We did this in grad school at Penn.
The discussion of “White Privilege” is not a trend nor is it new. TBH, it’s something I think White parents should recognize and already be discussing with their children. I live in a predominately White area. My children have each dealt with situations that have made them uncomfortable. Rather than list all of these instances, I’ll pick one example: White teacher discusses a topic involving an AfAm and then asks my son or daughter, the only AFAm in the class, what their thoughts are…Then White students say racist comments regarding that same topic once class is over because according to them, my children should know all the answers regarding the topic because they are AfAm. This is just one example. My poor children have dealt with ignorant uneducated people since they were in elementary school. Complaining about 1 situation, an activity concerning White Privilege, is ridiculous imo. Hopefully everyone who participated in the activity learned something about White Privilege and/or can better empathize with those who deal with “uncomfortable” incidents regarding their race on an all too often basis.
No, Ah, I’m drawing an analogy to the pointlessness of making other people suffer so that they better appreciate your suffering
Not a fan . I find it somewhat said and misguided.There are better ways to discuss differences - remember these kids are ALL equal in that they ALL attend that college - this college certainly started off on the wrong foot IMO. Sad thing is there are a bunch of people probably patting themselves on the back in the admin offices and saying “we done good.”
But at the end, everyone knew who was least privileged also? So why do you feel that your daughter and the other white kids were the only ones feeling demeaned? I find it hard to believe that you actually think people are going to think less of your daughter because she is white and apparently at least middle classed.
roycroftmom: What steps exactly do you object to in the walk exercise?
and any others who want to explain their speciific objections to the exercise?
Thanks in advance.
Even outside the diversity workshops (whether done well or poorly), college can still highlight some of these distinctions and prevent completely “clean slate” interactions. For example:
- Who lives in the expensive dorm versus the cheap dorm (or expensive versus cheap off-campus housing)?
- Who needs to work a part time job, borrow student loans, and do financial aid forms to afford college?
- Who has the opportunity to choose expensive social activities?
- Who gets assumed to have been admitted with lower standards because of race/ethnicity (even if the college does not consider race/ethnicity in admissions)?
- What history is celebrated with named buildings and monuments on campus?
In addition, students may being their own prejudices, or naive insults+, from their home town bubbles to campus. Depending on the frequency of such, that can result in an uncomfortable campus environment for those on the wrong end of those prejudices.
+For example, a commonly used term to describe dishonest business practices or theft that is actually derived from an ethnic stereotype.
“these kids are ALL equal in that they ALL attend that college”
But they don’t all think of each other as equals. My daughter came home from a college send off party the other day and told me that her classmates whined the whole time about the “type” of roommates they had randomly been assigned. They discussed deciding to inscribe their names on all their belongings after viewing their roommate’s social media pages. Just what could they have seen that would have given them the idea that their roommates were potential thieves?
Alh, the privilege walk equates all sorts of things which are vastly different, but everything qualifies as just one step forward or one step back. Being forced to leave your homeland is not the same as being left handed or unable to find band aids you like at the store. Lacking health insurance is not equivalent hardship to not feeling like you fit in at your high school.
@ucbalumnus I am not saying people don’t judge/make assumptions they absolutely do. Maybe it is nicer to think it happens organically as opposed to being pushed by the school. And quite honestly, at least for my student, they could care less about how someone got into school or whether they have to work a part-time job… that is not who they are… the disappointment is being made to feel like that is inherently part of their person.
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Would you support the exercise if the steps were weighted differently? How would you weight them? It gets pretty subjective when I start attempting that judgement.
I don’t get the thread title–how can “privilege” not matter? Isn’t it the essential nature of privilege that it makes a difference–that it matters?
And those who have it, it’s not a matter of feeling bad–but of acknowledging it, and understanding the difference it makes.
The point is it isn’t all equal. Some of us start off born lucky. It’s not our fault. We just got lucky.
The playing field isn’t suddenly leveled the day college begins. Too much led up to that day.
When people talk about counting their blessings, sometimes they are acknowledging privilege. imho. I don’t ever hear people complaining about counting blessings. fwiw
adding: I am not a counting my blessings sort of person, but I wondered if that analogy might work?
Some of the kinds of things that happen organically may not be desirable (e.g. self-segregation). Presumably, the diversity workshops are intended to reduce the kinds of undesirable things that tend to happen. Whether the diversity workshops are done well or poorly is another story altogether.
My problem is I don’t think anyone should feel inferior. We experienced a similar program last year and many people left feeling more divided than united.
I don’t believe people should be singled out by race, sexual preference, gender identity, political views, profession or any other classification you can think of.
Rather than dividing into groups why not pull all the students into the middle. Have them look around them and point out that they have way more similarities than differences. They are all young people starting a new adventure. Most are leaving their homes for the first time. Enjoy and celebrate that.
Would that not be way more uniting and inclusive than singling out and dividing these groups??
Paying for the Party - An excellent read for those parents who believe college offers an equal playing field. It describes how very important savvy, involved parents are to a student’s opportunities for success in college and afterwards. Parents have a huge impact. Kids succeed without involved parents, but they aren’t as lucky/ privileged as those who have them.
@cheetahgirl121 I too wonder about the title you chose, “Why does it matter?” It doesn’t matter if one doesn’t believe “White privilege” exists. It doesn’t matter if instead of acknowledging this learning opportunity and responding with a growth mindset, we respond with a “why was my child made to feel bad” mindset. Such a wasted learning opportunity.
Wow. If anyone is seeing this as “making people feel inferior”, it sounds like a willful misunderstanding. If anything, it’s the opposite–acknowledging all the superior advantages one may have (and if you don’t happen to have one of them, then fine, you don’t need to acknowledge it.) It’s a matter of being honest with ONESELF.
Does anyone really think it is not easier to go through life as a healthy, wealthy, white, straight, man? I’m not saying it is “easy” but I am saying it is “easier” in our society to NOT be a sick, poor, minority, gay, woman. Is that really debatable?
Now the guy might have all sorts of challenges that arise, and the woman may use her challenges to rise to the highest levels of achievements.
But unless we recognize that as a society there are challenges and blockades that exist for some people and not for other people…we are not being honest with ourselves.
It is usually only those whose privilege is being pointed out who answer with “but we are all equal.” It is usually those with the most to lose who say “we shouldn’t focus on our differences but on our similarities.”
The fact of the matter is, society DOES focus on our differences and ignoring that reality just continues the idea that the minority experience isn’t real.
Saying black lives matter is not the same as saying other lives don’t matter. When black lives are seemingly treated as disposable by many in law enforcement it is important to reiterate that THESE lives matter too.
I appreciate that these diversity trainings in colleges may be the first time that some students have had to understand that their life has been made easier by the color of their skin, by their gender, by their sexual identity. They didn’t choose those factors so they feel it is unfair to be judged by them. WELCOME to the world that our minority citizens have been living in their entire lives.
Everyone is talking about whether or not it’s good for the rich white people to feel bad and different (I think it is not good), but is it possible that they weren’t the only ones who felt bad? I know that lately college campus society seems to be anti-privilege and pro-people who struggle, but I can’t help but think there were at least one or two people in that activity that didn’t want to be pointed out as a have-not for being black or low income.
I am a white female who also happens to be work study eligible and hoping to work 2 part times jobs (because the work study amount doesn’t cover everything) and I wouldn’t want any of that to be pointed out to a group of fellow freshmen when I am meeting them for the first time. It’s one thing to sit in a circle and have an open discussion (which, in my experience, can do a good job of producing discomfort), but to make people walk like this just seems degrading.
- terrified incoming freshman