Wednesday, May 5, 2010

5/5- Question about encating "the personal is political in the classroon"

The reading that struck me the most this week was "Dangerous Responses" by Michelle Cox and Katerine E. Tirabassi. When Sara arrived to her dorm hall drunk, she was approached by a sophomore who had sex with her and later two other college students that did the same. The reaction by the students was saddening. The article brought me back to a personal incident. I was very shocked that many students did not believe Sara had been raped because she was drunk(did they think it was consentual?). Alesha Durfa's "Teaching Sensitive Issues" addresses ways to discuss difficult issues. She indicates that students come from many different backgrounds and not everyone will share the teachers point of view. I sympathised with one of the instructors in "Dangerous Responses" that could not get her students to agree on rape in her terms. Even her best attempts could not change the student's mind about Sara's own blame. When presenting a subject that you have a very strong opinion about, how do you interject without sounding too biased or disappointed in the students that do not share your point of view? Sometimes the goals of teaching a feminist classroom contradict each other. When upholding views about social inequality is trumped by wanting to empower students to give their point of view(even if that view is racist, sexist and just plain wrong)...would you chose student empowerment over upholding views of social justice?

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