a human concept not a biological one. On the DNA level, you and I are no different from each other, other than my Y-chromosome. We have the same DNA, the same genes, and there would be no way a human or computer could tell the difference. Only by understanding racism and how our behavior is guided by the human concept of race, can we “evolve” as a species and civilization.
-Britton

Thank you for your post. I also did the bias test and the result was not I was expected too. If the result is reliable,the question you posed here is what we should think about. Another thought i had was that as an educator, I’m concerned about the fact that “all of us have some sorts of biases about certain issues, and some of those are conscious while the rest are unconscious.” That’s an obvious factor due to different backgrounds we have such as cultures, nations or socio-economic status: I’m wondering how we could utilize those diverse lenses we have in educational setting to maximize the benefits of diversity, if we can not avoid it.

Thanks for this blog and additional conversation. I felt most of the emotional states – that Ernesto mentions- when I marginalized in the classroom during these four years at graduate school. And put this my mission as a future faculty to not let anyone feel like I felt in my classes and hopefully create an inclusive environment for my students.

LikeLike

Thanks for your post! I think you had some really good wisdom to share on the topic, I particularly liked your line: “A cycle of ignorance is perpetuated when nothing is done to create learning opportunities.”

Very true. If only everyone were able to recognize this and start making small changes to correct it. I think the first step is to acknowledge it and be forced to recognize it.