The Whiteness Project

Inside The White/ Caucasian Box


The Whiteness Project created a documentary, which interviewed various white people asking them to discuss their racial identity as being white.  Each interview was only about a minute and a half, but the responses of some of the interviewees were very interesting.  Many of them said they felt no privilege for being white, or didn't consider being white an advantage to them at all.  Another common response that I noticed from some of the interviewees was that they felt at a disadvantage by being white.  Every interview ends with a statistic, or data point of some kind that shows that although these interviewees words seem out of the ordinary, they really are more common to mainstream Americans.

One man mentioned how despite his high scores on the test for a trade job, he was denied the job because "the business needed to fill the minority quota."  It was for this reason that he feels whites are now being discriminated against more than other minority groups.

Another man begins his interview by saying "Your color means absolutely nothing to me," and he goes on to say that he "does not by into the nonsense about discrimination."  This man was dressed in doctor/ nurse scrubs, which i found interesting because of the way he was responding to the interview.  It reminded me of one of our readings "The Culture of Power".  If this man is in fact a doctor or even a medical nurse, he experiences the privileges of being upper-class.  Often times, those  who are of high socioeconomic status have the ability to avoid or ignore racial issues.  This to me seemed like an odd response, especially because of the world we live in today.  I feel that no matter how hard you try to avoid talking about race or exposing yourself to it, in fact you cannot.  This man seems to be very ignorant to the idea of racism and discrimination.

A third man explains why he does not feel as though he has benefitted from being white.  He grew up in a poor family, with a father who worked in a factory until he lost his job.  However, despite his struggles growing up he discusses how he has finally begun to crawl out of that hole, with a well paying job of his own.  At the end of his interview a statistic stated that "53% of blacks born in the lowest 20% of income will remain in that category, compared to 33% of whites".  Before I even got to the end of this interview, I thought to myself how most times, whites are able to work their way up through the social class hierarchy whereas blacks are not.  Despite this man saying he did not feel as if he received any privileges from being white, his ability to work his way out of being in the lower social class is one in itself.

An interview with one woman brought up another interesting point, which I had not thought about.  She discusses how when you are talking with others about how they classify themselves, most do no say I am white.  The more common answer is Italian, English, Irish, French, etc.  The only time she considers herself "white" is when she is checking a box on some sort of government form.  All other times, she refers to herself, as do many others, in ethnic terms.

An interesting interview with another woman who has tattoos and piercings, brings up the issue of being discriminated against even if you are white.  She talks about how she feels discriminated against, as a white female, due to her visible tattoos, and piercings.  She feels as though she receives the same "stares and glares" as any other racial minority.  She does not think of herself as a normal white woman, she in fact considers herself to be a minority.

One interview really shocked me as I watched it.  It was a white man who did not feel as though he benefitted from being white, and as a result of the civil rights movement, other minorities receive more benefit than he does.  He then goes on to say "For some reason, some black people kind of hold on to the, uh, back in the day, the whole slave thing." When he said this I could not believe he referred to slavery as "the slave thing" as if it were not a huge part of our countries history.  His main argument is that "we" do not owe black people anything for slavery, because it did not involve them or even himself.  This was just a response I was not expecting to hear, but that shows the way this man, who is not unlike other whites, feels about race and discrimination.


As a viewer of these various interviews, I found this extremely interesting because there had never been anything done like it before.  Most times when race comes up as a topic of conversation, it is how minorities feel as though they are at a disadvantage compared to whites.  It is very rare, that whites are asked how they feel they are perceived.  This reminds me of "The Silenced Dialogue" reading we did in class.  Until this project started, there has not been many, if any, done like it.  Whites are not usually asked how they feel about the topic of race or how they feel they either benefit or do not benefit from being white.

An Interesting Article I Found

In the beginning of November Time Magazine published a cover and full story about teacher tenure.

The link i am posting is one response from an assistant principle in Virginia, who criticizes the article and describes what it is really like to be a public school educator today.  I thought you guys might like to read.

http://leading-by-example.blogspot.com/2014/11/dear-time-magazine.html?m=1

And here is the link to the full Time Magazine article.
http://time.com/3533556/the-war-on-teacher-tenure/

Blog Post #9

Literacy with an Attitude
Patrick Finn

ARGUMENT

In "Literacy with an Attitude" the author, Patrick Finn, that students are being educated differently based on their social standing, and the social standing of the school they attend.  He goes on to describe how different the experiences were when fifth grade classrooms were observed in an executive elite school, an affluent professional school, a middle-class school, and two working- class schools.  There were differences so visibly obvious in all the schools, starting from the teachers and going all the way down to the lessons being taught.  The teachers in the executive elite school and affluent school tended to be from the same neighborhood and areas as the students.  Conversely the teachers in middle-class and especially working-class schools were from other towns and areas different from their students.  Another difference was the way in which students were being taught.  Those in the middle and lower-class schools were being taught to spit back the information they learned using methods such as multiple choice, one or two word answers, and fill in the blank.  These students were not being taught the ways in which the information they were learning connected to their lives in the outside world.  In the upper-class and elite schools however, these students were encouraged to learn through discussion and make connections to the world around them.  The teachers and administrators in the lower-class schools did not believe their students were capable of making these same types of connections and discussions.  The result of this leads to virtually no change at all.  Students of the upper-class system will go on to live the type of life they grew up living, and unfortunately for those students in the lower-class system they will as well.

The lack of belief teachers and administrators have in these children about their abilities and possibilities is very sad.  It should not be up to the teacher to decide a student's capabilities and their possibilities in life.  It is the job of the teacher to give every student a fair and equal opportunity to become well educated and a productive member of society when they leave the walls of their school. Too often students are lumped into a category based on assumptions that do not apply to all students.  To limit the knowledge being given to a student is wrong and needs to be changed in many school systems throughout the country.


Points to bring up in class: How can we as future educators help put an end to this style of teaching?
Student's futures should not be predetermined by their educators, we should help them reach their goals and aspire for them to achieve more than they think they will.

Blog Post #8

Becoming Something Different
Fairbanks, Crooks

CONNECTIONS

This reading really made me think about a lot of other readings we have done in class.  The culture of power, white privilege and the silenced dialogue are a few.  I related this to the culture of power because Esme’s teachers used their power to place her in which classes they believed she belonged in without really knowing.  As a student Esme did not really have much of a say in where they placed her, especially when she was in the earlier grades.  It was not until she got older that she began to take control of her own education by realizing where she should really be placed.  

I also connected this reading to the reading on white privilege.  In this case however, Esme’s nationality caused her to be labeled and underprivileged.  She was denied the privilege to be placed in the appropriate classes, or challenging classes because she was assumed to be a “not so smart student”.  Her guidance counselors and school officials also used their privileges to decide for Esme as to where she would be placed in class.  

The last reading it made me think of was the Silenced Dialogue.  I think this reading is an excellent example of how easily someone, especially a student with realistically no power, can be silenced.  It was not until Esme really made her feelings and thoughts heard that she was set free from the silence she had been subjected to for so long.  Silencing students happens all too often.  Teachers assume students are unable to make decisions for themselves, or find it absurd that students might actually know what it is they need for their education.  I think that sometimes teachers and administrators get so caught up in viewing the school as a whole that they forget to focus on each individual.  Not all students learn and perform the same way, just as they do no learn at the same levels at the same speed.  It is important for educators to understand the needs for individuals and do their best to not lump students into groups that in reality are not benefitting them at all.