If racism and other issues faced by students who are from marginalized groups are not addressed or acknowledged in the classroom education becomes a tool of oppression. Denial of racism helps to maintain the status quo and prevents people from understanding why programs like "affirmative action" are necessary.The readings by Paulo Freire and Bell Hooks made me reflect on my past educational experiences and how they helped to maintain racial oppression. Read about it in my critical reflection on educationDuring many of my first year classes I was told that I was going to learn how to think critically. Despite these claims I found these classes similar to the ones I had taken in high school. Students were expected to listen quietly and regurgitate what they had been taught during exam time. The classes I was in were characterized by more racial diversity than my high school classes but this did not result in a diversity of viewpoints being accepted or expressed.
Most of my university classes have reflected the traditional banking style of education. The banking style of education does not promote equity because it is a teaching style based on the assumption that students know nothing and that it is the role of the teacher to interpret and impart the truth or reality to students. The banking style of eduction promotes passivity and oppresses because it does not recognize students as people with experiences which may challenge the dominant view of society.
The use of the banking style in my university classes has limited dialogue between students and teachers thereby limiting the views expressed and maintaining racial oppression within the classroom. The second year forensic psychology class I took at university was taught in the banking style. This style limited dialogue in our class and maintained the status quo because the professor lectured while students passively listened. The topics addressed in this class were only discussed from the perspective of the dominant group despite the fact that marginalized groups are overwhemingly impacted by the practices of the criminal justice system. This class helped to maintain racial opression by ignoring race and by denying the existence of racism.
Firstly, racial opression was maintained in my forensic psychology class by ignoring race. One topic of study was police discretion and police investifations. The professor dedicated a significant portion of the class to examining the likelihood of people with mental disorders or youths being arrested but the impact of race or ethnicity on the likelihood of arrest was not discussed. This omission is signifiacant because aborignal peoples in Canada and blacks in the United States are overrepresented in the prison population which could be attributable to policing practices. Ignoring the impact of race on arrest rates denies the experiences of those who are part of a racialized group. This helps to maintain the illusion that Canada is an equitable society and those who are racialized remain opressed.
Another way students can be opressed in through the denial of racism. The tone of the readings in my forensic psychology class reflected a desire to limit our perception and discussion of reality, which is characteristic of the banking system. One of the assigned readings included a brief section on racial profiling. The reading on racial profiling discussed a study in the United States which revealed racial profiling did exist and both blacks and whites were aware of the practice. Despite this information the author concluded that "...it seems safe to say that the general perception is that racial profiling does exist in Canada, at least to som degree, and that, even if it does not, the perception that it exists by minority groups is cause for serious concern." The closing sentenece of the pragraph implied that the problem of racial profiling was not significant and that it was something which was only of concern to racialized groups. Br framing the issues as a problem that minority groups had the author denied the existence of structural inequalities which make racial profiling possible. In addition, the topic of racial profiling was never discussed in class which indicates that the professor placed less value on this information and the concerns of opressed groups were not of importance.
The absence of dialogue between students and professors in many university classes results in the stratification which characterizes Canadian society being reproduced in the classroom.
Most of my university classes have reflected the traditional banking style of education. The banking style of education does not promote equity because it is a teaching style based on the assumption that students know nothing and that it is the role of the teacher to interpret and impart the truth or reality to students. The banking style of eduction promotes passivity and oppresses because it does not recognize students as people with experiences which may challenge the dominant view of society.
The use of the banking style in my university classes has limited dialogue between students and teachers thereby limiting the views expressed and maintaining racial oppression within the classroom. The second year forensic psychology class I took at university was taught in the banking style. This style limited dialogue in our class and maintained the status quo because the professor lectured while students passively listened. The topics addressed in this class were only discussed from the perspective of the dominant group despite the fact that marginalized groups are overwhemingly impacted by the practices of the criminal justice system. This class helped to maintain racial opression by ignoring race and by denying the existence of racism.
Firstly, racial opression was maintained in my forensic psychology class by ignoring race. One topic of study was police discretion and police investifations. The professor dedicated a significant portion of the class to examining the likelihood of people with mental disorders or youths being arrested but the impact of race or ethnicity on the likelihood of arrest was not discussed. This omission is signifiacant because aborignal peoples in Canada and blacks in the United States are overrepresented in the prison population which could be attributable to policing practices. Ignoring the impact of race on arrest rates denies the experiences of those who are part of a racialized group. This helps to maintain the illusion that Canada is an equitable society and those who are racialized remain opressed.
Another way students can be opressed in through the denial of racism. The tone of the readings in my forensic psychology class reflected a desire to limit our perception and discussion of reality, which is characteristic of the banking system. One of the assigned readings included a brief section on racial profiling. The reading on racial profiling discussed a study in the United States which revealed racial profiling did exist and both blacks and whites were aware of the practice. Despite this information the author concluded that "...it seems safe to say that the general perception is that racial profiling does exist in Canada, at least to som degree, and that, even if it does not, the perception that it exists by minority groups is cause for serious concern." The closing sentenece of the pragraph implied that the problem of racial profiling was not significant and that it was something which was only of concern to racialized groups. Br framing the issues as a problem that minority groups had the author denied the existence of structural inequalities which make racial profiling possible. In addition, the topic of racial profiling was never discussed in class which indicates that the professor placed less value on this information and the concerns of opressed groups were not of importance.
The absence of dialogue between students and professors in many university classes results in the stratification which characterizes Canadian society being reproduced in the classroom.
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