Dear Education Students,
I've been marking your essays all weekend, and gotta say: You are making me lose my faith in humanity. I've had it with you one-dimensional, uncritical zombies from privileged backgrounds who can't imagine a world beyond the tip of your nose, or worse, that exists in your mind for the exclusive proposition of kissing and making comfy your (mostly) lily white asses.
I worry for a generation of students who will be put into your socially arrogant and pedagogically incapable hands. I am concerned, because, for the most part, many of you are not as bright as the children you will be teaching.
I cringe when male pre-service teachers write things like "I like teaching girls. They aim to please and don't talk back," without blinking an eye, or even drawing enough of a critical breath to make a nostril hair quiver. The Grrrrrl Power pink haired, zine-producing anarchist of my disenfranchised youth wants to bitch slap you for such a dangerous and stupid remark. I might yet.
And you double-x chromosome types who argue that "gender discrimination doesn't exist and I wish those hairy feminists would stop whining about it." While I could point out that women still earn only 77 cents for every dollar that men make, it would be lost on you. In your last essay you used "chateau" as a verb (as in, "My family chateaus in France every summer."). In this one, you said that you considered your social location as being "low income" because you only work occasionally during the summer and are too busy skiing in the winter to worry much about grades or poor people. Good thing that the homeless covered in snow make awesome bumps to snowboard over, it's very considerate of them, really.
For the few of you who can make some critical connections, and write a paper with a flash of insight, (or even occasionally brilliance), I'd like to say *thank you.* I think our schools need more educators like you, and will do everything I can to encourage you and support your work. I think you'll be great teachers. Hopefully you won't get too burnt out trying to spend your career undoing the damage your ignorant, obnoxious and ill-informed zombie peers are inflicting on classrooms. Who knows? Maybe while relaxing post-ski at the Chalet of Meritocracy they'll choke to death on their foie gras and spare us all. One can only hope.
I've been marking your essays all weekend, and gotta say: You are making me lose my faith in humanity. I've had it with you one-dimensional, uncritical zombies from privileged backgrounds who can't imagine a world beyond the tip of your nose, or worse, that exists in your mind for the exclusive proposition of kissing and making comfy your (mostly) lily white asses.
I worry for a generation of students who will be put into your socially arrogant and pedagogically incapable hands. I am concerned, because, for the most part, many of you are not as bright as the children you will be teaching.
I cringe when male pre-service teachers write things like "I like teaching girls. They aim to please and don't talk back," without blinking an eye, or even drawing enough of a critical breath to make a nostril hair quiver. The Grrrrrl Power pink haired, zine-producing anarchist of my disenfranchised youth wants to bitch slap you for such a dangerous and stupid remark. I might yet.And you double-x chromosome types who argue that "gender discrimination doesn't exist and I wish those hairy feminists would stop whining about it." While I could point out that women still earn only 77 cents for every dollar that men make, it would be lost on you. In your last essay you used "chateau" as a verb (as in, "My family chateaus in France every summer."). In this one, you said that you considered your social location as being "low income" because you only work occasionally during the summer and are too busy skiing in the winter to worry much about grades or poor people. Good thing that the homeless covered in snow make awesome bumps to snowboard over, it's very considerate of them, really.
For the few of you who can make some critical connections, and write a paper with a flash of insight, (or even occasionally brilliance), I'd like to say *thank you.* I think our schools need more educators like you, and will do everything I can to encourage you and support your work. I think you'll be great teachers. Hopefully you won't get too burnt out trying to spend your career undoing the damage your ignorant, obnoxious and ill-informed zombie peers are inflicting on classrooms. Who knows? Maybe while relaxing post-ski at the Chalet of Meritocracy they'll choke to death on their foie gras and spare us all. One can only hope.
