From the Dept. of “Say Wha?”
Eduwonkette provides a fine example of the educational gobbledygook that we must hack away in order to find some clarity. Here’s a snippet:
This is why the “antiracist” educator must negotiate between two antiracist impulses in deciding her everyday behaviors toward students. She must choose between the antiracist impulse to treat all people as human beings rather than racial group members, and the antiracist impulse to recognize people’s real experiences as racial group members in order to counteract racial inequality.
How true. In fact, as an “antinonsense” writer, I encounter a similar struggle everyday when I choose between the antinonsense impulse to point out and lambast such balderdash and the antinonsense impulse to let it alone and hope that it will die of its own accord.
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July 9th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
I too believe in clarity. I’ll use shorter sentences for you. These come straight from my book, Everyday Antiracism: Getting Real about Race in School.
Antiracism in education involves:
1. Rejecting false notions of human difference
2. Acknowledging lived experiences shaped along racial lines
3. Learning from diverse forms of knowledge and experience
4. Challenging systems of racial inequality.
July 9th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
I’m all for creating a society where racism isn’t tolerated. But as an individual that is both African American and Afro-Latina, and has grown up in inner city schools, I sincerely believe the best way to eliminate racist beliefs is to teach kids the facts about math, science, history, etc. and not engender levels of hypersensitivity in future generations.
For me, there was nothing more empowering than shifting my attention away from things I likely couldn’t change (people’s perceptions, i.e. racism) to things that I could (my grades, my community, etc.)
July 10th, 2008 at 8:25 am
Oh Carol, you’re so droll. Mica’s espousing the famous left wing strategy of “fury over function” in which it’s less important to accomplish an end then it is to publicize adherence to a belief.