Whitewashed History

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I have to agree with the letter writer who complained that the Chronicle of Higher Education ought to cover recent events in Arizona more thoroughly (“Controversial Arizona Law Deserves Scholars’ Attention“). A new law, HB 2281, represents the cutting edge in the long-expressed desire of the right-wing to eliminate ethic studies, as a part of their larger drive to end diversity programs in education. It’s another example of the irrationality of white supremacy, its profound fear that if it does not fully assimilate the other, its own unique identity will disappear.

In Arizona, the formula is very simple: either the people who are ethnically Mexican– most are not recent immigrants, of course–drop their own language and culture and adopt European American (“white”) cultural traditions and the English language or European American culture– and the English language–will be lost forever, at least on the American continent. White culture, this assumes, isn’t strong enough to co-exist with other cultures. Ethnic studies are designed to remedy this profound paranoia about the danger implicit in other cultures.

It’s not automatic or necessarily easy, but multiple cultures can and do co-exist peacefully.The “white” paranoia, too, is rooted in a profound misunderstanding of American history that downplays if not ignores the dynamics of multiple cultures that has shaped U.S. history, for good and ill, from the central role of slavery in the early U.S. economy to the Indian genocide to the Civil Rights movement to La Raza. H.B. 2281 is trying to create a dangerous institutionalized amnesia, the very opposite of what it means to be educated.

Posted in: Economics, Language, Online Places, Professional, Writing

Back to the Future

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“A foolish consistency, Emerson wrote, “is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.” So in the hopes of not sounding like a little statesman, I am going to be inconsistent and talk about how certain forms of so-called new media, particularly games, could be a very effective tool in online education… A little speed might spice things up.

I like the idea, as I said on Monday, of keeping my online writing classroom “slow”– that is, of using teaching methods that focus almost exclusively on the written word as opposed to moving or still images. (My website, too, is heavily focused on the written text, for obvious reason.) Among other things, I think visually simple design can help to encourage reflective thinking.

On the other hand, I think that it’s important to recognize that there’s an outside to this interior, reflective space and that for many students a more kinetic approach might be an important supplement to their learning. That’s why, for example, I encourage students to listen to pod-casts about language, such as “A Way With Words.” Language study doesn’t have to be so deadly serious.

The contrast between fast and slow, in other words, might enhance the effectiveness of each. That’s also why I recommend grammar games, such as those available on Quia, as way to improve students’ basic knowledge of English. Games can help to make dull subjects a little more fun. Bibliobouts, which is a game designed to teach research, sounds intriguing for similar reasons.

Posted in: Online Places, Professional, Writing

Instant Literacy

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I enjoyed this piece on Read Write Web (“Do Kids Read Blogs? New Study Aims to Confuse“) becuase it does a great job of talking about the various ways that a survey can be designed and or manipulated to make the points that you want to make. In this case, it’s BlogHer and iVillage ‘s apparent desire to make blogs seem younger and so, presumably, more marketable, than what was recently reported by Pew Internet. What I find most interesting, though, is the way these debates illustrate the role of consumerism on new communication technologies.

In a general sense, blogs became the “thing” a few years back and as such were used to illustrate that these new technologies were improving rather than retarding literacy. Whether or not that was true, it now seems clear that, for many young people, blogging was a fad that has now faded in favor of Facebook, in the way that email faded in favor of IM’ing or texting. I keep wondering if the important trend isn’t from communication tools that takes a bit of time and commitment, to communication tools rooted in a kind of instant gratification.

Posted in: Language, Online Places, Professional

Library to World: The Reports of My Death are Greatly Exaggerated

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Nearly one-third of Americans age 14 or older – roughly 77 million people – used a public library computer or wireless network to access the Internet in the past year, according to a national report released today. In 2009, as the nation struggled through a recession, people relied on library technology to find work, apply for college, secure government benefits, learn about critical medical treatments, and connect with their communities.

“Study: A Third of Americans Use Library Computers”

This is one of those ironic bits of good news. On the one hand, it suggests the enormous importance of the library in a democratic society; on the other, it suggests something about the enormous scale of U.S. poverty in general and in the recession. It’s also a rebuff to those radical conservatives that see all government services as nefarious and to those technology Utopians (or Dystopians) who have long predicted the demise of the public library. Class trumps both.

I think the librarians, and their professional organizations, should get the credit for making sure that the library keeps up with technology in the service of making information freely available. That’s an important element in the ongoing attempts to ameliorate the impact of capital (aka the class struggle). It also shows that the computer, unlike the television (or the radio elsewhere) has yet to reach true ubiquity. The machines may be cheaper, but the machines alone don’t get you access. Broadband remains expensive.

The struggle never ends, of course, and the hope is that these sorts of studies will revitalize funding for public libraries. (Would the wacky Tea Beggars (sorry, Baggers) complain about money for library technology? No doubt they would find a way.) I can’t help but wonder, too, if the library has become a new sort of public square for many, particularly in poor urban neighborhoods and isolated small towns. Thanks to 30 years of conservative reactionary politics, it may well be the last and perhaps the only place you can go just to get the tools you need to survive.

Posted in: Economics, Online Places, Professional