Education And Racism

Learning and growth

“You learn something valuable from all of the significant events and people, but you never touch your true potential until you challenge yourself to go beyond imposed limitations.” ― Roy T. Bennett

(Thesis revamped)

You never thought the education you were given is important, until now.

I have a belief that our education is based on the teachers we pass throughout our lives. They don’t even have to be titled teachers to gain that respect. But for me…I never understood how important the area I grew up is to me…until I left it.

Growing up, my school life was a bit odd. I’m a girl born and raised in the small state of Connecticut. Diversity existed in the state but it was not as wide and engrossing as either New York or Boston which bordered it. Our education reflected that. On the South Eastern side of Connecticut, Asian Americans and minorities flocked there because of the two massive casinoes that were growing within forty-five minutes of each other. Foxwoods, and Mohegan Sun. I was surrounded by diversity and happy for the diversity but our education..did not reflect this revolution right away.

I took classes from Sixth to Eight grade that had no literature focused on Eastern Asia. Fascinating because I think a lot of Asian students would have felt appreciated if books from Asia were included in the curricular. During this time, I noticed teachers we trying to get us to pass a standardized test of knowledge as if their lives were on the line. ( Well, I realized their jobs were sort of the line.) But due to these state prepared tests, we lost a lot of education that we could have used. I would have rather learned about other cultures than get simple grammar drilled into my brain for twelve years.

However, if our classes did have time we would squeeze small portions of Native American writing and Greek mythology into our lessons. But on average, we were stuck to the curriculum the school desired us to learn from.

My middle school taught us about European and American literature, language, and history constantly. It was long and boring like a day at the beach when the waves don’t crash, and the water is still. Nothing new, and nothing that can evoke the mind into a desire to learn more.

Our classes felt like a crash course for preparing us to take the next big test. This pattern remained in our life even after High School. The High-School I attended is considered a public/ private school. Norwich Free Academy is made of twelve buildings total and segregated Freshman to their own building. Keep the newbies together.

What stands out for such a school is that it accepts an arrangement of students from various cities, and financial backgrounds. When you accept diversity, it allows for diversity to open its doors. The school is a liberal art style school, and we were able to select the type of classes we wanted. Which meant the students got to pick the type of lessons, teachers, and content we would like to see. Our school's pedagogy was different from others because the teachers could change how they reach out to students learning styles and adapt to it.

I learned that during my time there, I came across a lot of areas to learn, and evolve as a student. Diverse content and great teachers. I even liked the teachers who were close to failing me or were hard on me. I had an English teacher nearly fail me because she expected more of me. ( I expected more of me too. She taught me to toughen up, and never give up.) But most of all my teachers helped me solidify the type of pedagogy I wish to undertake.

The only way out of the labyrinth of suffering is to forgive.” ― John Green, Looking for Alaska

We need more love in our younger education, and in education all over the country.

Sometimes, the way people treat others is hard to accept. Over my life, I have turned to treat people with respect even if they don’t deserve it. I’m a pushover to some and a cry baby to others. But I refuse to be a part of the ill cycle of treating others ill because they do that to you. I think I learned this lesson twice in my High-School years. But the event I want to talk about is a personal one. One that has come full circle for me.

If my heart was stuck in a glass, it would be shining right now. Its always been hard to talk about the mistreatment people do for pleasure, pain, desire, and growth…but I think its time we shine a light on racism again. A problem that many have derived to mean certain groups of people. I hate to wake up this beast but a lot of racism is due to people's assumptions ( what they know) about a group of people, or a person. ( Bullying can be relative to racism too.) But for education's sake, I think we need to pull ourselves away from having a set English curriculum.

My personal experience with racism may shock you. Indirectly, you might be wondering why I believe the power of education may have saved this person, or why I think diversity is important for our education. However, the only way to understand this is by me showing you what happened.

“When we are tired, we are attacked by ideas we conquered long ago.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche

The Event

A tragedy took place during my junior year. A tragedy that happened to make top news for Asian Americans. It’s the type of tragedy that reached the ears of many folks, and it expressed that racism is going backward not forwards for the United States. But most of all…it tore a family apart. It ripped a loved one right from their breathing and loving hearts.

I am sure you are asking “ Girl, what happened to cause such a national racial conversation?” It’s definitely been a long time, and many have probably let it go. But I know I won’t.

This tragedy begins with an Asian American man named Danial Chen. Danial Chen committed suicide by gunshot while being private in the American army. ( He was fighting for the people. He was suffering for the people. Yet, no one took it to attention to stop the mistreatment of a fellow brother.) Every time I think about …my heart rips out of its chest. But then I look over at my boyfriend…and I know the pain he feels every day for the loss of his cousin goes far beyond any emotion I feel about. My emotions mean nothing in comparison to what his family feels.

But I know all the same that you can’t get back what you lost. Danny died in the year of 2011 and I was a year younger than him. He was young. A fresh recruit with hopeful, gleaming eyes that the army would be a safe place for him. A home for him.

Suicide is always a tragedy, but he was of a worse kind. Suicide is a voluntary act. One that humans use to show that the pain and suffering they are facing is too much. Their soul has broken and their hope is gone. The only way out is to end it all. I can’t write for justice, and I know I won’t be able to give the family their justice but I can say we WILL NOT TOLERATE the treatment that Danny faced during his days in the army.

He joined the army against his friends, family, and neighbors pleads not to. His decision will unknowingly become his own demise because of other soldiers. Some might say, he didn’t have the emotional capability to be in the army. But he fought a war that went beyond using guns. He was fighting against his own platoon. During Bootcamp, training went well. He liked it. The problems for him began when he was given a platoon.

The news could did the best it could. But in my own words, the investigation uncovered that Chen had been racially harassed and beaten by his fellow soldiers before his death on October 3, 2011. In fact, on that same day, soldiers forced him to crawl on gravel for over 100 meters or 300 ft while carrying equipment, as his comrades threw rocks at him. I don’t know about you…but my spirit would be broken if the same happened to me. It completely disgusts me that soldiers treated Chen that way.

I’m not writing this to awaken the past, but to shake up the future. At the time, some of my classmates were not just perturbed by the matter but furious about it. They were angry enough to send letters to the army, to the family for support, and to raise awareness about racial suicide. But what I felt will always be a bit diffrent. It was sadness. A complete and utter sadness because I was disappointed. I was disappointed in humanity that day. I was disappointed that an American would be treated so poorly as he tried to fight for his own country. I was confused as to why these men had the need to bully another. What drove them to do this?

This is where it leads me to a small realization…the four men involved in bullying Chen’s death had a minimal understanding of Asian culture. Heck, I bet they didn’t have one Asian friend. People have a tendency to hurt what they don’t understand. If there is one thing I can do…I can fight for the future against this type of treatment.

The question drove me to look at multicultural pedagogy as my own personal teaching style. I don’t just want to bring Asian media to the classroom. But I need to. An event such as this hasn’t happened again in mainstream media, but it can. This thought is devastating, and I didn’t realize how much closer I have gotten to the family of Danny Chen.

“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength while loving someone deeply gives you courage.” ― Lao Tzu

A little diddy about my current relationship

If you have followed me this far, then you already know that I am dating his older cousin. This happened around the year 2016. ( I guess the better term for it is we became friends with benefits during that year.) This man would later turn into a person whom I would move across the United States. Not everyone in the world is crazy enough to do this. I had no motivation from a job perspective to move because I was just offered a promotion at the place I was working at. However, I denied the promotion because I knew that I was moving far away. It gets especially crazier when it was my first move away from my family.

Thus, when I speak about bringing multicultural pedagogy to the core curriculum of the American classroom, it is not just to teach composition, or literature but to bring value to everyone in the classroom to become better human beings. My heart wants to do some good in the world, and make sure that I can do small forms of justice for his family.