Did that title get you all worked up? It's pretty alarming ha? I'm not sure that I think all people are stupid, but I have to say that my biggest bias is toward poor people. I grew up in a middle class neighborhood, and was very comfortable. However, my Dad was a school teacher and sold baby furniture at night in order to provide our middle class upbringing in a nice neighborhood in the Far Northeast Heights. I was the only Latina kid in the area whose father worked two jobs and whose Spanish speaking grandma lived with them. I knew I had it pretty good compared to my extended family, but thought I was just like everybody else around.
My dad was the first kid in his family to attend college, later getting his PhD. As a kid, it was not whether or not I would go to college, but where. I think I inherited this prejudice from my father, who has contempt for all Latinos who fail to assimilate into "main stream" culture and who fail to get a decent education and work hard. In his eyes, it's simple ignorance and laziness that prevents his cousins from bettering their circumstances. I share a little bit of that belief.
In my defense, I don't think I am nearly as prejudice as my father, but it's important to recognize that I do indeed have prejudices. I sub at a Title I school pretty often. When some of the families drive up and open their car doors, a huge cloud of smoke errupts from the vehicle, and invariably the kid is not in a car seat. Well that just pisses me off. My gosh, who would smoke around their children, and who on earth would put their kids in a car without a car seat? These are usually the same parents that are unemployed and look like they were recently incarcerated or are on probation or parole.
So there it is, I don't like poor people. More specifically, I hold poor parents in contempt because I view them to have poor parenting abilities. I feel sorry for their kids, and wonder how they are going to get a decent education when they have such crappy parents who obviously don't know the importance of education and don't reinforce what they are learning at school. There is only so much teachers can do.
Thank you for sharing your bias. I have had bias’ and thoughts particularly around how poor people are with their finances, specifically with thoughts that poor people don’t know how to properly manage their finances. I also find that I’m biased toward the underprivileged kids in America. My experience staying with and working with children at orphanages in India have fed the bias that underprivileged kids in America, as well as privileged could learn valuable lessons in different manners.
ReplyDeleteI don’t feel that it is my place to say that this is right or wrong. I believe that understanding our bias is important, especially as teachers. As teachers we need to have an environment in our classrooms that doesn’t allow our bias’s to affect our teaching or students. Biases do affect us for sure but if we are aware of the bias we have, we will hopefully be able to keep them at bay, and keep equality in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteI think to a certain degree I am also bias towards poor people, well more the homeless. I feel why are they on the street corner off the freeway. I really just turn away and look straight forward trying not to make eye contact because I don't want them coming my direction. Why can't they get themselves off the street, there are organizations out there that can help.
ReplyDeleteI think also on the side of things, I am also bias towards rich people. Rich people in general act privileged even when they don't think they do and they don't recognize that there are people who are less well off then them. And then we hear about some who go to jail to be let out that afternoon. I don't think it is fair that they don't serve their full term. What does that teach them? It teaches them even if they do get send to jail, they still don't have to serve their whole term. It doesn't teach them any responsibility in life.
I think this is an honest look at yourself which is hard to do and say. This asignment kind of hurts a little, because we have all been forced to look at ourselves unflinchingly.
ReplyDeleteI think alot of our class's biases water down to the defecit theory mentioned in last week's class.
We tend to blame the victim. The poor are poor, because they are lazy. The sick shouldn't have done what they did in order to get sick, and the disenfranchised should just stop whining.
But on a case by case basis, we see the truth of it.
I believe that homeless people, by and large, aren't homeless because they want to be. Even if a homeless person professes that they enjoy living that hard, uncomfortable life, I'd usually view it more of a sign of mental instability than of complacency. It has been relatively easy for me to find the employment to pay for food and shelter, and to keep myself from becoming addicted to debilitating drugs, but I realize that it's because 1) I'm sane, and 2) I was brought up with a lifestyle in which I recieved a lot of societal "breaks" (middle class, white, male). What I'm saying is that I have been lucky enough to be taught the tools to keep myself from homelessness and that not everyone has been so fortunate, so I have a hard time blaming the homeless for their unfortunate predicament.
ReplyDeleteOh and a lot of what I posted about homeless people could be said about poor people. Many people just haven't been handed the tools to succeed and don't really know how to go about acquiring them.
ReplyDelete