Students were required to address ‘whiteness’ and describe what the term ‘white’ means, as well as explain how they ‘navigate race’ in their daily lives.
Wow, what a garbage article. Surprise surprise it’s origin was Fox News. The amount of sarcasm quotes is kind of impressive, though.
Gods forbid you have to take a look at your privileges then unpack what that means. Oh, and then you have to try and empathize with people that don’t have those same privileges. Scandalous.
Not that having privilege personally is a bad thing either. It’s just opening you up to it, being aware of it. It also doesn’t diminish other negative things you went through.
I’m a white male. I probably have gotten jobs that were helped by that fact. I also grew up dirt poor only affording ramen and rice. One does not cancel the other out, it just adds to who I am.
However now being aware of it I want to move into a position where I can help change things, where I can help hire people not based on their skin color or sex
I also grew up dirt poor only affording ramen and rice.
If nothing else, we can acknowledge that choosing to eat Ramen and rice now is not the outcome for a lot of people who tried just as hard as we did to move up the economic ladder. They are often still stuck in the same position because of things outside their control.
tried just as hard as we did to move up the economic ladder
Topple the ladder.
The ladder is bad, no matter where you are on it, or how hard you try to move up.
I navigate my “whiteness” by covering it in clothes… then getting treated dismissively by doctors because I “have plenty of resources”, “have your family help you”, “just change your whole life or you’ll be dead in 5 years”, and “have you already stopped with those silly ideas?”.
Thanks for the privilege, by the way.
I’m healthy, fit, educated, and kinda rich. I’m also a man.
Do you believe those circumstances grant me with privilege?
The answer is obviously yes, so I’ll acknowledge it, rather than try to change the subject to ways in which I’m not privileged. Bringing up ways that white people may not be so privileged doesn’t actually address whiteness as privilege.
And privilege isn’t even something to feel guilty about. It’s just worth acknowledging in a “know thyself” kind of way.
This is really cool. It is actually really useful to be taught things that will help you navigate the world better. Lots of people just don’t get this information at home and tumble into adulthood without it. I’m really grateful that when I went to school about ten years ago, many of the intro classes included units about privilege and race. I remember the experience as being more like “oh crap, I didn’t realize that, now I have a bit more information about how to to act more in line with my preexisting values in the world and be wayyy less weird socially” and not “oh no it is bad to be privileged!”. I imagine that is what it’s like for most people. Fearmongering aside. Lots of people just don’t get parented or educated about this so schools have to do it. It’s helpful. It’s useful. I know many of these articles are supposed to make it seem shocking, but it’s not, it’s just telling people things they might not have realized in high school. It’s a good thing and it isn’t new at all. It’s just that this terminology has entered the public conscIousness and made some people mad. I’m really glad not all schools have caved to this weird reactionary disingenuous repression of what are honestly important life skills
