As someone who will be tutoring students, in just a couple of weeks, I am curious as to what kind of papers I will have to read. Observing the tutors and the students in the writing center has been alot of fun, but I am curious as to what it will be like for me and how I will help the students. What I am trying to say, is that I am afraid of what to do, if I get handed a paper that is racist, homophobic or sexist. This is exactly what this week's reading is all about.
The author of this chapter of the book, describes how one day in the tutoring lab, a student shows up with a paper, in which he writes about how women should never be seen with a briefcase and how they should only be "barefoot and pregnant". Obviously, this is a very hateful paper, and the tutor really is unforsure with how to handle it. Of course the student has rights, but what will his professor and his peers think of him? This is something that I fear I might encounter, but who knows?
When it comes to writing something you are passionate about, you want to be sincere and honest, but I think you can do this without crossing the line. Crossing the line has been done quite a bit in writing, and in many ways I know why. Writing has always been the greatest way for me to vent whatever frustration that I am going through. Censorship has no place in anything that is written. However, as a writer, I have never wrote about hating somebody for something that they can never change. And this is the problem right here.
Not just in this article, but I am afraid that in real life as well, there are people who feel the need to hate somebody for being themselves. An individual cannot help the fact that they may be black, gay, or female. These are things they can never change. How can I tell a student that writing a paper like this is ok or will be accepted by which ever professor they hand it in to? This is a very complicated issue, and it is one that I hope I never face.
I am aware that as a tutor, I'm not supposed to take sides, which is fine by me. There really isn't a way that I feel like I could get through the situation. For example, what if a student comes in and hands me a paper that denies the holocaust. What am I supposed to say or do? Normally, after reading a chapter from this text, I feel inspired, but now I feel full of hopelessness, because I don't know what to do.
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I think it's okay to take sides, but I think that attacking a lot of these beliefs can be done without even touching on the belief. For example, with Sherwood, he could have asked, "What do you have to back this up? What proof do you have?" and stated that he is asking because it was an argumentative paper, and for that he'd need proof.
ReplyDeleteTutors can also try to find alternate reasoning for why something is the way it is. For example, had that student been racist and said something along the lines of, "Let's face it, blacks are just stupider than whites. Look at their grades on standardized tests," Sherwood might have helped him by asking, "Couldn't that be from a lack of proper information? You know, a lot of blacks live in poorer areas. Not all, but a lot. And if you can't go to a good school it's hard to get good scores on those tests. Or what about the strong pressure from society for blacks to be good athletes? That doesn't always coincide with being a strong student. How will you address that in this paper?"
In the scenario I just outlined, the tutor isn't attacking the student, labeling him or her racist, or calling him or her wrong. The focus is on making the paper as strong as possible... which will FORCE the student to look at all sides, and possibly change their stance.
And well, if not, then oh well. There's only so much responsibility we can give ourselves for someone else's opinions. We can ask our students to challenge themselves, but we can't make them think like us. We shouldn't want them to.
"I am aware that as a tutor, I'm not supposed to take sides, which is fine by me." - I'm going to disagree with Crystal here because I think you can take sides against a student' opinion or perspective. We don't shut our own beliefs and morality off at the center door; nor should we attempt to. We have an ethical responsibility to address hate speech and hate thought wherever we find it.
ReplyDeleteOk, that's me being really fired-up, and I think my own blog covers my opinions at length, so let me offer these words of reassurance to you: If you come across this kind of paper, deal with it professionally. You are a very kind and warm person. I am sure that you would be able to ask the student to explain her/his position to you, because you aren't sure if s/he realizes how offensive the paper reads. If the client gets angry or refuses to engage, then you can always say, "Well, I don't think this is going to be acceptable to your professor, so I suggest you go talk to the teacher about it before you turn it in. Would you like to work on anything else?"
It's a disengaging kind of strategy, and by that I mean it simply removes you from the tense situation, but as Crystal does rightly point out, you can't write the paper for the student. And ultimately, if the client doesn't want to change her/his mind, then the most you can do as a tutor is point out that a professor may be offended and send the student back to the professor for clarification and advice.