As a foreigner and as being an Asian the word 'racism' is somehow the most familiar word that i adapted throughout my immigrant life in Australia. I was and I still am constantly going through discrimination and racism. I can definitely say that growing up in Australia, although I am Australian citizen but having Asian face was the most hardest thing to fight because I did not know where my identity was. I strongly believe that my culture creates my identity and to some extent it effects on my education.
The article that I've looked at 'Five experiences with racism in Australia' I was able to relate to my personal experience had deep thought of the word 'racism' and asked myself 'how racist am i?'. These article contains five different racism experience from different race. If you think about it, racism occurs when one person is different to the rest of people, starting to look at that person with negative perspective thinking that person is 'different' or even 'wrong. Everyone becomes a foreigner when they travel to a different area and I am sure everyone have experience of being treated differently. I guess racism starts from 'looking different' and starts judging people and the biggest battle is to keep firm and believe in yourself that you are not different. The most relate-able part of this article was "When Kamahl moved to Australia as a teenager to attend school, his was one of the few black faces, a difference he says gave him lasting insecurity but led to his trademark line, ''Why are people so unkind?" When I first came to Australia at the age of 10, because I was so little I did not sense any racism going around in primary school. But as i started to age during high school I started to feel that people are so unkind to me. I was teased many times from aussie boys that I have small eyes and for being so 'Asian'. I hated going to school ever since racism was real to me. It isn't my fault that I have Asian background and my parents decided to move to Australia for me to have better education. I always thought 'I wish I could meet them in my mother country and treat them worse than they treated me'
However, just in the article it says ''I don't remember ever being picked on because of my background. I remember everyone wanting to come back to my place after school because we had fantastic food.'' I sometimes had good aussie friends around having interest in my culture and accepted the way I am. They valued my culture and tradition and always asked to share my Asian background.
Moreover, "racism comes in a diverse range of colours. There is extreme racism, then there are the jokes, and then there is positive, patronising racism" this passage got me thinking that when joking gets too far it becomes racism, when people start to feel offended by the jokes (just for fun) it is absolutely being racist. My high school friend used to joke around that I don't need to spend too much money on buying eye shadows because I have small eyes. At first I took it as a joke and i personally found it funny as well not until it got too far that I started to feel uncomfortable. I believe racism starts from the little things without knowing.
When I become a high school teacher in the future, one of the hardest homework for myself would be how to deal with students being racist. It won't be easy for me to speak up and confront they are wrong as I don't want to hurt their feelings. But i strongly want them to acknowledge that people must treat other people as much as they want to be treated. One of our course reading by Wadham mentioned that "culture shapes education, and education shapes culture" (Wadham, Pudsey, Boyd. 2007, pp.1) I believe culture and education have a strong link.
References
Wadham, B., Pudsey, J. & Boyd, R. (2007). Culture and Education. Sydney: Pearson Education. Chapter 1: What is culture?
Reading your Blog, Erica Lee, set a powerful connection to aspects I have experienced before throughout my high school years. The most interesting section in which I found immensely stimulating was the fact that you did not only portray a one-sided argument; however you displayed the positive situations in which individuals experience being from other cultures. As a member of racism, in which I expressed about in my blog ‘Multiculturalism in Education’ I understand every aspect in which you have spoken about. Seeing that you are very upset due to the negative comments in which you have received creates a heartfelt dilemma.
ReplyDeleteYou and many others who experience racism acts must understand that many individuals do not know what racism is and do not think through before they speak. So what is racism initially? For most people, the answer to this question is very simple, however blind to others. Racism is prejudice, ignorance, or a disease that afflicts some individuals and causes them to discriminate against others just because of the way they look (Durr and Hill, 2006). Racism can be definitely prevented in various ways in educational facilities. As Essed (1991) states, individuals are actors in a power structure. Power can be used to reproduce racism, but it can also be used to combat racism (Essed, 1991). This powerful statement displays how schools should be able to tackle racism through their powering authority. Thus, individuals who experience racism on a daily basis throughout school by individuals who believe they have ‘power’ over another person, will be successfully tackled and reduced.
Durr, M. and Hill, S. 2006. Race, work, and family in the lives of African Americans. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Essed, P. 1991. Understanding everyday racism. Newbury Park: Sage Publications.