Unspeakably vile is a ridiculous way of branding this exercise.
I looked up the questions, and actually, "if you're a US citizen" is one of them. I see the point, and I see the potential benefits, but I'm not convinced about the setting. I'm not convinced that having kids physically stand in a line then reorient themselves is a great idea (I understand that physical interaction can be a great teaching tool) because of the *topics*. Maybe if it was a bingo-style checklist or something, but having kids move in relationship to each other based on some of those deeply personal questions could be really upsetting. What if they don't want to say they've lived in an unsupportive family? What if they don't want to admit they aren't citizens? What if they don't know if their ancestors were forced to come to the US against their will? What if their ancestors came here purposefully but were discriminated against for being Irish or Italian two centuries ago? What if they end up being the "most privileged" ahead of everyone else?
Again "unspeakably vile"? Not by a long shot. But maybe not great either.
This is a really good point, that I amazingly didn't see in the flurry on Twitter. The questions should not be personal, and they shouldn't involve any details that might be incriminating. I think it's entirely possible to conduct the exercise with those two guidelines in place.
I’ve thought this excercise was great the first time I saw it and still do. If kids that age haven’t already learned that oppression exists in the US, it’s past time they did. No wonder we have so many people that don’t get it. They already know it, this just puts an idea into a physical example. And to people that are worried about the kids not wanting to admit to some of the questions, don’t worry. They’ve already had lots of practice hiding their secrets.
I think what people (Rufo, in this case) point to is the implicit essentialism of those exercises.
Hierarchies exist everywhere based on physical and social attributes. The United States. to my knowledge, may be the best society in integrating differences into a whole....essentially flattening hierarchies. It's in essence why immigrants so much want to come here....even if most can't really articulate it.
What you link to is a clip, But I wonder do these exercises, like the walk, also point out what I just said about the United States at all, or are students left with the thought that the US is the most intractably hierarchical society in the world?
The exercise isn't about establishing a hierarchy, and doesn't posit that a hierarchy exists. That is the biggest misunderstanding of privilege-- that it means there's an Oppression Olympics and whomever is least or most privilege "wins" (wins what, is unclear). In reality, the same kind of oppression doesn't even necessarily work on two people in the same way, let alone different kinds of oppression. Hence intersectionality. I'm not actually sure that people should learn about privilege if intersectionality doesn't come with it.
Isn't the exercise that certain attributes bring privilege and others erase privilege? And depending on how many and what kind of attribute that person is more or less privileged? If so, that's your hierarchy. Hierarchies, and not just among human society, are the default, not the special case.
Hierarchies are neither a default nor a special case (not sure what either of those statements would actually mean), and privilege is not a hierarchy. The point is to explain what privilege is, and I'll agree that the exercise doesn't do that as clearly as it theoretically could, which is why I stressed learning intersectionality as well.
Unspeakably vile is a ridiculous way of branding this exercise.
I looked up the questions, and actually, "if you're a US citizen" is one of them. I see the point, and I see the potential benefits, but I'm not convinced about the setting. I'm not convinced that having kids physically stand in a line then reorient themselves is a great idea (I understand that physical interaction can be a great teaching tool) because of the *topics*. Maybe if it was a bingo-style checklist or something, but having kids move in relationship to each other based on some of those deeply personal questions could be really upsetting. What if they don't want to say they've lived in an unsupportive family? What if they don't want to admit they aren't citizens? What if they don't know if their ancestors were forced to come to the US against their will? What if their ancestors came here purposefully but were discriminated against for being Irish or Italian two centuries ago? What if they end up being the "most privileged" ahead of everyone else?
Again "unspeakably vile"? Not by a long shot. But maybe not great either.
This is a really good point, that I amazingly didn't see in the flurry on Twitter. The questions should not be personal, and they shouldn't involve any details that might be incriminating. I think it's entirely possible to conduct the exercise with those two guidelines in place.
I’ve thought this excercise was great the first time I saw it and still do. If kids that age haven’t already learned that oppression exists in the US, it’s past time they did. No wonder we have so many people that don’t get it. They already know it, this just puts an idea into a physical example. And to people that are worried about the kids not wanting to admit to some of the questions, don’t worry. They’ve already had lots of practice hiding their secrets.
The greatest privilege any of those students have (or seek to have) is their American citizenship......from an immigrant.
That's a cool thought, whether I agree or not. But I'm asking what's supposedly vile about this exercise, as some have claimed it is. Thoughts?
I think what people (Rufo, in this case) point to is the implicit essentialism of those exercises.
Hierarchies exist everywhere based on physical and social attributes. The United States. to my knowledge, may be the best society in integrating differences into a whole....essentially flattening hierarchies. It's in essence why immigrants so much want to come here....even if most can't really articulate it.
What you link to is a clip, But I wonder do these exercises, like the walk, also point out what I just said about the United States at all, or are students left with the thought that the US is the most intractably hierarchical society in the world?
The exercise isn't about establishing a hierarchy, and doesn't posit that a hierarchy exists. That is the biggest misunderstanding of privilege-- that it means there's an Oppression Olympics and whomever is least or most privilege "wins" (wins what, is unclear). In reality, the same kind of oppression doesn't even necessarily work on two people in the same way, let alone different kinds of oppression. Hence intersectionality. I'm not actually sure that people should learn about privilege if intersectionality doesn't come with it.
Isn't the exercise that certain attributes bring privilege and others erase privilege? And depending on how many and what kind of attribute that person is more or less privileged? If so, that's your hierarchy. Hierarchies, and not just among human society, are the default, not the special case.
Hierarchies are neither a default nor a special case (not sure what either of those statements would actually mean), and privilege is not a hierarchy. The point is to explain what privilege is, and I'll agree that the exercise doesn't do that as clearly as it theoretically could, which is why I stressed learning intersectionality as well.