Those People

Do you have any idea how hard it is to teach students to think critically in the current political environment? (That's rhetorical, by the way. If you know, you know. If you don't know, trust me on this one.) One of my pet peeves -- in classes and out -- is when people state or imply that every member of a particular group is the same. I remember in particular one of my undergraduate professors saying, "They are their own worst enemies," talking about Blacks. We were discussing a Faulkner novel at the time, and I don't remember the specific context but I do remember thinking that she and Faulkner had probably been contemporaries (she was quite old), and I figured she was a victim of her times. I still hear this all the time, especially in discussion about "voting groups", as if every woman or gay man or [insert nationality here]-American thinks about everything in the same way.

I've personally given up trying to determine why people do the things they do or think the way they think. It's exhausting, and the truth is that I'll never know. (I'm sure I've mentioned before the best book I've read on this topic, Shortcut Through Therapy.) I never use my classrooms as a soapbox for my own political views, but I do encourage my students (and others) to question their beliefs and to be open to other perspectives. That doesn't mean they have to change their minds about anything, but they will be better citizens (in my view) if they engage in a bit of self-analysis or at least introspection.

That's all I feel like saying on the topic for now. Just thinking about it is giving me a headache. It's the end of the semester and my students are writing and turning in the topic proposals for their informative essay. God help us all!