Is it okay for teachers to ask about students ethnicity?

Parent Cafe
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<p>No, we just don’t have this Big Fear of Authority that you seem to do. We’re confident that we can maneuver in the world without being thwarted by The Man. You’re not – you’re very insecure that someone is out to get you. Which is why you take one incident and blow it up into massive generalities. </p>

<p>Some jerk in rural Ohio once cursed you out for speaking Mandarin in public. All that means is that some jerk in rural Ohio once cursed you out; it doesn’t mean that there is a systematic movement all over the Midwest to stamp out all Asians. </p>

<p>A red-headed woman cut me off this morning when I was getting my coffee – should I conclude that there is a systematic movement of redheads to deny brunettes food and drink?</p>

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<p>I do find it quite interesting that so many of you are annoyed by this poster. I also find it interesting that “cobrat” never takes a hint. On the spectrum? Perhaps. On the other hand, many continue to engage him,making me think they really do care about his opinion. Then they get all annoyed when he responds.</p>

<p>Make up your minds people! Engage or disengage…but please stop the whining.</p>

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<p>My earlier comment: hypersensitivity to others’ potential to be offended can be just as identity focused, just as delineating…</p>

<p>If we assume a negative about another race or ethnic group, that’s pretty clearly prejudicial. But isn’t is also stereotyping to project that all members have the same sensitivities, react the same? That’s missing the person behind the label, too. It’s just an assuming, based on what? Race or ethnic background?</p>

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<p>They may well be unacceptable, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that they are racist. This guy may well be a card carrying racist. We just don’t know that from the information given. He may be rude, he may be overly nosy, he may even be just making innocent conversation that is being way misconstrued, who knows? We can learn a couple of things here: think before you speak, and on the other hand, if you are unable or unwilling to clarify, don’t assume.</p>

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<p>PG,</p>

<p>Now you’re projecting as I never said there was such a movement. Seems like you and ZM share the proclivity for wild imaginations and not carefully reading posts. :)</p>

<p>However, I can understand if some people avoid certain geographic regions or areas due to an extreme negative experience. </p>

<p>For instance, a former supervisor won’t ever drive through a certain part of rural Georgia again after being threatened by someone wielding a shotgun and making racist remarks/gestures about his being Chinese at a gas stop while on his way down to Florida for a business meeting sometime in the '90s. Especially after his attempt to report it to the local cops proved fruitless as they didn’t seem interested in pursuing the matter.</p>

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<p>Really, 20 years ago and he’s still holding on to it? That’s odd. Does he think that if he drives there again, there will be a horde of shotgun-totin’ Georgians out for Chinese blood?</p>

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<p>But this isn’t anywhere close to “creating a hostile work environment,” discrimination, or harassment, cobrat. You’d have to go well beyond a “where are you from” and what was described to get there. </p>

<p>And in the case of a sub, it’s over and done with. Either raise the person’s consciousness nicely, or let it go and chalk it up to - people say dumb things sometimes. </p>

<p>And - well, now you DO know plenty of people who would go to the teacher / supervisor and say something. Many of us said that’s what we would do, in a nice, pleasant fashion.</p>

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<p>He’s not willing to take the chance, especially considering he was threatened with a gun and the local cops weren’t terribly interested in pursuing the matter. </p>

<p>Similarly, I knew some older African-American neighbors during my childhood who won’t venture back south due to racist treatment they received during the height of Jim Crow, White Bostonians were wary/tried to warn me to avoid Roxbury/Mission Hill due to past racial tensions/their perceptions of crime/crime experiences, or a few older African-American and Italian-Americans in the Boston area who won’t venture into Southie or certain parts of Dorchester because the working-class Irish-American population had serious racial/ethnic tensions with both groups some decades ago.</p>

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To be honest, I don’t know why someone would want to go back.</p>

<p>Perfectly understandable for someone not to go back to an area where they were made uncomfortable or were discriminated against. Especially, when they do not need to go to that area.</p>

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<p>Well, I guess the US is just a festering hell-hole of racial tension everywhere you turn.</p>

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<p>Not necessarily. However, it’s better to extend understanding and sympathy for those who had such experiences and not disputing/debating them on such points.</p>

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<p>I can simultaneously feel bad for someone who had a bad experience, yet not feel the need to extrapolate that that experience is a common one or one that everyone needs to be on full red alert for at all times.</p>

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<p>No, Pizzagirl. I don’t understand how you can come to the conclusion. It is perfectly understandable why someone would remove themselves from a situation or area that makes them uncomfortable. Why would someone makes themselves uncomfortable on purpose? I don’t understand why you are against the idea of someone avoiding an area…</p>

<p>And avoiding an area is not being on “full red alert”.</p>

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<p>Y’all should see Boston now. Or the same parts of the south that led to so many crazy stories in the past. Not count on things being frozen in time. </p>

<p>Not count on things being frozen in time. Or old memories being informative, today.</p>

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<p>They can choose to not go to an area if they want to. How does it effect anyone else? So they may miss out on a really good BBQ restaurant that opened up within the past 20 years…Their loss.</p>

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<p>Many years ago I had a meal of broccoli then followed by dessert of ice cream (dont ask). Shortly thereafter I got a pretty unpleasant GI distress. I avoided broccoli for a long time. Didn’t give up ice cream though. Guess its all relative.</p>

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<p>The point is more, how much do we rely on old memories to rationalize decisions? In my family, there was an expression for this. Started with, “I once-” Fill in the blank. “I once had an incident with cops, I’ll never call them again.” Or, “I once had a rude cabbie, so I know, heh heh, what cabbies are like.” Do we really want to suggest all people in some part of Georgia are threatening? </p>

<p>This is one way stereotypes hold with such fervor. Someone once knew someone who- or once had some experience. And now they pass it along to all members of whatever group.</p>

<p>Some of these things should have a life cycle and then be reconsidered, in modern context. Not saying one has to rush down there to revisit the dynamics.</p>

<p>Haha, jym, I avoided chicken salad for a few decades, based on one incident.</p>

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<p>Exactly! We should be looking at the scientific research and stop pretending that our anecdotal stories are representative of the real world.</p>

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<p>There’s probably something wrong with me, but I actually HAVE read the 25 pages of this thread, although I’ve refrained from posting. I found it compelling,even thought the twists and turns it took were frustrating. I don’t remember a lot of personal contact with substitute teachers when I was a HS student, so you are spared that. So I asked my DD, who is 23, whether I thought that the sub’s question was appropriate. I’m heading into anecdotal territory here, but that’s all I’ve got.</p>

<p>She stunned me by vehemently responding “Absolutely not!” Why, for goodness sake? “It’s never appropriate for a sub to ask anything personal about someone’s name during roll call. I went to school with “XYZ” who had the strangest name ever, and nobody ever asked where she came from.” Once in a while, someone would say, “I’m old, can you help me pronounce this name?”, which kids were apparently ok with. As a person pretty close to the high school experience, she feels that the sub was exhibiting some strange behavior, especially when he continued to prod her with questions about the political climate in her ancestral country, and some weird quizzing about idioms. Yes, other students were asked about their names. According to OP, they also felt uncomfortable. OP asked if this is appropriate. After all these pages, I’m kind of thinking it isn’t. </p>

<p>And at least one of you have agreed that the sub could be a “nutjob”. If that’s the case, it’s pretty pointless to explore this person’s motives in asking these questions. And if he does have issues, I really don’t see how asking him what he meant by asking them serves any purpose. And my DD, who has experienced some poor treatment by teachers, said, " Yeah, right! Then you ask him what he meant by that, and he pulls the old 'I didn’t mean anything, why are you getting so upset/defensive about it crap.There’s a lot of passive aggressive behavior out there.</p>

<p>OK, brace yourselves for another anecdote: 30 years ago, I taught a young black woman with a very strange name.This was a job related training class, She was very young, very smart, and we talked about our personal lives as we got to know each other. Even though I was dying of curiosity, I never asked her about her name, and I never found out. I wasn’t close enough to her to ask this question. If she wanted to volunteer it, I was all ears. If she never told me, so what? My curiosity wasn’t satisfied. Everything that I want to know is not my right to know, at least I shouldn’t be bothering people for information while I’m taking roll call, and the school I’m subbing at isn’t interested in this information, so it’s only for my personal benefit.</p>

<p>OP wasn’t looking for a lawsuit, she wasn’t looking to storm…anything. She just wanted to know if this was ok. It bothered her. She was there. She was looking for some insight.</p>

<p>As I was composing this post, I checked back to see that this thread has veered off on yet another direction. I should have known, but like many other posters, I can’t let it go.</p>

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<p>I’d still be interested to hear why the origin of one’s name is considered so personal and private, that asking about it is inappropriate.</p>