Re: Virtual Visibility (Re: Diversity Issues...)
Phillip Allen White (pwhite who-is-at carbon.cudenver.edu)
Mon, 6 Oct 1997 18:54:39 -0600 (MDT)
Hello everyone ..... my virtual and virtually diverse community
of virtue.
Working with some teacher candidates a couple of weeks ago I found
myself listening to them express their anger and hatred of _writing_ and
_research_. Two activities that make up a big part of the class we are in
together. It was jarring. People who want to be teachers who find
writing and research distasteful, at best.
I had done a "What do you know about teacher research?" with the
class, but it had never occured to me to find out their emotional history.
I won't make that mistake again. From this point on I shall make a
particular point to honor their emotional history.
I see this as akin to Jaime's and Melanie's and Esteban's journey
as they work to bring a new/different/tolerant understanding of those
marginalized by multiple public policies and public attitudes.
Here in Denver, two colleagues/friends have just sent off to a
journal their work over the last two years, documenting the difficulties
of teacher candidates trained in bilingual and esl education. These
teacher candidates consistently found themselves assigned to bilingual
schools in bilingual classrooms where the school faculty and classroom
teachers often demonstrated hostile attitudes towards children from
Mexico. The language used was never explicit, but implicit acts of
symbolic violence as has been delineated by Alberto Camarillo, Bourdeau,
Rudolfo Acuna, Lilia Bartolome, Ofelia Miramontes, etc. However, the
symbolic violence was also within the university classrooms, both from
students who weren't directly involved in bilingual/esl education, and
university faculty members. Even texts used by university faculty proved
to be problematic.
My friends have turned their attention to the university itself in
order to bring about change.
And I think that Esteban Diaz's posting of October 3, is also a
request that we of xmca - our community which is also systemic extensions
of our institutions that we find ourselves part of - look to our own
practices. I have to honor Esteban's observation with my recognition that
yes, as Esteban notes, "an underlying tension within society and xmca that
is caused by doubts about the effectiveness and appropriateness of
bilingual education and affirmative action".
In my view, xmca has had difficulty in addressing the multiple,
complex strands of affirmative action. I have not been as alert to
similar difficulty in bilingual education, but I accept Esteban's
observation as correct.
Rather than discussing the value and virtues, or lack of, of
various authors not on this list, I'd rather that the discussion focused
on our own experiences as teachers/researchers/writers. Thank you, Eva,
for the number of times you've asked for a personal story. The stories
have gone a long way in building greater understanding. By sharing our
own stories, as Melanie, Jaime, Esteban, Jay, diane, Mary, Joao - how
long this list becomes, and is indeed quite lengthy - the greater our
chances of understanding without the intrusion of our own all too well
situated history of emotions.
We really don't need to squabble with one another - there are too
few of us within this world as there is. (I always remember how the
Flangists waited outside of Barcelona while the Communists and Socialists
slaughtered each other.)
Phillip
(I hope this isnt' too rife with typos. An undergraduate anxiety.)