At work the other day, a higher-up in my organization was talking about an organization that I affiliate myself with, one that is for undergraduates interested in education reform. I need to contextualize this a bit, because I mean no ill toward this person: the reason I am going to excerpt part of the conversation is because it was provocative in the way that it made me reflect, not that it made me angry or even that I disagree.
Anyway, she said that the people who are a part of this student group (SFER) either "saw Waiting for Superman, have a big sibling in TFA, or actually came from poverty and understands bad school systems."
My gut reaction was something like this: "Of course that's not me," then "that is me exactly," then "isn't it a bit more complex than that?"
It is and it isn't. The point here is that either we are a victim of inequitable schooling, or we are not (and found out about it secondhand). And it makes me think about an idea that a classmate of mine, Emma, explained to me: "whitesplaining", which is when a person tries to assume more authority than someone who actually has the lived experience. It's sometimes used in feminist circles as "mansplaining", which is when a male tries to rationalize some part of the female experience as an expert (as in, denying that women would understand it and thus perpetuating the sexism feminists try to combat).
What I'm trying to say is that this employee's comment made me think about how I approach issues in education, as a person who identifies primarily as a member of dominant social groups. This wasn't provoked — this was just purely how she thought to describe SFER, without knowing me (the eavesdropper) was a part of the organization)
I want to understand issues of race and class and poverty as they relate to education, but how much can I, really? If it's not in my lived experience? I am more conversant in education issues than TFA worshippers or documentary watchers, maybe, but I still think I do a fair amount of "splaining" on my own front.
There is no answer here. I just wanted to push myself (and you, reader) to think a bit more.
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