History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme! (End of the semester, Part 2)

One of the aphorisms I hate (and I tell my class this) is, history repeats itself. That's just lazy analysis. If history repeats itself, it's because we write it that way. But there is no denying similarities between certain events--and it's in those similarities that we can start the discussion of lessons (like the Philippine American War and the current wars). So instead I use Mark Twain's version: History does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme (and Mark Twain is part of Filipino American history).

To illustrate this for the students (and see what they had learned by the last day of class), I showed them the trailer to the movie Avatar. I gave it a dramatic introduction by saying I had one last guest speaker for them and he came from the future! I saw smiles as they were watching. After the clip, I asked them to tell me how Avatar rhymes with Filipino American history. At least five hands shot up. They picked up on a lot: imperialism, exploitation of resources, equating native with inferior, slaughter. They did good.

The best part was when I told them that now when they see the movie, they'll think of my class. HaHa.

Tomorrow: Lessons (End of the semester, Part 3)

Post script (Avatar spoiler alert)
Now that I've seen the movie, I see a few more rhymes. The most obvious is that they teach the natives English and build schools. It is a familiar tale of exploitation and victimization.

This critique has been showing up on Facebook walls (http://io9.com/5422666/when-will-white-people-stop-making-movies-like-avatar). I agree with her assessment of the plot (white man to the rescue of hapless natives), though I wouldn't place blame where she does (white guilt--I think that's giving too much credit). Nevertheless, I liked the movie.

The Funnies (End of the semester, Part 1)

Last weekend, while it was snowing two feet, I shoveled…I mean, graded final exams and papers. Grading finals is mind-numbing, and sometimes students even write sentences. No really, it’s not that bad (most of the time). Sometimes their answers are funny, like the ones below (the bold is mine and my comments are in red).

On the I-Hotel:

• This hotel was targeted for demolition in order for business to gentrificate

On Filipino WWII vets:

• In February 18, 1946, U.S. Congress passes the supplemental surprise appropriation rescission act.

On the pioneer wave of Filipino immigrants:

• These migrants were essentially all male. So some were in transition?

• 1st wave of Filipino migration were basically Filipino pioneers known as the "Mango generation" And they were fruits. LOL

On nursing:

• An example of colonialism at its best is when the US trained Filipino women to become nurses. Well that’s one way to put it.

• One year of work as a nurse in the Philippines was equal to one month's work as a nurse in America. This is ludacris… 8-0 OR :,-( ?
  

Tomorrow Part 2: History does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme.

A Commitment to SMH/WTF Diversity

A week ago the University of Maryland held a town hall to discuss its diversity plan, a sort of response to last year's unveiling of the strategic plan which had no mention of diversity. The Asian American Student Union leaders I know and others were not impressed.

This week, UMD fired Dr. Cordell Black, Assistant Provost of Equity and Diversity. Wow. WTF was the town hall for? Did they think it would soften the blow? Do they think this helps their credibility? As my students would say, SMH!* As Jay Leno says, politics is just like show business, except the people are ugly (double-entendre intended).

The reported reason for the firing is the current financial crisis. Riiight. When I was actively lobbying Congress for funding for health and human services, I learned that no matter how tight the budget, priority programs would always get funding. It's less a matter of how much is in the pot, and more a matter of what the funder thinks is a priority. Corporate welfare? Fund it. Food stamps? Nope. So the real reason for the firing is a lack of commitment to diversity. My job was to help the funder decide on her/his priorities, sometimes by being a squeaky wheel.

In tight budgets, those "special" programs that we fight for--ethnic studies, offices of diversity, offices of minority health--always seem to get targeted first. Some would argue that we should instead integrate ourselves more into the "mainstream" programs. That might work some places, and I think we should encourage it. But really all it does is just shift the battle to a smaller playground. It's still the same fight (and sometimes harder because it's hidden).

So tonight, the students are rallying and strategizing and squeaking.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/event.php?eid=168255853162&ref=ts
And it makes me happy to see 700+ multi-hued RSVPs. I don't know Dr. Black well, but I was on an immigration issues panel with him. I think he should stay.

*SMH = shaking my head

Things that model minorities do

Because I teach in the Asian American Studies department, usually the majority of my students are Asians. So if there ever was a laboratory to find out if Asian kids really are smart, model students, my classroom would be it (methodologists, just look the other way).

So today, as they sit there taking their midterm, I compile for you the evidence: these are the things that my model minorities have accomplished in just the past eight weeks. Be proud...


1 - Decide you want to take my course a month into the semester.

2 - Wait until the night before the midterm to officially register. (Most of my reading is on an electronic blackboard accessible only to registered students. And they turn in assignments that way too.)

3 - Figure out that I don't collect papers because you're supposed to upload them. (Yo, read the syllabus).

4 - Habitually leave class during the break.

5 - Then have the nerve to ask for extra credit.

6 - Make slides for your presentation but forget to turn them in.

7 - Make slides for your presentation--with 12 point font.

8 - Answer a question (on your slide) without understanding all the words in the question.

9 - Can't define self-determination. (Break it down. Self?)

10 - Ask me if you should put your name on all those sheets of loose leaf paper with all your answers on them. (Can you read directions?)


And my favorite excuse so far this semester:

**Professor, I accidently dropped my study guide into a puddle, so could I possibly have another copy to study with?**


Midterms collected. I hope they make me laugh more than cry.

Learning Lessons

I showed these videos in class yesterday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlZkL_0lZ1Q [9500 Liberty trailer]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuvFhB1k3x0 [invasion--watch 1:45-2:00]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7bnHb4wASM [9/11 and 7-11]

They debuted during my first semester of teaching. When I watch them now, I see California in the 1920s and 30s. I see the hatred and fear of manongs and Mexicans. But when my friends Annabel Park and Eric Byler first started posting them, I could not watch more than a few seconds. Too much hate and ignorance. I didn't want it on my laptop.

(For those not familiar with Virginia, Prince William County is home to Ikea and the largest outlet mall in the state. It attracts more tourists than the amusement parks. It also saw a housing boom in the last 20 years and attracted all the people needed to build them.)

But, you know, it's a privilege to be able to turn the hate on and off at my convenience. A year later, I was looking at my lesson plan for Carlos Bulosan's America is in the Heart and decided that showing these videos would help put my students in that time period--and unexpectedly bring the book to the present. My students, like the manongs, wouldn't be able to just turn it off.

I've become more transparent about the lessons that Fil-Am history teaches me. When I started, I felt the need to stay close to the facts, offer a few well-supported interpretations, and let the students draw their own conclusions. The problem, though, is that the students don't draw any.

It's not their fault. A lot of them don't have the life experiences (jobs, racism, poverty, involvement in politics) to connect personally to the material. Or if they do, they've "othered" it as an exception or thing of the past: the world is better now. I find students who have taken a year or two off connect more readily.

Also, I think the most powerful disincentive to learning is the need for testing and grading. The students really just want to make a connection between my slides and my exam questions.

Finally, history is not taught as lesson. Most students experience history as a recitation of facts and figures. To include "lessons that history should teach us" is to invite accusations of imposing my values on others.

Oh well.

I've decided it's not an imposition. I'm showing how I think Fil-Am history is relevant. They're adults and I'm not holding them responsible for parroting my views. A lot of students reflexively react with that tired adage, "history repeats itself." I don't believe that. Sounds like an excuse to do nothing. History repeats itself because we write it that way. How about we write it differently? Ultimately, the people of Prince William County neutered the anti-immigrant statute (but all sides paid heavily).

I felt for my students as they watched. I gave myself a year. Here I was making them squirm in their chairs. I watched their faces: confused, disgusted, awed. Some of them laughed. That took me aback. But to them, the testimony was just so ignorant or unbelievable that it seemed like caricature (there goes that othering again). I assured them it was real.


ps--congrats Annabel and Eric on a great premiere.

Benevolent Assimilation: From Thriller to Born in the USA

They turned off the lights and cued the YouTube video of Thriller (the real video, not the Cebu prison version). My Filipina dance major and her kababayans (teammates) started doing the zombie dance.

For real? The quiet Viet and Korean kids are dancing in my classroom? In front of 32 other students? How cool is that!

Then from outside the classroom, my Ethiopian student barges in dressed as Uncle Sam, white cotton balls taped onto his black face. "What are you doing? Nonononono," he says. "This is what you should be dancing to." Cue Bruce Springsteen, Born in the USA. They start dancing, but it's still too funky so Uncle Sam corrects them into an air guitar move instead. But nicely, cuz you know this assimilation is benevolent. Viet and Kim look confused. Dance major is pissed. End skit. APPLAUSE!

I think I'll give them an "A" for that.

Yesterday's class was devoted to presentations on the Forbidden Book: The Philippine-American War in Political Cartoons. The cartoons reveal how superior white men thought of themselves in relation to Filipinos (and all non-WASPs). "Benevolent Assimilation" was President McKinley's explanation for what the US was going to do for (to) the Philippines.

I had divided the class into 9 barangays (teams) two weeks ago and assigned each group a chapter. Their assignment was to pick a cartoon, act it out and then explain it. This group's inspiration was the cartoon above of Uncle Sam and Aguinaldo (drawn as the little black girl).

And you know, this great exercise comes from the Pin@y Educational Partnerships (PEP) (http://phoenixpublishinghouseintl.com/pep_book.html --I'm eagerly awaiting Volume II, Allyson). I'm so glad to have this resource. The other groups were pretty creative and had fun with it. One even had a Kanye West interruption: "Amma give you back the mic but you know America has the best flag" (or something like that).

I was expecting some groans when I told them their assignment and some sheepishness during the skits, but they seemed to take to it. Really, I would never think up an exercise like this so thanks PEP!

Obviously, Thriller still lives on. In Cebu. Prison. Okay end metaphor.

Furlough

I got an unpleasant surprise last semester when I found out that the university-wide furlough plan applied to me because I was teaching two courses. It amounted to a reduction in pay for one paycheck--not a deduction, just a reduced gross. I'm an adjunct professor. My pay is already gross.

I'm only teaching one class this semester, so I think I'm safe, but I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. How does someone whose only responsibility is to teach take a furlough day? I see a canceled class or two...

From the UMD president:

Under the plan Graduate Assistants, Contingent-I and student employees, employees paid to teach by the course, employees on H-1B visa status, employees with 100% contract and grant funded status on 9/15/09 and some other categories noted in the plan will take zero (0) furlough days.

All other employees, independent of salary source and percent of employment, must take a number of furlough days based on annual compensation. Employees earning $29,999 and under annually are assigned two days. Those earning between $30,000 and $49,999 will take three (3) furlough days; between $50,000 and $69,999 will take four (4) days; between $70,000 and $89,999 will take five (5) days; between $90,000 and $114,999 will take six (6) days; between $115,000 and $139,999 will take seven (7) days; between $140,000 and $169,999 will take eight (8) days; between $170,000 and $199,999 will take nine (9) days; and $200,000 and above will take ten (10) days.

This is worse than last year. Good thing I have another job.