Friday, February 19, 2010

Stupid Young (White) People

As a Grad Student, I have the opportunity of being a Teaching Assistant; hosting seminars, grading exams, etc; in Political Science, Gender Studies, and Human Rights courses. I get the chance to question intelligence and knowledge on a weekly basis.


So I'm marking the midterm for one Gender course and this is what one student wrote about the "Male Gaze" - pay attention to the example he uses to explain the concept:

"The Male gaze refers to a certain perspective of looking at something. An example of this is that an Orthodox Jew would look at a piece of holocaust memorabilia more intently and from a different perspective than would a South African who knows very little about world history"

To which I remarked - "...outrageous claim! See me in my office."

Sometimes I just wonder where these kids get their ideas from. You don't have to be South African to get offended by that one!

Or check out the introductory paragraph in one essay about development aid to Africa from my 3rd level Political Science course:

"The country of Africa is afflicted with many woes..."

To which I remarked - "...when last did you visit the said 'country'?"

And this student threw in a lot of "...those people" into the soup to enrich the broth. As in "...those people are desperately hungry and will die unless they are fed", or "...those people must accept help from anywhere they can get it". Arrgghhh....

Why do some young people think it's OK to be foolish? And especially when your T.A is a very conspicuous black African female?!


-Anya (weary from marking)
-Listening to country music all night long :)
-Now playing: Anne Murray 'Danny's Song'

20 comments:

Sugabelly said...

Ah but Anya, didn't you see where I indicated that my International Marketing group members wrote in our report on Nigeria that Nigerian women are the servants of men and therefore do not need much education since they spend most of their time serving?

Yeah..

Of course, that doesn't count the people in my class that said that there are no banks in Africa. (I will NEVER forget or forgive that one).

Welcome to the world of stupid White people. It's called EVERYWHERE YOU LOOK

Lady X said...

Wow. They know you are marking their papers and they still put in such crap? I still don't get how people make that Africa is a country mistake. I mean haven't enough people ranted about it? Don't they read? The only continent and country I know of is Australia.

And I find it interesting that one of them kept saying "those people" it makes it sound like he doesn't think we are human like him. Or maybe I'm reading too much meaning into it.

Blogoratti said...

Ignorance is not innocence...but sin.

Anonymous said...

LOL. This is funny because I recently submitted some graded mid-terms to the prof the other day. I am a bit surprised you told the student to meet you in the office LMAO.
The prof told to be gentle in my grading- no "X" marks and no "harsh" comments.
It's sad because I'm sure that student thought he/she was rocking that question even though it clearly showed how ignorant they were about anything African.

I feel your pain sha!

Nee Fe Mi said...

being ignorant is a sin punishable by death for real - argh i can throw stone on them right now - pele dear, country music is the best

Fragilelooks said...

ignorance na disease o. those white freaks are dumb really.

Tatababe said...

Hilarious stuvs...they must have been feeling smart writing all that too lol! nice blog.

leggy said...

i dont blame them sha.
people are just close minded.

Myne said...

I guess youth comes with foolishness but men, what's the connection or contrast between an orthodox Jew and a South African? SMH, just being racist I guess. Definitely need a talking to. The other is plain ignoramus, topped by misplaced bleeding heart syndrome. LOL

But you're torturing me o, why that ice cream slide show on the sidebar. This na temptation..

Anya Posh said...

Myne Whitman, the ice-cream is there to remind me that I'm still alive!

I'll do a proper response to the previous comments after dinner.

Anonymous said...

I would think by now that everyone would know that Africa is not a country.

bob-ij said...

hahaha! WoW! I had to read this out to every member of my family. Who says these things? Well I guess your title answers my question, but it should be illegal to make these sort of statements!

~x~

Anonymous said...

lol.. the level of ignorance i get to stomach on a daily basis is criminal.. i don't know if its just me, but a lot of the older people seem more knowledgeable on things outside their coutntries - at least in my neck of the wood....

Anonymous said...

is it that white pple r really dumb or they jst choose 2 ignore d truth?i don't get y an adult will write an essay about a place he knows nothing of. it sad. who shall we blame this on, western media? our media? our leaders?. sad sad sad!dora akunyili n her fellow collegues around africa have a huge task. i dont think dey realise it.

LucidLilith said...

when u started to write ... i has a sugabelly sense of dejavu :D

Flourishing Florida said...

maybe those students r related to those in sugabelly's marketing group & ignorance is a family disease!!

Bombchell said...

*sigh* I'm working on getting less pissed off. I've realized almost everything pisses me off now, especially when it comes to race or gender stereotypes, I'm working on just letting it go, and avoiding arguments & *woosah breathing techniques*

Original Mgbeke said...

LOL, that hella cracked me up girl. No be small South African or Africa is filled with many woes. Hilarious and some hella ignorant folk.
How are you babe?? What happened to your posh panties blog??

Anya Posh said...

To Everyone, I'm ROFL... y'all don't even know the kinda crap I get to read on a weekly basis. Yes, ignorance is a sin. I noticed that a lot of these kids have a strange sense of entitlement but they're not even very knowledgeable about anything. It's not even funny anymore.

Loved One, I get questionable responses in exams but here I am allowed to fail the student if their answer has no substance, shows no proof of having done the readings, or is just bullsh!t. heh!

ifeoma odogwu, I think at this stage it's best to blame the individual for their ignorance. The whole point of being in University is to a 'Universal' worldview education. Not a demented version of reality. I blame the student; if they fail, they are the ones getting poor grades; not society or the western media or anybody else - just them!

Orginal Mgbeks, that ship had to sail far away hunny; my partner and I ended our relationship so I don't want any "documented" memories of our time together :(

Naijadude said...

Hahah what school is this?

See me see case as well, just this past sunday as I was studying in the library, some brown girl that was sitting beside me came back from her break and started screaming that her laptop was gone! So I asked her to relax maybe its a game between her and friends, she said nope! That she saw some black guys down there.....

That was the end of my help!