McIntosh on power and privilege:
"Many doors open for certain people through no virtue of their own."
My notes from "The Boys of Baraka":
"Police presence. 'Games' re-enacting scenes of violence, arrest. Those bleak streets. Those street corners: junkies, homeless, jobless, drug dealers. Urban Wasteland. Their possibilities, outlook, vision for the future shaped by a desolate environment. What is in their knapsacks? Not much. White people in charge--how refreshing!"
Self-reflection continues after "Rethinking," Delpit, "Knapsack" and now Baraka. I didn't think I was all that privileged when I was growing up--back to school shopping at Fred Meyer, birthday and Christmas presents a la Newberry's. Lower middle class--nothing special, and wishing for more. The things working in my favor, things I didn't see then and hadn't really thought about until now, are now starkly laid in front of me. My "package of unearned assets." When I look back, I see that I've had access to a lot of things, and been able to circumvent a lot of obstacles, where others did not have such advantages.
The task is to translate this newfound discovery (and a bit of white guilt, I'll admit) into something productive. I think about the essay in Delpit, where it's recounted that elite Ivy Leaguers descended on the South to join the cause for Civil Rights. Young, idealistic, fired up, hearts in the right place--and woefully ignorant. I'm sure they did good work, and hopefully made a difference. I just hope that I enter the profession with a bit more temperence, the knowlege of my own shortcomings, that my reflection on my heritage of advantage will give me the insight to make a lasting, positive impact. I know after working at a school in a fairly poor neighborhood that I have a giant soft spot for the disadvantaged and the vulnerable, and I want to use that to help children.
And though I know that extra-school factors can work against them, I also know that I will not allow those to be a crutch for students: my expectations are that every child deserves the best we have to offer; and each one has it in them to achieve at the highest levels. This just may be the most succinct distillation of a developing personal teaching doctrine for me yet! Adherence to this philosophy will allow young learners to envision and actualize a brighter future for themselves.
Yay, the pictures are back! Very thoughtful. I like your point about turning it into something productive, and then actually doing it. I agree with you about having high expectations. So often guilt sets in when we realize we have more than others and then we give them breaks that end up undermining them rather than helping. It's like you're saying, I ain't giving up on you. Nice post.
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