Attention Valpo tax payers. You need to be informed that Valparaiso Community Schools wasted $5000 (plus travel expenses) of your hard-earned money yesterday by bringing in the worst public speaker that I have EVER HEARD. You may have read about the brown eyes/blue eyes exercise that a Mrs. Jane Elliott conducted in her classroom around 30 years ago. She divided the class according to eye color and told the blue eyes that they were superior. She observed the changes that took place in the relationships and in the attitudes of the students, and used it as a commentary on the effects of racism. It's a fascinating study, and you can't take a Diversity in Education class without watching a video about it. Well, when I heard that Mrs. Elliott would be speaking at the Valpo in-service yesterday, I was really excited. After teaching at
And then she started talking.
Point one: Women get raped everyday, and the news doesn't cover it.
My reaction: Yeah! So true. I'm glad she mentioned it. This doesn't really have anything to do with racism, but it's a good point to bring up.
Point two: You are all racist. This country is racist. Education is racist.
My reaction: Were you going anywhere else with the rape stuff? No.. you're abruptly changing the topic.. Uh.. OK. Yes. I agree. We are all racist. We need to make changes. How can we do that?
Point three: Being gay isn't a choice. We need to call straight people "staid" because the opposite of straight is crooked, and that has negative connotations.
My reaction: So you've abruptly changed topic again.. Um.. sure. I didn't think there was any scientific evidence to prove that homosexuality is genetic. What study is that from? Oh, you're not going to support your assertion with facts. OK. But doesn't "staid" mean "stuffy" and "no-nonsense"? Doesn't that have negative connotations? No? OK... Fine.. Be nice to gay people. Got it.
Point three: Look at this tall, 50-something white man. Look at this short, 30-something black woman. He has all of the power. She doesn't. DON'T LET THEM TAKE OUR SOCIAL SECURITY! Trent Lott sucks! Tom DeLay is terrifying! Dick Cheney shoots people!
My reaction: Did I stumble into the Democratic National Convention by mistake?
Point four: The pro-life movement is the pro-WHITE movement. White birthrate is down; 60% of abortions are white. Therefore George W's pro-life stuff is purely motivated by a desire to make more white folks.
My reaction: Uhh... wow.
Point five: Look at this map of the world! White countries are in the middle! It's racist! Here's a non-racist map! Buy it!
My reaction: Point taken... Seems a little nit-picky, but I guess the maps could lead to ethnocentrism. Maybe she'll start talking about other steps I can take to make the classroom a non-racist place.
Point six: Here's a thirty minute video of my exercise! It proves that racism is a problem!
My reaction: OK.. Most of us have already read about this. Can you give us some more tangible ways we can fix things?
Point seven: Racism sucks! Don't be that way! I'm done. Peace out, yo.
My reaction: But how do we... nevermind.
Throw in a bunch of "Get over it!"s and "People!"s, and that's a pretty fair summary of the presentation. I want my 90 minutes back.
Currently playing: "Corduroy" Pearl Jam
Friday, February 17, 2006
Had I been listening to the mad speculations of a lunatic...? Where did truth stop? Where did error begin?
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4 comments:
And I want my tax dollars back. WOW.
I would buy that crap about abortion if abortion was legal for blacks and illegal for whites.
Staid: marked by settled sedateness and often prim self-restraint.
So you're saying that straight people are sedate and prim. And gay people are FABULOUS!
Alli, I hope you walked right up to her self-righteous face and punched it with your fist.
Well, though I don't believe it's justification for pro-choice, if abortion was made illegal, especially with the low quality of social programs currently in place, rich people with unwanted pregnancies would be in a much better situation than poor people, and I'm sure you're aware that there's a huge correspondence between wealth and race in this country. Let's say that abortion was illegal in only some states (bound to happen if criminalization happens at all). Now, the poor would be flat out of luck if they wanted to get an abortion, while the rich could easily go to another state and get one. Similarly, if it were illegal everywhere, only those with enough money could leave the country for an abortion.
Another race-related problem that exists now that will be even more of a problem if abortion is illegal is the fact that adoptive parents strongly prefer children of their own race. My guess (though I could be wrong) is that even per capita, more adoptive parents are white than non-white. The want for adoptive parents will obviously rise if abortion legislation goes through, and the adoptive parents will likely take the Caucasian children first if they themselves are Caucasian.
But then again, from what Alli says, that doesn't seem to be what the woman was saying anyway, so what I just said doesn't matter. In fact, the woman seems like she hurt her own point. If 60% of abortions are white, then per capita, less abortions are white than non-white, seeing as 3/4 of America's population is white, at least by the 2000 census. I think this data, however, shows a larger problem with race and abortion, as minorities are therefore MORE likely to get an abortion. Now there's a race problem that needs addressing: the apparent higher rate of unwanted pregnancies in minority women.
Pardon my ramblings.
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