Confucius once stated, “By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.” I believe all three of Confucius’ components to wisdom are applicable to me as I process and make sense of Urban Seminar.
Previous to this, I had never had any extensive experience in an urban setting. To my surprise, I found a lot of similarities between my experiences with international education and with urban education.
I specifically found a lot of similarities between my cultural experiences in Uganda and my cultural experiences in Philadelphia. In Uganda, there is an assumption from Americans that the children are in need of material possessions and help from Americans. Statements are made such as: “How can they live like this”, “I can’t wait to go home and use a real shower”, and “everything here is dirty”. I found myself slipping into this mindset and wanting to “fix” their “problems” and measuring their standard of living up to mine and assuming the difference must be wrong. However, this is extremely arrogant of me as an American to think WE have the answers and the power to “make the world right”, “right” meaning to make the world westernized like us. Just because we do something one way and Ugandans do it another way does not mean that one way is RIGHT or superior to the other. In the same way, I found similar assumptions to be present in the urban setting of Philadelphia. I overheard the same statements here: “How do they live like this”, “I can’t wait to go home and have a room that’s actually clean”, and “everything is so ghetto here”. I again felt myself slipping into the pattern of elevating my way of living above another way and assuming that this group of people or culture needed some reform.
Who exactly is the “they” I am stigmatizing in both situations? What are the implications of the way I define words like “real”, “dirty”, and “ghetto”? How can I justify getting the slightest glimpse of another’s culture and yet jumping to an enormous generalization about a population as a whole? No matter what culture I am blessed to observe and participate in, MY way of living is not superior to another, just different. Imposing my way of life is not only rude and offensive to someone from a different setting, but it implies that I am arrogant and unwilling to view life through their eyes.
Stereotypes run deep and are often a part of our unconsciousness. These are something I found present in both my experiences in Uganda and in Philadelphia. A common stereotype in Uganda: All Ugandans live in poverty. A common stereotype in Philadelphia: All urban parents don’t care about their children and their education. These well meaning but extremely misleading statements stigmatize these specific populations and perpetuate misconceptions and false representations. When given careful consideration, these statements are absurd. When my experiences with just a FRACTION of these two populations are examined it becomes evident that all the Ugandans I came in contact with did NOT live in poverty and that all of the urban parents I came in contact with were NOT unconcerned with their children’s education.
Let’s take another look at the way I’m defining my words. Poverty. What is poverty? Do I mean physical poverty? As in, they do not have the physical conveniences and comforts the typical American lifestyle entertains? Or do I mean spiritual poverty? Or poverty within relationships in the community? And if we do mean physical poverty, do those conveniences that we prize so highly as a developed country help us to become independent or cause us to become dependent on man made machines? Our ideas of “right” and “best” should be challenged and pondered before we are so bold as to label them with absolutes. How about the word “unconcerned”? Am I accusing parents of neglect? Violence? Apathy? It is ridiculous to assume that urban parents in Philadelphia love their children less than other parents do. Perhaps our misconception of unconcern is really a parent encouraging his or her student to be independent or a lack of the parent knowing what is expected from him or her. Before making rash accusations, we should dig deeper and be open to learning rather than fitting a situation into our previous schema.
I found something else through my experiences in Uganda and Philadelphia- I found my passion. Upon returning from Uganda and Rwanda and reading and researching about Sudan I became passionate about education as a vehicle for empowering people towards social change and conflict resolution. I dismissed teaching in the US from my future job radar because in this country clearly you can’t teach to promote social change (or at least my uneducated presuppositions told me so). I wanted to teach children who had fewer opportunities, who were at a disadvantage by their circumstances, and who had challenges to overcome. Then I taught for two weeks in Philadelphia and was blown away by the similar challenges I saw children face daily. THESE children too need education for empowerment. THESE children too need social change and conflict resolution. But this is NOT about me giving my students something. I want to be a guide for my students on their journey to excellence but I will also be LEARNING alongside them and from them.
I realized my passion does not belong solely to Africa. My passion belongs to every child who is fighting for an education to make a change and have a brighter future. I do not aspire to be a teacher who will define what “change” and “brighter future” mean to my students. I aspire to be a teacher who can equip my students with the abilities and tools to find out with that means for themselves, independently of me. I am passionate about teaching and my students. I am passionate about God and loving others. And I believe that I can use all of these passions to the fullest for the glory of God no matter where He leads me.
Awesome Becky!
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