Blog for Art Education 7701

Thoughts

3/11/2013

In this moment of in the middle of this semester, I want to talk about things that I have learned, thoughts that occurred to me, and questions that I might have to carry on.

This course is the first theory class that I take, and I am not confident that I perfectly understood every concept from each “Theory camp” yet. However, I try to remind myself with the saying, “Rome was not built in a day” and I believe that someday, I might be able to draw my own mind-map for each theory camp.
The assumptions that I have with me right now about Multicultural Education, Critical Pedagogy and Critical Race Theory are that their main goals and assertions can be summarized in accordance with what are known as the norms for matured democratic civil societies—admitting and understanding differences of others from your heart, realizing “Otherness,” asking for the rights what all people deserve, and making an action when it is needed in everyday lives.
What was interesting is that those ideas, talked and claimed for more than a decade, are the things that we are already know of and conscientiously agree upon but cannot confidently say that we are actually feeling the progress in actual world. And I think that is why Freire’s “Praxis” has been talked continuously just as Tiffany, Priya, and Jason also mentioned it previously.

Before I came to US, the preconception that I had about US was “Open-minded to others” since I heard so much about “Melting-Pot.” But about a week after the Fall Semester started, I realized that it was not as much as I had expected. At that time, I had to interview American undergraduate students about “Racism” for my English class and my instructor warned us about students’ reaction about racism. Wow, I was a little surprised with their reaction when I asked them about “Racism.” They showed the whole reluctance with their facial expressions. I also feel some sensibility when I have to talk about racism, but their expressions were more than that. I don’t blame those attitudes, but I was truly curious why it was such a “taboo” to talk about racism for them. And also comparing people’s attitude toward me from people in our department with others, it was a lot kind and generous in our department. I was wondering "Can this be a result of Multicultural Education in Art Education?"

It has been more than a decade since we have cried for and pointed out same problems. And there have been many studies and researches conducted about same problems by theorists, researchers and practitioners. But why is it so hard to feel even a single change or progress? And why is it always ‘Education’ that has to be ranked as the first or the second with ‘Politics’ which seems to be the biggest problem in every Nations?

Heesung

7 Comments

Tiffany Lewis

3/15/2013 07:17:52 am

I think it is difficult for people to talk about racism. This could be for a variety of reasons. I believe that education provides people with the necessary language and background information. This helps individuals feel comfortable and possibly confident on about the language.

The education received in our department could be beneficial.

Jorie

3/15/2013 09:08:19 am

I am so fascinated in the perception of the US as a "melting pot" and how this idea has morphed (are we more like a "salad bowl" now?). Of all the places I've lived, I'd say Albuquerque, NM was by far the most culturally, ethnically, socio-economically diverse. It's a place that is known for being "Tri-Cultural" (anglo-native american-hispanic). My expectations about racism were blown wide open. As someone who had always "enjoyed" white, upper middle class privilege, I had to adjust my own ideas about privilege and oppression and how geopolitical / historical context changes everything.

Ramya

3/16/2013 10:56:30 am

Thank you for sharing your experiences from your interviews of undergraduate students. Racism is still a very important issue in the United States. I think it might be taboo because racism is still an ongoing problem and people would rather not talk about it. It seems like one of those problems people would rather pretend did not exist. I agree with Tiffany that education is an important tool to provide people with the words to discuss issues like racism in an open and honest manner.

Priya

3/20/2013 05:31:07 am

heesung,
Don't worry, the theories swirl for me as well, and often seem to blend together. I think this is a life long study.

Drew

3/20/2013 07:28:08 am

about the "melting pot"

3/20/2013 07:37:01 am

Many years ago, I took a class from Pat Stuhr about multiculturalism. One thing that really struck me was a new way to think about the melting pot. On the surface, it sounds very nice, but in reality a melting pot waters down all the incoming cultures. In doing so, it assumes that everyone conform to the dominate culture. Instead of being a spicy stew full of different flavors, a melting pot takes most of the flavor away from the new ingredients, leaving a bland, colorless soup. Any real flavor is that of the existing main ingredient which is the enfranchised.

3/24/2013 04:28:23 am

Drew,
Absolutely true what you said about the dominant culture taking over. As an immigrant, you want to adapt, adopt, and conform, so that you can blend in and succeed. And in doing so, you become the person, the classical immigrant, on the fence, neither here nor there--you stick out in your adopted country and you stick out in your birth country.
Priya

Thoughts

Leave a Reply.

Art Education 7701

Archives

Categories