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<p>And I had a White-looking US history teacher in HS who took offense at being asked about her ethnicity by classmates after covering the history of immigration to the US and discussing how her family came over on Ellis Island.</p>
<p>cobrat,
CA has changed a lot over the past 35 years. CA Asians are quite successful by every measure I can think of: education, business ownership, income level. Hopefully life has improved for your relatives here, as well.</p>
<p>@Flossy, my colleague finds it amusing</p>
<p>sweetcupcake: The substitute’s behavior was inappropriate. You are justified in reporting it to the classroom teacher and if the teacher doesn’t find it inappropriate, reporting it to the principal … and so on. I don’t think it is morally necessary you do so - it’s your call. It’s a lot of ask of a high school student. I do think speaking out is the only way to change this type of behavior. Just posting it on this message board may lead some to reconsider their mainstream point of view. At the very least, it tells people not everyone sees this behavior as appropriate. Your post made me think about my own thoughtless behaviors, and I will be more careful in the future. So you impacted at least one reader posititively. Thank you.</p>
<p>On the subject of asking someone where they are from, my husband (first generation from India) gets asked this question all the time because of his accent. Admittedly, that’s the olny reason I’ll ever ask that question no matter what someone looks like. If they have a distinct accent it will provoke my curiosity.</p>
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<p>I would like to know what does OP consider a “normal” sounding name? Where do you draw the line for a name that you do not consider to be normal? </p>
<p>Op does not know the sub either and in what context the sub is asking questions. I speak with a lot of students who don’t have the names, Jane, Sue, Bob or George (no offense to people with those names). I personally am fascinated with names and the origin the stories behind the name and I ask students all of the time about their names, “wow that is a cool name, is it a family name” - in 100% of the cases it is a harmless question and most of the time a conversation starter. I tell people that I was named after my aunt who was at the hospital with my parents when I was born and how my daughter’s name was picked out of a hat (and she may not have what Op would consider a “normal” sounding name).</p>
<p>Yes, there are sensitivities that only the person in those shoes can understand. But, then we have to ask ourselves some reasonable questions. </p>
<p>Even here, some are assuming there is something “mainstream versus other” going on (not picking on you, alh, just using the word.) Sometimes, this is about personal sensitivities. And, sometimes, it shouldn’t be. </p>
<p>I agree with Bay that CA’s multicultural depth makes these sorts of questions seem less offensive. Not everywhere, but I noticed it, too. Easily the same in many big cities. And, I do not look “mainstream.” Nor do my kids, who also get this sort of question, occasionally. In CA, I was frequently asked if I am Asian-American. Never asked that in other US locations. The questions my kids are asked are generally about race.</p>
<p>My point is that “what comes next” sometimes carries more weight than the simple questions. He shouldn’t have put a kid on the spot about politics. But can he really not ask about surname origin? Does he really have to ask all the kids, in order not to be perceived as unfair?</p>
<p>I see two problems here. First - why is the sub spending at least 35 minutes of an AP class on a topic of his own choosing (as per the original post) when the teacher has left behind a lesson plan and materials for the class to work on? I don’t like the idea of a substitute teacher going off the rails. Sometimes a sub might have to fill class time, but if an AP teacher has prepared materials, they’re probably learning tools related to the subject at hand (in this case, the Constitution).</p>
<p>Second, he seems not to understand what constitutes a worthwhile discussion for all students in the class. If he’s going to create his own lesson plan, the standard, imho, ought to be “what can these students learn about this?” not “what do I find interesting?” or “what don’t I know?” Had he asked every person in the class about his/her ethnicity, what they know about current political conditions in those areas, etc. - that could have been a great discussion, even though AP Gov students probably already know about the whole melting pot thing. By asking only certain students to explain their heritage, he’s indicated that only certain names/heritages require explanation.</p>
<p>I don’t know what the guidelines are for subs in the OP’s district, but I would be surprised if “feel free to have a discussion on a topic of your own choosing” is one.</p>
<p>lookingforward: please feel free to pick on me 
no worries. I may not be on the board the entire day, but please don’t think that is because of anything you post.</p>
<p>I absolutely see this as “mainstream” thinking on the part of the substitute. The substitute looks at a list of names and picks out a few as different (not mainstream) and asks about them. This identifies some students in the class as different = not mainstream. The substitute follows up by asking where students are from, imagining (rightly or wrongly) they are from a “different” place than the US. This further differentiates a few students. Some names don’t require comment = the “normal” names, the names some of us consider mainstream.</p>
<p>I would imagine the Sweetcupcake’s real name seems pretty normal and mainstream to her/him. How some (most?) of us react to unfamiliar names depends on who we are, where we live, how we were raised, the totality of our life experiences. </p>
<p>In a classroom situation, as much as is possible, students should be treated the same. In this scenario, there was no reason to treat some students differently. The intent of the substitute doesn’t matter at all in judging the substitute’s actions as inappropriate. Probably the sub is a very nice person. The sub’s behavior was still inappropriate. </p>
<p>adding: And that behavior made at least one student uncomfortable. I guess it would be interesting to me to do a survey of the class and see how many students were made uncomfortable. I would like to think some the students not questioned were disturbed as well. Our kids understand this better than we do. imho</p>
<p>I don’t disagree. But making a big “mainstream-vs-other” thing is a different intellectual or emotional jump. You know, I’d bet Chiwetel Ejiofor has been asked, endlessly, where he is from. I’d bet nearly all of us can’t intuitively pronounce his name. He was born in London, has rich experience in theatre. Is it wrong for someone to ask him?</p>
<p>In reviewing his performance, it would be silly to focus on the name, waste an interview over it, considering the context. But, should he be offended if he is asked? And, maybe Brad Pitt isn’t?</p>
<p>I am just thinking and focusing on this particular classroom situation. If there were agreement among posters here that the substitute’s behavior in the original post was inappropriate, I would be willing to discuss how we expand that idea to other social situations. Otherwise, I don’t care to go there.</p>
<p>Obviously that shouldn’t stop anyone else :):):)</p>
<p>^^In a classroom situation, yes. This is not “the real world” as someone else said. This is a required, proscribed circumstance with unequal power. The student who declines to answer may be the student who’s written up as a troublemaker (or might not be, but he/she can’t know that for sure.) </p>
<p>But even with your example, asking “where are you from” is a loaded question compared to asking “what’s the country of origin of your family?” or “of your name?” </p>
<p>I mean, it might make sense to ask him where he’s from in the US, if the asker is asking because of his presumably British accent. But in London, yeah, when he’s speaking English with an English accent, it would be problematical.</p>
<p>But you are all still talking about a sub. Is there any situation under which a sub does the actual class material? I have never seen that with my own kids or with myself. Even in the top IB or AP classes, the sub is babysitting and killing time.</p>
<p>Here is my community, there are many people from the former Yugoslavia. Many. They have unusual names for this community but are as white as white can be. One can’t assume that only “brown or black” people have unusual names and you can’t assume that the person asking has any idea which people with unusual names are “brown or black.” </p>
<p>Now the situation in the Texas band was a shocking example of racist behavior in a school that should have caused outrage. But this? People have to work hard and bring many personal assumptions into play in order to get outraged over this.</p>
<p>If we rewrote the original post, with the substitute questioning “unusual” European names of students and asking those (white) students where they were from - it would be just as inappropriate imho</p>
<p>The substitute’s motivation/behavior doesn’t have to be racist to be inappropriate.</p>
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Europe is a pretty big place and is home to people who are not white, so to assume that
“European” names = white is a stretch. There are also plenty of names that one couldn’t possibly guess anything about the holder based on a piece of paper.</p>
<p>^^You are absolutely right. I have lots of preconceptions I need to discard. Thinking about sweetcupcake’s classroom situation is useful to me in that regard.</p>
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<p>I don’t think the original poster had to work hard and bring many personal assumptions into play to get outraged over this. OP, just wondering if you discussed this with any of your classmates.</p>
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<p>You betcha!</p>
<p>Rather than dismiss the inquiry as problematical, I would be interested in more analysis of whether it should be. There is something sad about living in a community where it is inappropriate to ask people where they are from. It is a simple question that is neutral from the standpoint of any asker, other than the bigot. It is unfortunate that we all must be denied this knowledge about our classmates and acquaintances as a result of the questionable intentions of a few.</p>
<p>I so agree with Bay.</p>
<p>I wonder if any of you who are white would present this situation to friends who are of another race. Regardless of where you live and how enlightened the citizenry, it can look very different from the other side of the color line.</p>
<p>Mind you, I am white. I moved into a mostly black neighborhood many years ago and as I made friends there and we became more comfortable talking, I learned an awful lot. Yes, society is much more enlightened about race, especially in “multicultural” places like NYC and California, but no, people of color still deal with assumptions about them due to their color.</p>