Segragation: A School Debate
Last week, my language arts teacher wrote the word “Segregation” on the board and told us to write for ten minutes what the word makes us think. What it makes us feel. Our reactions. In a little while, I’ll post what I wrote, but for now, here’s what occurred afterward:
Our language arts teacher discussed our reactions with us for a while before throwing the real purpose of the exercise at us. She wrote on the board one question: “Should segregation be allowed in schools if it will help students achieve?” The answer was, naturally, a vehement “no”. We talked all that day about the issue, and all today as well, but I still can’t find an answer. I want my peers to succeed, but I don’t want to be separated from my friends. It’s a terrible, difficult question that doesn’t have a clear answer once you think about it. Anyway, enough with the moping, that wasn’t my goal for this post. I just wanted to share what I wrote about segregation:
The word segragation rings of one concept: fear. Segregation was established originally because those who created it were terrified of other races. They clung, with idiotic obstinacy, to the concept that “different” somehow equated to “bad” or “lesser”. Segregation is now illegal, a change for the better. However, students often self-segregate themselves, not by race or gender, but a new and elusive deciding factor: “coolness”. No one can say what the aforementioned coolness is, or who decides it, or what it takes to obtain it. It just is. Still, this new form of segregation is ultimately based on the same fear that drove segragation when it was based on race: the fear of new ideas, new people. Xenophobia.
This fear encompasses a deluge of human traits: hatred, arrogance, jealousy, cruelty. It is the monster that lurks, reclusive, in the forbidden shadows of the mind. The end of segregation symbolized the end of the monster’s reign of terror, a spreading of light to steal away the shadows. Fear is the drive of the monster, it’s sustenance. Take away the fear, and in the golden sunlight, the monster shrivels.
Wow. Depressing, right? Well, naturally. Not exactly a fairy cakes and honey drops and butterflies topic. But it has an undercurrent of hope. Hope for change. Hope for the destruction of stereotypes. Hope that, one day, everyone will treat each other with equal respect, despite social standing, race or gender.
If nothing else, we always have hope.
September 8th, 2009Topic: Life, Ramblings Tags: epiphany, Life
September 9th, 2009 at 7:52 am
I cannot wait until you are here so we can discuss this in person.
September 9th, 2009 at 10:34 am
I know we talked about this on a school run, but reading this here sends my thoughts in another direction. Before we were talking more along the race lines as far as segregation. Now, I wonder what that conversation would look like along class and gender standing.