Exit Slip for the First Class

Through watching the video about Frank McCourt, I realize the importance of constant learning and studying in our world to eliminate bias. I didn’t necessarily learn it through his teaching, but at his depictions of the “Korean War”. In his depiction of the “Korean War”, he framed the conflict as “Chinese attacked Korea”. Although this statement is historically accurate, it is a heavily political code language, reflecting the political indoctrination in the West that frame China as the “aggressor”. From the Chinese perspectives, the US and South Korean troops were approaching their borders and threatening their national security. Hence, they sent in their troops to Korea. Both perspectives have their own reasons to exist. 

Despite being an educator who “advocates for unbiased perspectives and learnings”, he unwilling made a “politically-coded statement” despite not realizing about it. This idea can be extended to other aspects of the world and society. For instances, in North America, different minorities group may not understand the bias or prejudice other minorities were facing. They may be ignorant towards the suffering and pain other communities face. 

It showed that it was very important to always learn new knowledge and learn new perspectives and expand your worldview.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Entrance Slip for the Second Class

The statement that struck me the most is that “education is not neutral” and that whatever you are being taught is a selection of values. These statements had been repeated over and over again but it was very hard for people to truly recognize all of the bias they have. For instance, if somebody was born in a marginalized community, he would understand the struggles and hurdles his own community had. Nonetheless, it was hard for him to understand and realize the bias he had on other marginalized community. It was likely that this individual would have the traditional bias view on other marginalized community. Even if somebody tried his best at understanding bias, he would always have bias towards other elements of the world. Hence, what I find the most important thing in the world is to always keep an open mind towards everything in the world. It resonated to what was discussed in the book To Kill a Mockingbird, the importance of constant learning and studying is important. 
Read more

Entrance slip for our Sept 24 class

When reading the article, I was first surprised by UBC's neo-liberal models which views campus land strictly in terms of real estate development and profit making tools instead of lands. Thus establishing a learning garden on campus is difficult and face immense pressures. Learning how the UBC Orchard Garden thrive in the environment of UBC is also interesting. In addition to being a learning garden, the UBC Orchard Garden also serves for numerous Master’s and PhD research projects. It also grows food for UBC's foodbanks.  How outdoor classroom should operates also interests me. It mentions how the soil, plants, and weather, and the living ecosystem should be an active co-teacher. Outdoor classroom shouldn't just replicate indoor classroom. For Mathematics teaching, it may be a bit difficult to conduct in a garden because secondary school Math contents is difficult to be integrated and connected to nature-based learning. Mathematics is a highly rigorous subjects which requi...
Read more