One of the most intense and powerful class experiences of my life came in an unexpected way: on-line. One of the first classes taken in the MAT@USC program is 517A: Understanding the Social Context of Urban Schools. For this class, 23% of the grade involves posting in on-line forums. For the majority of the course, I was really very skeptical about the nature of the content being posted. Were my peers posting what they felt – honest, thought-provoking discourse – or were they merely writing for the sake of completing an assignment?
Sometimes, the formality and lack of depth to posts makes it hard to see the people posting as people, but, instead, just names and pictures who quickly put together words because they know they are being graded. In my opinion, this is not what education is about. It is especially not what a Master’s education at USC is about. I want to experience uncomfortable and embattled learning that forces students to think about who they really are and gets them to examine others using new lenses. One can’t help but wonder, “Does the comfort level of the environment we take class in (a bedroom or kitchen table in our own home, the geographic location of our choice, etc.) diminish the quality of communication between students? Or do we have a choice to express ourselves in ways that otherwise wouldn’t be possible in a traditional learning environment? Can deep, powerful dialogue happen in an online classroom?”
Many of these questions were answered for me during one of the last classes in 517A. We had to read a book called “Taking it Personally: Racism in the Classroom.” “Taking it Personally” is one of the most powerful books I have ever read. It contains personal journal entries written by students where they pour their hearts and emotions out to their teacher about what they experienced in class and describe their own backgrounds and upbringing.
The reading made me think of an experience I had my freshman year in college when I was suspended because of my hostile reaction to a video about racism. I felt angry and powerless because the video posited the belief that white people have privilege and are internal racists whether they like it or not. “Taking It Personally” described almost exactly the same thing happening to a group of teachers in training who were watching a movie called “The Color of Fear”. Here is a trailer for the film to give you an understanding of the content:
Reading “Taking it Personally” gave me a powerful opportunity to really think about my identity and how I see others. In turn, I wanted my peers to feel equally involved in this deep introspection and so I went to the forum and asked, “How can we as a class–as a program–support one another in this kind of discovery? Let’s prove that we are capable of having deep, honest, uncomfortable dialogues about issues through this medium if it really can be done. Am I the only one who feels this way?”
I then posed a series of questions to my fellow students, some that were focused on the reading and others that were more general:
• Do you feel like you have a place to express your thoughts and emotion about the book?
• Could this kind of experience described in the book have happened in an on-line program? Why or why not?
• Do you consider yourself to be racist?
• Do you consider yourself to be a minority?
• What does reading this book for class say about Rossier? USC? America?
• Would this discussion be any different if it took place in a real life classroom?
After I posted this on the forum class began. During this class I learned about my fellow student’s racial and religious identities, and in some cases, they openly admitted to their own prejudices. They acknowledged these things through the chat function! I heard stories about one of my fellow students teaching at a school for troubled youth where his thirteen-year old student showed him her sonogram as a surprise. Another student talked about her family’s drug problems and a family member who taught her not to hate, but to love. I shared my own religious background and identity and how that shapes my world view. The class ended with a discussion about bringing healing to our students and the world and how each person defines healing differently. I was on the verge of tears at the end of the class. I have never been that emotional, vulnerable, nor open and honest in a classroom in my life. And it all happened on-line!
I still don’t know if forums can be the standard media by which we can stir up emotion and create valuable education discussion, but I know from first hand experience how powerful an on-line classroom can be. I dare anyone who is critical of the merits of on-line education to observe a 517A class discussion about racism taught by Professor Juan Carrillo. I dare them to set aside their pre-conceived notions and open their minds and hearts to a world of possibility…
If you’d like to know more about how MAT@USC can prepare you to take your CA teaching credentials and make a difference in your local community, contact our Admissions office at 888.MAT.1USC or email us at matadmit@usc.edu.
