I've already said a few things about what Obama's victory means for race relations in the United States. I don't want to go over the top with this, but I found this article that John McWhorter wrote last summer. McWhorter is black and conservative and frames the importance of an Obama presidency in very succinct terms. Read the article.
"Obamakids" by John McWhorter
What stands out for me, and what has always stood out for me, is the importance of seeing someone other than a white man in this symbolic position of power. It matters that a black or brown or female American can be a CEO or some sort of mega-popular Hollywood god or goddess. But it matters more that such a person can sit in the symbolic seat of the most powerful person in the country.
What McWhorter says about ten year olds living their entire formative years with this man as president is truly worth pondering. There is no way anybody can begin to measure how that might shake up the way people of different groups interact or see themselves. I'm quite looking forward to watching this play itself out.
Just some food for thought.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Professors Do Not Seem to Sway Student Opinions
According to recent research on that tired issue of politics in the classroom, the political opinions of professors do not seem to have any influence over the political opinions of students. (New York Times)
Having been included in the book, The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America, the issue hits close to home for me, as one might imagine. I'm not surprised, of course, given that I can hardly entice my students to follow my advice to read the newspaper, not to drink themselves into oblivion, cut down on consuming needless goods--let alone think like I do about a wide range of complex political issues that perplex me most of the time.
So I'm left to wonder about what students are learning in the classroom if they do not follow their professor's direction on political concerns. Granted I am biased, but I happen to think that my personal opinions about Obama and McCain and all of the other candidates are noteworthy. I'm a learned person and have given serious thought to which one would make a better president. For twenty-five years my full-time job has been to reflect on these kinds of issues and I think that students probably ought to listen to me...and then listen to the person teaching in class next to mine and the next person and so forth. Where are students receiving their information if not from professors? The Daily Show? Hardball? The fair and balanced commentaries on Fox News? Their parents? These alternatives are really not very appealing for the spread of democratic process.
Go beyond the idea that classrooms should be an objective-neutral-dispassionate-etc. space for the transmission of ideas. And step outside of the box labeled "professors have inordinate persuasive powers and should not impose their ideas onto vulnerable students." We throw our youth to the wolves every time they leave the home.
And why is it better or more acceptable for people to follow their parents over their professors? As someone whose job it is to unravel the bigotry and narrow-minded provincialism that some (perhaps "many") parents have imposed on their progeny--and this seems to begin as soon as consciousness forms--I'm not especially hopeful about the possibility of love-acceptance-generosity-tolerance-democracy flourishing if we primarily rely on the magical fertilizer of parent-child socialization.
OK, so that sounds harsh, but I'm trying to make a point. My experience has led me to conclude that most parents have relatively little information about lots of complex issues and therefore have no business imposing their narrow vision on their children. Oh, except they're parents and that's one of the privileges of being a parent, right? As a parent one gets to tell one's children all of the things that they wish our own parents either told or did not tell us.
So I guess what I'm really trying to say is that most parents do not think like me...and until they do they should let me brainwash their kids. Did I really just write that?
Having been included in the book, The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America, the issue hits close to home for me, as one might imagine. I'm not surprised, of course, given that I can hardly entice my students to follow my advice to read the newspaper, not to drink themselves into oblivion, cut down on consuming needless goods--let alone think like I do about a wide range of complex political issues that perplex me most of the time.
So I'm left to wonder about what students are learning in the classroom if they do not follow their professor's direction on political concerns. Granted I am biased, but I happen to think that my personal opinions about Obama and McCain and all of the other candidates are noteworthy. I'm a learned person and have given serious thought to which one would make a better president. For twenty-five years my full-time job has been to reflect on these kinds of issues and I think that students probably ought to listen to me...and then listen to the person teaching in class next to mine and the next person and so forth. Where are students receiving their information if not from professors? The Daily Show? Hardball? The fair and balanced commentaries on Fox News? Their parents? These alternatives are really not very appealing for the spread of democratic process.
Go beyond the idea that classrooms should be an objective-neutral-dispassionate-etc. space for the transmission of ideas. And step outside of the box labeled "professors have inordinate persuasive powers and should not impose their ideas onto vulnerable students." We throw our youth to the wolves every time they leave the home.
And why is it better or more acceptable for people to follow their parents over their professors? As someone whose job it is to unravel the bigotry and narrow-minded provincialism that some (perhaps "many") parents have imposed on their progeny--and this seems to begin as soon as consciousness forms--I'm not especially hopeful about the possibility of love-acceptance-generosity-tolerance-democracy flourishing if we primarily rely on the magical fertilizer of parent-child socialization.
OK, so that sounds harsh, but I'm trying to make a point. My experience has led me to conclude that most parents have relatively little information about lots of complex issues and therefore have no business imposing their narrow vision on their children. Oh, except they're parents and that's one of the privileges of being a parent, right? As a parent one gets to tell one's children all of the things that they wish our own parents either told or did not tell us.
So I guess what I'm really trying to say is that most parents do not think like me...and until they do they should let me brainwash their kids. Did I really just write that?
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