<p>I agree. oldmom-while we don’t know the sub’s motivation, he WAS targeting only a subset of students, and it made at least one of them uncomfortable. For those who can’t see that this is a problem, it’s the SEPARATION of students into those asked and those unasked that is the problem. This is “otherizing” some of the students into a special class of “those with foreign-sounding names”. Deliberately doing this for reasons which have nothing to do with anything the class is doing and making it worse by asking about politics in these students’ alleged home countries is divisive when it’s just not necessary.</p>
<p>There is nothing wrong with discussing ethnicity in certain contexts. Last year in D’s world language class, the kids researched their ancestry, chose a specific line to explore more deeply, then compared what they’d learned to the country of origin for the languages the school offers. It was a multi-part project including name meanings, cooking and bringing in food from their ancestors’ traditions, writing an essay about how their felt about their identity, and more. Now, in THIS setting, the kids and teachers DID discuss, in detail, ethnicity, home countries, politics and race, and so on. With students from Russia, South America, Africa, China and Vietnam to name a few, this made sense IN CONTEXT. It would NOT make sense in an English class where only a few kids are asked probing questions related to ethnicity.</p>
<p>But I don’t think there is a difference. Even in that context, the topic were were covering had nothing to do with the diversity of our nation. We were learning about the Constitution!</p>
<p>My main problem is with being singled out. I don’t think its right to ask a select few about their heritage in front of the class. Again, if he had asked everyone, it would be different and might lead to an interesting discussion. But separating a few from the rest is unfair.</p>
<p>If I were singled-out and asked about my heritage in class, I know I would not be offended. I assume you were offended because you assumed the teacher was “otherizing” you because he is a white male. I know you made a point of telling us that in your initial post. Is that correct?</p>
<p>I think it is inappropriate to go through the roll and publicly ask some (but not all) of the students about their ethnic background. I think he should be told not to do it. I am not implying it would be ok if he asked every student the same question. It starts with “It’s none of his business” and it ends with “It is really none of his business” with several other good reasons in between.</p>
<p>I included that to add context. I sometimes feel that white americans don’t know what its like to amoung the minority and can be clueless about the sensitivity of the subject. All white males are not clueless, and non-white males can be clueless. </p>
<p>Another poster alluded to a scenario where the sub was a man who shared my heritage. I’m pretty sure I would feel the same way since I don’t enjoy being made to feel “different” from my peers. However I honestly think I would sympathize with an immigrint more since he may not be aware that white people are not all the same either.</p>
<p>Okay, is this just a school thing? Because school is supposed to prepare you for life and this is a fairly common question, “Where are you from. Oh, I heard blah-blah-blah”. Happens all the time routinely. Means nothing. I believe it happens in all races but, of course, I could be wrong.</p>
<p>I’m trying to understand why a person’s heritage is “no one’s business” and why being different is something that should not be spoken about. I know history was abusive, but today? I’m not feeling a problem but again, maybe it’s because of where I live.</p>
<p>present day is still abusive. How many stories have we heard about mosques being bombed, and teachers being much more aggressive than mine was. heres a story right here:</p>
<p>Can we really wonder why students like me aren’t jumping up and down to disclose there heritage?</p>
<p>In a classroom, there is an unequal power distribution. When a teacher asks me a question, I feel more inclined to answer than if it were a peer.</p>
<p>OP-my mistake, I thought you’d said it was an LA class. But my answer doesn’t change-you hit it right on the head when you said "I sometimes feel that white americans don’t know what its like to amoung the minority and can be clueless about the sensitivity of the subject. "</p>
<p>Even being married to an African American and having a biracial child I am sometimes less than clear on sensitivities. I can be as understanding as I want but I don’t have the history or know what even now, today, people of color can experience. As my D once put it when she was younger, “No offense Mom, but you’re white.” </p>
<p>When D was in a situation in class several years ago and spoke out about it, so many white parents said things like, “It’s not like that,” or “It doesn’t happen here,” or “you’re misunderstanding.” It’s a pretty common thing, actually, white people devaluing a person of color’s real and honest reactions to something insensitive. </p>
<p>I feel like that’s exactly what’s been happening here to the OP. Her reaction is being denigrated as over the top. She’s pointed out more than once that only certain students were singled out. What more does anyone want to show that this was not casual conversation but at best cluelessness towards students of color?</p>
<p>ETA: Bay, you’re very lucky your location does not experience instances of abuse of people of color. What a wonderful place it must be! But out here in the wide world, I can say with absolute truth that I don’t know a single black person who has not experienced racism on some level. Not one. It’s not all ancient history. It never has been.</p>
<p>The post was about name pronunciation during roll call unless I misunderstood. They happened to not be white but I didn’t read anything about race except from poster so I would still give him the benefit of a doubt. Clueless to her sensitivity about her heritage is possible, even likely, as many posters on here would be as well. But how do you make rules about asking people of a certain shade or skin tone a question like where are you from? That’s the first question at many job interviews.</p>
<p>This wasn’t a query about “where are you from” in an adult job interview. It was a substitute teacher in a high school class calling the roll and treating students of color differently from white students.</p>
<p>That question’s not the problem. If they leave me or someone else who’s not eager to have a discussion about one’s heritage by saying [x area of the US], that’s one thing. It’s another when they ask “Where are you REALLY from?” </p>
<p>I will admit to getting annoyed sometimes with the questioner when he/she’s asking me either question when I’m in the middle of getting some serious work done to meet a deadline. However, that’s mainly my ENTJ personality exhibiting itself in the form of impatience at colleagues/supervisor distracting me while I’m in the middle of work for some idle chit-chat. </p>
<p>It’s especially irritating to visible minorities who were born in the US…especially if they’re second generation or later. I tend not to be as sensitive to this as I am first-generation whereas some in-laws whose families have been in this country* for over a century do get ticked off about being asked that follow-up question. </p>
<ul>
<li>Specifically, California Bay area. And the irony is that many “Real Americans” who assume he and his family are recent immigrants on the basis of their visible minority status find that their roots in California/US is often far less timewise than his family’s.<br></li>
</ul>
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<p>If that’s the case, my Labor Lawyer friends would advise them to cease asking such questions directly in interviews as they could open themselves up to possible EEOC/employment discrimination suits. </p>
<p>The ones who work in corporate firms specifically instruct hiring managers/HR to never ask such questions in one-on-one interviews just like they’d instruct interviewers to never ask women about marital status, family plans, etc.</p>
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<p>Out of curiosity, which area of California are you based?</p>
<p>cobrat,
I do not want to say where I currently reside, but I have lived in Northern, Southern and Central Cal for over 35 years. I have never heard the phrase “Real Americans” used here.</p>
<p>I’m just wondering as I have family and friends who lived in various parts of California, especially the Bay and LA areas for far longer periods…including the in-law family who have been living in the Bay Area almost uninterrupted since the 1890’s.*</p>
<p>My older cousins…including the ones in various parts of California faced the various forms of racist bullying during their formative years from the mid’60s till the early '80s. Granted, it was probably tempered by the fact many of the families had multiple brothers who attended school at the same time. Still, that meant many fights and this was a period when there were still many parents back then who believed that being beaten up till one bleeds “builds character”…especially for boys. </p>
<p>For the Japanese-American in-laws of my older cousins’/my generation who came of age around the same time period, they faced anti-Japanese hatred from WWII throughout their childhood from classmates and many adults. Was so bad I heard some preferred to pretend they were Chinese/Koreans to mitigate/avoid it. </p>
<p>While I can understand wartime hatreds from those who fought and witnessed/suffered atrocities at the hands of the Imperial Japanese, German Nazis, and other Fascist Axis forces, this hatred shouldn’t be visited on those who weren’t involved/old enough to have been involved or moreso, those who weren’t even born when the war was taking place. </p>
<ul>
<li>Almost due to the Japanese-American internment during WWII.</li>
</ul>
<p>It’s not just white people who have preconceptions about “REAL Americans”.</p>
<p>I have an Asian American colleague working abroad w me who constantly gets surprised reactions from the Asian local staff when they learn he is American. He often gets the remark from them, “but you look Asian!”</p>