arguchik | second day (Reply)

the second day of my class went *much* better. we did two close reading exercises using texts i put on the overhead projector and had us unpack together as a class. *lots* of people participated. what worries me is that the ones who spoke up were all men. my class is very unbalanced, in terms of gender--out of 14 students, there are only 4 women. racially it's extremely mixed, which is refreshing to me as a teacher...but problematic for other reasons. the class i'm teaching is part of a program that offers extensive academic support services specifically for disadvantaged students. all too often, the term "disadvantaged" becomes an institutional code word for "person of color," and such programs *have* been accused of effectively reinstating racial segregation under the cover of benevolent liberalism. i also think the fact that classes like mine are comprised primarily of students of color indicates the extent to which institutional racism continues to operate, though, at all educational levels, and the disadvantages perpetrated by that racism are real, and need to be addressed.

ok, pursuant to my previous post of a little while ago, i have to be *really* careful not to post anything specific or revealing about my students. on that note, gotta get to work! that prospectus is not going to finish itself...