...you sigh, because you realize (but are not surprised) that your wonderful students are evil conservative nincompoops.
No, I don't really think that about my students. But it can sometimes be frustrating to find out their opinions when it comes to politics.
We read an excerpt from a book by Jonathan Kozol about the de facto inequality that exists in public schools due to government funding. My students had to write a letter to Kozol saying whether they agree or disagree with his argument that schools in poor areas should receive more government funding than those in richer neighborhoods, in order to create true educational equality. Keep in mind, most of my students come from quite wealthy families; that's how they're able to afford tuition at NYU, a private university.
Here are some troubling samples of what the majority (not all, thankfully!) of my students wrote:
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| ("Good" grammar, not good point of view!) |
These students are intermediate level, so it's important for me to remember that their rationales are a bit crudely expressed. Still, it can be frustrating to have students write these kinds of things after I've done my best to explain how logical (from my point of view) Kozol's argument is.
Maybe some of them will eventually change their mind a wee bit?
2 comments:
WOW. just... wow! that's kind of depressing. i don't know anything about your students' backgrounds but i guess in order to be attending ESL classes at a university you've got to have money, but then i think about the opinions of uppity native english speakers who say similar harsh things to those who don't speak english that well. if that makes sense. you'd think there'd be a little more compassion!
Right?!
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