Indian Education Reflection
The racism of this text was quite hurtful to read to be honest. In the first grade section, he uses the event of being bullied and explains how he was punished for standing up for himself while none of the teachers even paid attention to the white bully. I found the ugly redhead teacher Betty Towle too. Even though Sherman was a very good student that missionary teacher still thought less of him because of his race. I had a teacher in the past who responded to me quite harsher than others. But unlikely Sherman I wasn’t as mature with the subject. Let’s just say the bite mark on her hand and hair tugging was my way of expressing my feelings. Luckily it “expressed” me out of there.
Hey Tony,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the reminder that while some of us have the privilege of reading this material and feeling/thinking about it from a distance, for others it is very personal. I cannot imagine what it is like to have to deal with racism from your perspective, yet your words at least give me an insight.
I read that paper too and not only did it give me more insight into Sherman's story but to know it was something personal to you too is interesting (sorry this isn't the right word but I can't think of the right one). I've never had the experience of teachers treating me any other way than a student except for many one teacher who ignored me mostly because I didn't fit into his idea of a student? Still not sure but it's not nearly as traumatic as Sherman's or your experience. I'm glad you got away from her though.
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