Getting to College taught me a lot about the different facets of educational inequity that I had not realised before. Too many emotionally-fueled ideas, discussions, and thoughts were always boiling and waiting to get out every Friday morning during class and Thursday nights when I read the assigned articles and wrote my reading responses. Just so much heart in this field that I found. Amazing.
Going to College has, honestly, been a class I always looked
forward to despite it being a Friday. I think I came into the
class without much expectation and am currently, enjoying the
readings and the planning for A Day at Hampshire College very much.
This class made me rediscover my love for people and the
stories that they had, the ones that made them who they are today. I
think this fascination and passion has translated into the workshop I
decided to do that is aimed to get the kids thinking about their
identities--where they come from, what are their passions, what/who
is important to them and what do they strive for. I think the
focus on the underserved population has encouraged me to draw my own
parallels with my multi-racial roots as a Malaysian as well as the
complicated hierarchy of education back home. I feel more
informed about the various components that needs to be considered as
an educator/mentor and how multi-faceted it is. I have found
the reading responses helpful in digesting my thoughts and I feel
more comfortable in discussions this semester. I am definitely
looking forward to learning and integrating more theories into practice
during ADAHC and in future education-related efforts.
May 2014
I came into this class without too much expectation, especially it being one of my first classes in which social justice discussions were involved. Usually, I am not one who is drawn to critical discussions on social justice, however, this class was an exception. The topics we discussed around racial discrimination and education inequity seemed something I could feel passionately about. As an international student and having minimal background knowledge on higher education in America and history on the underrepresented communities, I was enlightened and rather shocked by the amount of disparity still faced by the minority groups in America. This class has constantly gotten me thinking about the education inequity in socioeconomically-poor regions in my country and the unequal access to government scholarships and local university spots for racial minorities. Although the circumstances may be slightly different, the passion and emotions that are triggered at the injustice or clear bias overall resonates across contexts. Instead of linking cultural deficit to underrepresented communities, we need to provide them the tools that they have not had the chance to attain in order for them to navigate the setbacks in life and achieve their greatest potential. I am interested in thinking about how the design of learning environments (social, emotional, and academic) can be instrumental against educational inequity.
My educational background is dominantly traditional and it has taken a while to get used to the more discussion-based classes. However, this semester, I do feel more comfortable sharing my ideas and comments on the issues discussed—it is easier to do so when the topics are something you are emotionally invested in. In truth, I always find myself engaged in the discussions whether it be listening to the conversation, formulating ideas and connections in my head or sharing my opinion with the class when I think it is valuable. I have attended all the classes and I have found my preparation for this class to be fairly consistent. The class had a fairly large reading load but the reading responses were something I thought helped me really flesh out my ideas and learn better as I processed my thoughts better through writing. Towards the end of the semester, I recall having some very busy weeks causing my reading responses to be less critical but other than that, I have always strived to find personal connections and form my perspectives on the subject at hand.
I feel there were so many reading responses which were quite easily written because I had a lot to say about the matter. In particular, I would say the week on identity development sparked my idea for the workshop which I invested a lot of thought into. The final paper definitely challenged the time I had to work on it, partly because of external factors (an overwhelming workload). Overall, most of the work that I struggled with weren't necessarily ones that I didn't put effort or interest into but rather, the assignments in which I had minimal amount of time to actually work on. Nonetheless, I still felt that I was equally invested and passionate about them throughout the process.
Overall, this class has sparked much passion that I didn't realise was that strong about educational equity and access. The experience from ADAHC has inspired me to keep reaching out to kids and taught me better on how to approach them as a mentor and educator in the future. I hope to explore this field deeper and try to find more connections to issues in my home country. Looking forward to learning and growing!
February 2014
May 2014
I came into this class without too much expectation, especially it being one of my first classes in which social justice discussions were involved. Usually, I am not one who is drawn to critical discussions on social justice, however, this class was an exception. The topics we discussed around racial discrimination and education inequity seemed something I could feel passionately about. As an international student and having minimal background knowledge on higher education in America and history on the underrepresented communities, I was enlightened and rather shocked by the amount of disparity still faced by the minority groups in America. This class has constantly gotten me thinking about the education inequity in socioeconomically-poor regions in my country and the unequal access to government scholarships and local university spots for racial minorities. Although the circumstances may be slightly different, the passion and emotions that are triggered at the injustice or clear bias overall resonates across contexts. Instead of linking cultural deficit to underrepresented communities, we need to provide them the tools that they have not had the chance to attain in order for them to navigate the setbacks in life and achieve their greatest potential. I am interested in thinking about how the design of learning environments (social, emotional, and academic) can be instrumental against educational inequity.
My educational background is dominantly traditional and it has taken a while to get used to the more discussion-based classes. However, this semester, I do feel more comfortable sharing my ideas and comments on the issues discussed—it is easier to do so when the topics are something you are emotionally invested in. In truth, I always find myself engaged in the discussions whether it be listening to the conversation, formulating ideas and connections in my head or sharing my opinion with the class when I think it is valuable. I have attended all the classes and I have found my preparation for this class to be fairly consistent. The class had a fairly large reading load but the reading responses were something I thought helped me really flesh out my ideas and learn better as I processed my thoughts better through writing. Towards the end of the semester, I recall having some very busy weeks causing my reading responses to be less critical but other than that, I have always strived to find personal connections and form my perspectives on the subject at hand.
I feel there were so many reading responses which were quite easily written because I had a lot to say about the matter. In particular, I would say the week on identity development sparked my idea for the workshop which I invested a lot of thought into. The final paper definitely challenged the time I had to work on it, partly because of external factors (an overwhelming workload). Overall, most of the work that I struggled with weren't necessarily ones that I didn't put effort or interest into but rather, the assignments in which I had minimal amount of time to actually work on. Nonetheless, I still felt that I was equally invested and passionate about them throughout the process.
Overall, this class has sparked much passion that I didn't realise was that strong about educational equity and access. The experience from ADAHC has inspired me to keep reaching out to kids and taught me better on how to approach them as a mentor and educator in the future. I hope to explore this field deeper and try to find more connections to issues in my home country. Looking forward to learning and growing!
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