I've moved and I don't have internet at the house yet, but I'm still planning on hanging out here, still planning on being my usual sarcastic self.
Is anyone else going to play, too?
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Thursday, June 3, 2010
It's all you, baby
A student does indeed get what she puts into an education, but she often gets a great deal more.
Sometimes, she gets a language barrier she must overcome. She takes a math class taught by a graduate student from China, and she must work very hard to understand what is said. She may have to go so far as to learn Chinese as well as math. What a gift! She has had two educations for the price of one! Of course, she gets an A from this, because look at all she has put into that one class. (Naturally not at the expense of any others.)
Sometimes she gets the benefit of working as well as school. This keeps her and any household members fed, the lights on, and the internet connection intact. This was a gift from the state and the university system, who were both on the edge of bankruptcy and could not afford to give her grants or scholarships. A gift! Now she has work experience in the real world, and that sleep deficit is naturally temporary. It's not like she can make it up, and besides, there are never any repercussions to losing a little sleep to finish those papers or presentation. She can't get sick (there's no time!) or hurt herself on those three hours of sleep some nights.
Sometimes she gets shocking traumas, like when a family member injures himself and has to have major surgery. He can't work for six to eight months, so she gets the benefit of working to cover that deficit--more life experience--and also, for a time, caring for someone who has lost significant mobility and has extreme (broken bones!) pain. That's okay! She has been given the gift of a life experience she can write about! Woo hoo! Instant book.
Occasionally, she is given the gift of a professor who doesn't like women. The law is supposed to protect her, and for the most part, does. She gets a good grade, because no one can prove she didn't do the work, but she gets the subtle edge of discrimination, the professor's disgust, and the feeling that no matter what she does, it will never be as good as what her male classmates do. Another gift! This will toughen her up for the future, because when she gets out into the real world, she will already know that she will run up against white male privilege, that she will be treated like a toy or an inconvenience, and that there are places she will never be allowed to go. (Customs are always stronger than laws, you know.) Besides, if she's a really good girl and a really good student, she can win him over and make him like her.
And best of all, she can work her ass off, graduate with honors, and still be patted on the head and told that it's all her fault if she didn't wring the last drop of wonderfulness from her education. There's no reason to complain about anything--nobody has any effect on her education but her. There is no such thing as injustice or misfortune, and everyone in the world is just as wonderful and hardworking as she is. There is no corruption in the world or particularly in the perfect university system, and no one ever does anything to actively harm anyone else, ever.
Okay, I think my sarcasm is even offending me at this point.
What I'm trying to say here is that students are only part of the equation. The teachers are also a huge part, and so is the administration. It a system, and the system only works if all the pieces of the system work. The student has to do her part. The professor has to do his part. The administration has to do its part. The state and the federal government need to do theirs.
I find it frustrating as a student who has worked very hard and gotten very good grades and learned a lot from some excellent professors, to be patronized and patted on the head and told it is my problem if I didn't get the best education in the world. Actually, no. While my education may be a privilege and not a right, it IS my right to speak up when I see something that is wrong or something that is hindering my education or the education of my classmates. It's not just my right but my duty to speak up when I see injustice and discrimination.
At 42 years old, I've walked a very long road to the end of this degree. I've made mistakes and I've paid for them. I've made achievements, and to be honest, I've paid for those, too. As a woman, my road has been entirely different from a man's road, because there's this little problem of biology that I have to overcome: I brought another man into the world. And I am expected, as a woman, to be a mother first, and then a student. So I am judged for several things. Reproducing at all. Going to school when I should be raising my child. Raising a child when I should be going to school. Sleeping when I should be writing papers. Working when I should be raising a child and going to school. Living on the edge of poverty because I'm working as little as possible.
It is just amazing to me that someone can look me in the face after all that and say, "Well, it's your fault you didn't get the most of your education. You get what you put into it."
Whatever! I'll just write about it. Bestseller!
Sometimes, she gets a language barrier she must overcome. She takes a math class taught by a graduate student from China, and she must work very hard to understand what is said. She may have to go so far as to learn Chinese as well as math. What a gift! She has had two educations for the price of one! Of course, she gets an A from this, because look at all she has put into that one class. (Naturally not at the expense of any others.)
Sometimes she gets the benefit of working as well as school. This keeps her and any household members fed, the lights on, and the internet connection intact. This was a gift from the state and the university system, who were both on the edge of bankruptcy and could not afford to give her grants or scholarships. A gift! Now she has work experience in the real world, and that sleep deficit is naturally temporary. It's not like she can make it up, and besides, there are never any repercussions to losing a little sleep to finish those papers or presentation. She can't get sick (there's no time!) or hurt herself on those three hours of sleep some nights.
Sometimes she gets shocking traumas, like when a family member injures himself and has to have major surgery. He can't work for six to eight months, so she gets the benefit of working to cover that deficit--more life experience--and also, for a time, caring for someone who has lost significant mobility and has extreme (broken bones!) pain. That's okay! She has been given the gift of a life experience she can write about! Woo hoo! Instant book.
Occasionally, she is given the gift of a professor who doesn't like women. The law is supposed to protect her, and for the most part, does. She gets a good grade, because no one can prove she didn't do the work, but she gets the subtle edge of discrimination, the professor's disgust, and the feeling that no matter what she does, it will never be as good as what her male classmates do. Another gift! This will toughen her up for the future, because when she gets out into the real world, she will already know that she will run up against white male privilege, that she will be treated like a toy or an inconvenience, and that there are places she will never be allowed to go. (Customs are always stronger than laws, you know.) Besides, if she's a really good girl and a really good student, she can win him over and make him like her.
And best of all, she can work her ass off, graduate with honors, and still be patted on the head and told that it's all her fault if she didn't wring the last drop of wonderfulness from her education. There's no reason to complain about anything--nobody has any effect on her education but her. There is no such thing as injustice or misfortune, and everyone in the world is just as wonderful and hardworking as she is. There is no corruption in the world or particularly in the perfect university system, and no one ever does anything to actively harm anyone else, ever.
Okay, I think my sarcasm is even offending me at this point.
What I'm trying to say here is that students are only part of the equation. The teachers are also a huge part, and so is the administration. It a system, and the system only works if all the pieces of the system work. The student has to do her part. The professor has to do his part. The administration has to do its part. The state and the federal government need to do theirs.
I find it frustrating as a student who has worked very hard and gotten very good grades and learned a lot from some excellent professors, to be patronized and patted on the head and told it is my problem if I didn't get the best education in the world. Actually, no. While my education may be a privilege and not a right, it IS my right to speak up when I see something that is wrong or something that is hindering my education or the education of my classmates. It's not just my right but my duty to speak up when I see injustice and discrimination.
At 42 years old, I've walked a very long road to the end of this degree. I've made mistakes and I've paid for them. I've made achievements, and to be honest, I've paid for those, too. As a woman, my road has been entirely different from a man's road, because there's this little problem of biology that I have to overcome: I brought another man into the world. And I am expected, as a woman, to be a mother first, and then a student. So I am judged for several things. Reproducing at all. Going to school when I should be raising my child. Raising a child when I should be going to school. Sleeping when I should be writing papers. Working when I should be raising a child and going to school. Living on the edge of poverty because I'm working as little as possible.
It is just amazing to me that someone can look me in the face after all that and say, "Well, it's your fault you didn't get the most of your education. You get what you put into it."
Whatever! I'll just write about it. Bestseller!
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