Month: June 2022

Group Identity (Part Nine)

On By VickieIn Current Events, Education, politics, teaching, Writing2 Comments
Removed from many curriculum – as “unreliable”

This ninth installment of my series on education and the focus of group identity is particularly important to me. Only because I feel so strongly about this topic. I am completely opposed to the idea that students can only relate to literature written by authors of the same ethnic background and gender as they are and to literature written about people just like them. And although I used to lecture my students about this topic fifteen to twenty years ago, I am completely shocked at how this idea has become so mainstream today.

So let’s get into it…

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Group Identity (Part Eight)

On By VickieIn Current Events, Education, politics, WritingLeave a comment
A book with important lessons for students

I didn’t realize that this commentary would turn into so may individual installments. I am already up to the eighth! But I have definitely been enjoying going through this speech, which I gave at a conference in 2007. It has reminded me of many of the experiences I have gone through in my decades of teaching. 

This installment will continue with a discussion of the curriculum and more specifically what happens in classroom instruction when an institution focuses on group identity. If you want to go back and start from the beginning, you can access the first installment here.

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Group Identity (Part Seven)

On By VickieIn Writing1 Comment
One of my favorite books to use in class

This series on education is based on a speech I gave at a conference in 2007. I recently came across it and reading through it, I was surprised at how relevant it is to what is happening in education today. The first six Installments focused primarily on relationships between people on campus (instructors, students, administration) when a college or university is more focused on group identity than on individuals.

This seventh installment focuses on the impact of identity politics on the curriculum.

If you want to go back to the beginning, you can find the FIRST essay here.

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