Interview With Professor Geetha Vaidyanathan
Professor Geetha is my economic professor. She is a senior lecturer from India. She majored in physics, chemistry, mathematics, and biology when she was studying in pre-college in India. When she came to the US university, she got a bachelor degree in business and accounting. She used to work in a commercial bank for one and a half years before she got married to her husband in the US. After her marriage, she felt more interested in economics over her college major, accounting, and decided to become a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Professor Geetha is interested in interacting with young brains and have a flexibility working time as a professor.
As an Indian woman, she had a time of having troubles of her identity. Professor Geetha told me that back in her college in the US, she merely got involved in group discussions, she was always not included because she is a female and also an international, she was concluded to be a minority. Later on, as she became a professor, it was also harsh for her to be treated equally as a white teacher. Students would not view her as a good professor since she is a foreign teacher and also due to her accent. At every end of the semester, students are more rigorous to her than other professors. Students would set her a higher standard, because of her look and her race.
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She imagines that the world is going to be more diverse than ever before. And the ability to work with different people is critical to every student. Students can meet people from different cultures and different backgrounds, and they will see the different ways of thinking. As a result, they will be thinking in different angles and more critical. And the ability to think critically is also important in research. It will make us more self-aware and not in an egocentric
Every individual in society and in a community is unique in their own ways, and their diversity shows up in many ways. Some of these ways include: religion, race, socioeconomic status, lifestyle, and so on. Everyone’s backgrounds are different, and this is what creates diversity in people. Even though everyone might not be the same, only by uniting everyone can we create the big picture. It’s like a puzzle—even though people are different, we can come together to create a big picture that couldn’t be created by puzzle pieces of the same shape. To me, diversity symbolizes the unique backgrounds that we come from. Every individual in their communities and in their society are influenced by their background—and this can come from various reasons. If someone comes from a different socioeconomic background, or lifestyle, their thought processes and their view of life might be much more different than mine. Their reaction to a certain situation can be much more different than mine, and it is important for me to see all these viewpoints in order to be a more informed member of my community. Everyone is diverse in their expression, style, and
...I feel it is my duty to encourage my students to see the beauty in such differences as opportunities for possibilities. I feel it is important to recognize one’s own heritage and race and values, but I also feel at times it is equally important to detach one’s self from such in order to allow for one to be exposed to new perspectives and alternative ways of life.
White male professors can easily capitalize on the advantage affecting their quality of teaching because their class automatically gives them respect and the benefit of the doubt. We live in a progressive society so I am not worried about the change not occurring and the social justice not developing. The worry is that we may never recognize largely important issues because they are so ingrained in the way we think, much like a racist does not know any better because they were raised in an environment where racism was accepted and probably was the norm. In the same way, conceptions by students of what a professor is “supposed to look like” decrease the richness of the learning environment in classes taught by professors that are women or of color.
In Rizga’s essay, she explains about how two different students who have experienced stereotype by someone’s race. A student named Brianna, was once in the bathroom with five of her other black girl friend’s fixing their hair. While two Asian American girls came in and saw them, they ran out right away, thinking something bad might happened and get bullied. Another experience from a student in Rizga’s essay was a girl named Rebecca. She exclaims how she moved to St. Louis from China. She went to an all-African American school and was told by her parents to stay away from black students, to not trust them, and run away even though they were all really nice to her. In Dickerson’s essay, she says one thing that is similar to these two situations of the student’s in Rizga’s essay. Dickerson says, “Race is an arbitrary system for establishing hierarchy and privilege” (69). If so, we shouldn’t rank one above the other or lower, stereotype and judge by their group of culture, education and race society has organized and shaped well in to be pushed and categorize by groups. Some of all of us, meaning of all people are not good. Stereo type and social stereo type has caused difficulties in the world tension and
Race as a factor in inequity. Ladson-Billings and Tate (1995) posit that race continues to be a significant factor in determining inequity in the United States. Race matters in society. If we look at high school drop out, suspension, and incarceration rates of men of color in America we see a disproportionate amount of men of color marginalized and profiled by society. This is further compounded by the perception that male faculty of color cannot be educators or at least are not often conceptually visualized in that capacity (Bryan and Browder, 2013).
Colombo also asks in his article “Thinking Critical, Challenging Cultural Myths” “What do instructors mean when they tell you to think critically?” (Colombo, p. 2). In this paragraph Colombo is wanted to let the student know that the college instructors are going to let the student use her own mind and think outside the box. That being “a critical thinker cultivates the ability to imagine and see the different value points of her own- Then strengthens, refines, enlarges, or reshapes her ideas in light of those other perspectives” (Colombo, p. 2). Colombo also states that being “a critical thinker is an active learner, someone with the ability to shape, not merely absorb, knowledge” (Colombo, p. 2).
Eduardo Bonilla-Silva and Sue both demonstrate from their research that Whites do not comprehend the impact of their unconscious biases. These biases towards students of colour in a white-based post-secondary school environment can result in stress and weak interracial relationships. This is an issue since the significance of these everyday actions is not fully recognized and acknowledged. I will elaborate on a variety of examples, specifically the influence of the peers, and faculty.
Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing written by; Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle, Eighth Edition, published April, 2007 by Bedford/St. Martin’s, is a textbook about writing and critical thinking. In the first chapter of Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing, “Thinking Critically, Challenging Cultural Myths”, the Authors begin by setting a relatable scene of what it’s like for a college student. How a new found independence can be overwhelming, especially with regards to critical thinking, showing that what we have learned, needs to be re-evaluated and that an open mind in essential. "What Is Critical Thinking" In this section of the chapter the editors explain what it means to be a critical thinker. They explain that critical thinking is not just studying dates and facts, but rather taking those facts and examining them. The editors then proceed by explaining how having an open mind, and taking others' perspectives into account when formulating our own opinions on what the author is trying to say to us is important. A critical thinker takes all aspects into account and reflects on personal experience as well. The editors also point out that different cultural experiences bring different opinions. They suggest that we need to become active learners, continuously questioning the meaning behind everything, testing not only the theories of others but also our own experiences and analyzing the text rather than going for the obvious. They show that thinking outside the box is the epitome of critical thinking. Basically, we need to step outside our comfort zones and what we have always been taught. The editors also suggest that we need to re-evaluate our per...
In public schools, students are subjected to acts of institutional racism that may change how they interact with other students. In the short story “Drinking Coffee Elsewhere” by Packer, readers are allowed to view firsthand how institutionalized racism affects Dina, who is the main character in the story. Packer states “As a person of color, you shouldn’t have to fit in any white, patriarchal system” (Drinking Coffee Elsewhere 117). The article “Disguised Racism in Public Schools” by Brodbelt states “first, the attitudes of teachers toward minority group pupils” (Brodbelt 699). Like the ideas in the article “Disguised Racism in Public Schools” Dina encounters institutionalized oppression on orientation day at Yale.
By reflecting on my experience as a child, I was able to clearly ask myself, “Does this teaching method affect the oppressed students in my classroom, and if so, how?” As mentioned before, I had a student that struggled with math and writing. This student, along with about 3 other students in her class, was a Black female. Most of their writing prompts consisted of content that was all about a Caucasian male that went into space, or did something with his wealthy, loving family. Besides the fact that these girls cannot relate to these types of prompts, it also leads them to believe that women don’t often do big things like going into space or become wealthy with loving families. Although I never had the chance to teach a full class in an anti-oppressive way, I have made sure that I take every student’s culture, ethnicity, ability, class, and language into consideration when teaching/mentoring.
In conclusion, we face many challenges in a diverse population for today’s society. Children and families are affected from all the diversity that goes on and and we face different categories of diversity from all aspect. So we teach about diversity and how it affects or play a role in today’s
Renu Shah is a first-generation immigrant who moved to the United States when she was only 17 years old. After winning the DV lottery (Diversity Immigrant Visa Program) in Nepal, Renu's parents decided to migrate to U.S. in 2005 for a better quality of life. Growing up in Kathmandu, Nepal, Renu belonged to a lower-middle class family who had struggled with financial, social and personal hardships. The DV lottery was a blessing in disguise for Renu and her family. Like many other immigrants, America was the land of opportunities for Renu and her family members. They knew that if they worked hard enough, their dreams and desires would be fulfilled. I am also a first-generation immigrant who moved to U.S. from Nepal. I met Renu while I was
Solomon, Barbara. "In The Company of Educated Women, Women and the Modernizing of Liberal Education."
...al to have an open mind to be able to gain insight toward learning new information and to gain new perspectives toward the other culture. Every group of people or country has their own issues that can impact its cultural beliefs, values, and attitudes. If a person has not had to face oppression, understanding how to relate to another person can be challenging. A person’s positions will impact his or her interests toward resolving issues. The expectations about others will affect everyday relationships. We all make mistakes, but minimizing conclusions and stereotypes will help to gain the trust of the other person.
In fact, at schools there is a lot of diversity. In the classroom cultural diversity should be appreciated because they will want to learn more about themselves and their culture (Borkar). Different groups means that there will be a wide variety of topics to discuss. This benefits the students because they can learn about the many different perspectives of the world around them. They can learn different ways of thinking and n...