<p>And as was previously alluded to, if you take the “check your privilege” phrase to its logical, microagressive conclusion, it is literally impossible to express an opinion about anything, for fear that one might have not taken some disadvantage or life malady into consideration before expressing it. Talk about putting a damper on campus discourse.</p>
<p>lindz: Yes, I absolutely agree with what you posted and should have included that in my last comment. Thank you for the Charles Blow quote. That sums it up for me, too.</p>
<p>I went to a state university that only taught dead white males. I like those guys and think they are important. As one of my compatriots wrote: *the past isn’t dead, sometimes it isn’t even past.<a href=“also%20my%20response%20to%20poetheart’s%20#3”>/i</a> Still, I feel so fortunate my kids had the opportunity for a very different sort of education and when they came home on college breaks they made my head spin, sharing with me what they were learning both in and out of class. When I asked PG about her kids’ experiences, I was hoping she and others would share that kind of story. How the kids were learning to see the world in all kinds of new and exciting ways. Your class sounds like one my kids would have enjoyed.</p>
<p>The issue here seems to be a bit of an over-correction. That doesn’t mean there wasn’t a problem, btw.</p>
<p>I think it’s simultaneously possible to have one’s eyes opened by being on a campus with kids with all different kinds of life experiences AND not appreciate being told “check your privilege.” The pendulum has swung one way and that’s a really good thing. Sometimes it overswings. </p>
<p>“In the case of this Princeton student judging by what he wrote, it’s highly probable he made blanket statements which assumed everyone is as well-off and free of challenges as he is.”</p>
<p>And if he did, so what? Is it a crime to be clueless?</p>
<p>Here’s an example. My D went to Europe over spring break to visit girlfriends who were on study-abroad programs. Now, it’s generally pretty privileged to be able to go to Europe – we redeemed miles for her ticket – but she wasn’t staying at the Ritz, she was staying in hostels, taking buses and so forth. All in all, I would say it was a pretty typical college-kid-goes-to-Europe type of trip. </p>
<p>If she posts her pictures on FB, is she “insensitive” to some of her classmates who couldn’t do so? Would “check your privilege, we all can’t afford to travel to Europe” be an appropriate response? (And no, Cobrat, she’s not walking up and down the hall of her dorm exclaiming how wonderful Europe is or working it into everyday conversations, so don’t even pretend that we’re talking about bragging or rubbing noses in things.) </p>
<p>I don’t see a problem with your daughter staying at the Ritz in Europe and talking about it. Even suggesting that everyone try it one day. In what university would that be deemed “offensive?”</p>
<p>Well, I don’t have a problem with my D staying at the Ritz either, but our collective pocketbooks did :-).
But to that end, there are far richer girls than she - how come she doesn’t feel a need to tell them to check their privilege? People have different lives. </p>
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<p>Probably because she is mature and wise, and doesn’t begrudge others for what they have and how they were born, or try to tear them down or shut them up because of their race or gender or difference of opinion. </p>
<p>Perhaps because her friends don’t do things like say to her, “Let’s all go to Europe and stay at the Ritz,” or “How come you don’t move out of this dump and stay at the Ritz?”</p>
<p>So “check your privilege” is a way to put perceived uppity people in their place, really. It’s not <em>really</em> meant to raise awareness that not everyone has the ability to do X. Because the response couldn’t possibly be just “Wouldn’t that be cool, I’d love to, ha ha, but I can’t afford the Ritz!” </p>
<p>I think from here on out if I find someone who has a nicer (car, vacation, home, handbag, whatever) than me, I’m just going to tell them to check their privilege. It’s certainly easier than developing the capacity to be happy for other people’s successes.</p>
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<p>Bay,</p>
<p>I mentioned that because his essay was partially prompted from his own admission by his being criticized for discussion of topics such as high government debt and his being identified with Tea Partiers because of the position he took on that issue.</p>
<p>As I have read much about the Tea Party and personally know a few Tea Party folks…including a retired state senator, that’s pretty interesting as they often criticize high government in high debt because of “excessive social spending”. </p>
<p>Very interesting as like them, they ignore or are oblivious to government social spending which benefits them or their constituents…whether it’s government provided subsidies for a free/heavily subsidized tuition at what was a highly renowned public college in the article writer’s father’s case or Tea Partiers with “Get government out of my Social Security/Medicare” signs. Instead, they often proclaim their success is all to due their hard work much as this article writer did…while glaringly ignoring facts they may have received helping hands from government or favorable ways from the way US society was structured…such as that substantial government subsidy which benefited his father during his undergrad…or the fact his family wasn’t subjected to the same degree/types of discrimination as some minority groups during their period. </p>
<p>Another issue specifically regarding the City College issue was that admission to that institution before 1969…or other 4-Year colleges within the CUNY system was exceedingly academically competitive and based almost totally on academic merit(HS GPA and SAT scores) and whether they fulfilled a stipulated minimal academic curriculum. </p>
<p>In short, if one happened to have been from a neighborhood with a public high school which didn’t have resources to teach that curriculum…with many coincidentally being located in poorer and minority neighborhoods…one’s chances of making it in to one of the CUNYs was exceedingly low. </p>
<p>It was one key factor in the 1969 seizure of the CCNY admin buildings by a group of activist students which prompted the CCNY/CUNY administration to go from highly competitive admissions by academic merit to what turned out to be a disastrous open admissions policy which suddenly inundated the campuses with a flood of woefully un/underprepared students, stretched the budget to the point of eliminating free tuition for city residents, and prompted many faculty and students who didn’t sign up for this sudden change to leave during the '70s. In a sense, it’s one case study of going from one extreme swing of the pendulum to the other. </p>
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<p>It isn’t a crime to be clueless. However, sometimes being clueless does mean one is likely to be corrected or told off about it…whether by Profs or classmates who don’t suffer fools gladly. It’s par for the course and part of one’s learning experience…including undergrad.</p>
<p>IMO, best reaction is to ignore the harshness of being told off and allow it to roll off one’s back. Much more respectable than writing a whine-filled essay obsessed with demonstrating proficiency in SAT vocab while making glaring omissions about one’s Horatio Alger oriented portrayal of one’s family or personal history. </p>
<p>Also, am surprised you don’t seem to understand that concept considering you, PG, often react the same way to comments you don’t agree with or feel are clueless. </p>
<p>It sounds to me like “check your privilege” must be the college equivalent of “quit bragging,” For those who have not mastered the private eye-roll and half-smile of pity. </p>
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<p>It’s not just a form of quit bragging, but also stop prattling about your assumptions about the lives of those who are less privileged in given contexts when you’ve demonstrated you haven’t a clue and start listening and considering the words and accounts from those who have first-hand exposure to such backgrounds from living it, living closely with someone who has, etc. </p>
<p>It’s not too different from what I’ve observed in older Linux forums in the late '90s when someone who knows little/nothing about Linux or operating systems start spamming the forums to trashtalk about certain Linux distros or the supposed superiority of Microsoft Windows because it’s popular while betraying serious cluelessness about the distros being trashtalked, linux, or it’s obvious he/she’s making up BS about operating system design. </p>
<p>Only difference is they…including the moderators would be far less diplomatic about it and tell such forum posters he/she’s a complete “idiot” or worse and to can the clueless talk or be banned. If they continue on the same line, they are permanently barred and the thread is posted on the “Idiot threads” section for the amusement of forum regulars. </p>
<p>Also, sometimes, those subtler gestures you’ve mentioned may be too subtle to get the point across. </p>
<p>I’ll toss away any subtlety then, and say-- cobrat, you’re full of it. No offense intended, of course.</p>
<p>But… check your privilege.</p>
<p>I have a feeling that this is going to be the joke line of the year. And the joke isn’t going to be about those who have been, " prattling about your assumptions about the lives of those who are less privileged in given contexts when you’ve demonstrated you haven’t a clue and start listening and considering the words and accounts from those who have first-hand exposure," but those who are full of themselves and arrogant enough to use that phrase.</p>
<p>cobrat, </p>
<p>I know you mean well, but sometimes I think you over-think things.</p>
<p>Haven’t heard it since I was a kid but there was a phrase… “if I need any crap out of you, I’ll squeeze your head”. Just a reflexive way of saying “shut-up” without the risk of expending anything approaching mental effort.</p>
<p>Can’t remember ever hearing it after about ninth grade.</p>
<p>^^Okay cat, that’s a good one. I MUST remember that one to use on my family! </p>
<p>when we talked about examples of white privilege in the race and ethnic relations class one of my students shared that every time he went into a small shop in the town where this small private university is he was followed, and has been stopped repeatedly by police. the white students were actually horrified as they had NO idea that this was common for a young black man. this was an example of white privilege. when they walk into the same store they are greeted with an expectation of safety, welcomed. this is despite socioeconomic status, this young man was not from a low income family. these students welcomed the opportunity to learn and understand. it wasn’t easy for this student to share this, and the last thing he was looking for was others to be apologetic. He simply wanted people to know what his reality was like. </p>
<p>Those sound like some very sheltered students, Lindz. I can’t imagine a 20 year old who is unfamiliar with racisim. Still, a rude and divisive comment ads more fuel to the fire and is simply not helpful. I’m going with those who say we have entered a period of over-correction. It’s not better.</p>
<p>no not sheltered students at all…students who believed like many here seem to, that this stuff no longer happens. but it does. </p>
<p>here’s my concern, Flossy you seem to be saying that rather than be open to hearing about actual racial profiling experiences of young college students who have no bone to pick but would like others to know what they experience, you’d rather focus on the rude and divisive comments. okay then. your comment about overcorrection seems to imply that racism no longer happens, yet you say my students are sheltered for not being aware that it happens. I’m confused.</p>