{"id":19741,"date":"2017-04-05T09:07:07","date_gmt":"2017-04-05T13:07:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/carleton.ca\/edc\/?p=19741"},"modified":"2021-08-13T10:10:46","modified_gmt":"2021-08-13T14:10:46","slug":"blog-avoid-saying-wrong-thing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/2017\/blog-avoid-saying-wrong-thing\/","title":{"rendered":"Blog: How do we avoid saying the wrong thing?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Mira Sucharov, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science<\/em><\/p>\n

I generally find teaching stimulating, invigorating and frequently fun, on one hand, and often emotionally draining, on the other. Part of this is my tendency to obsess and self-doubt, which sit atop my general confidence and assertiveness. Thinking about the skill set required to be a scholar and professor, I suspect I am not alone among my colleagues in this strange admixture of qualities.<\/p>\n

Amidst the mental chatter accompanying me through my daily life is a lurking fear of my students interpreting some classroom moment in an unsavoury way. There\u2019s the fear of unintentionally uttering a classist or sexist remark (though as a woman, I suppose I feel some natural immunity \u2014 whether justified or not \u2014 from being perceived<\/em> as sexist).<\/p>\n

But since I present as White, I do fear that students might interpret some comment or another as unintentionally racist or otherwise offensive (I say \u201cpresent as White\u201d because I am Jewish, and Jewish identity and Whiteness co-exist in complex ways; Jews who present as White no doubt benefit from White privilege while also living in the shadow of the legacy \u2014 and lurking threat of \u2014 anti-Semitism).<\/p>\n

Part of this fear of being perceived as unintentionally racist or offensive is fuelled by not scripting my lectures or seminar-teaching. There\u2019s a lot left to chance as I inhabit the moment and enter a sense of \u201cflow\u201d in my commentary and examples as I draw on memories and anecdotes to help students connect to the material.<\/p>\n

One topic among many that I cover in my courses \u2014 for example, in my graphic novels and political identity seminar \u2014 is race and ethnicity. From experimental data we learn that racial bias can be deeply ingrained, despite our best efforts to hold and nurture non-prejudicial beliefs and attitudes.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s by now quite clear in the zeitgeist of 2017 in Canada (and certainly at Carleton) that students and faculty want to be \u2014 and are \u2014 sensitive to issues of racism on one hand, and tolerant, accepting, inclusive and multicultural on the other. But it doesn\u2019t mean we always get it right.<\/p>\n

Should professors make a concerted effort to highlight this issue directly? Would it be seen as self-serving, as a sort of misplaced disclaimer? \u201cI\u2019m not racist or prejudiced or bigoted so I apologize in advance if something I say comes across that way?\u201d That seems problematic. Shouldn\u2019t we be held accountable for our words even if they are laden with unintentional meanings?<\/p>\n

And, similarly, what if a student says something that doesn\u2019t quite land right but one senses that the student did not intend it to be offensive? Should the professor call the student on it, or just move on? The risk of saying something would be that the student would be shamed. The risk of not saying something would be that the rest of the class might be hurt and that a small injustice would be left unaddressed.<\/p>\n

For now, I don\u2019t have firm answers. Perhaps I will broach this with my class at the beginning of next term. All I know is that among my many unwanted fearful fantasies \u2014 around garden-variety issues like loss, failure and abandonment \u2014 are my students thinking that something I\u2019ve said comes across in a way I really did not intend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Mira Sucharov, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science I generally find teaching stimulating, invigorating and frequently fun, on one hand, and often emotionally draining, on the other. Part of this is my tendency to obsess and self-doubt, which sit atop my general confidence and assertiveness. Thinking about the skill set required to be a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[142],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nBlog: How do we avoid saying the wrong thing? - Teaching and Learning Services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By Mira Sucharov, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science I generally find teaching stimulating, invigorating and frequently fun, on one\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/2017\/blog-avoid-saying-wrong-thing\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"CCMS Editor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/2017\/blog-avoid-saying-wrong-thing\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/tls\/2017\/blog-avoid-saying-wrong-thing\/\",\"name\":\"Blog: How do we avoid saying the wrong thing? 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