"Other Cultures"
Feb. 20th, 2020 08:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rynlingI had a bizarre experience in my "Introduction to Japanese Culture" class on Tuesday.
I teach at George Mason University, which is a large public school that mainly serves the children of the communities of people in northern and coastal Virginia who were resettled there after being displaced because of various American military conflicts, as well as the children of foreign venture capitalists who own tech companies in the area. The school also has one of the strongest black student alliances in the country, so it attracts a lot of politically engaged young people from up and down the East Coast who are either interested in the university's Media Studies program or its close ties to the military.
In other words, the students are very diverse.
So, on Tuesday, the study abroad office sent a representative to my "Introduction to Japanese Culture" class to talk about study abroad opportunities. The person who showed up was a very professional, attractive, and confident Anglo white woman who told us about how spending a semester in Dublin helped her understand other cultures. She then said that the university is offering a special summer program for which students can pay $3000 to basically go to the Smithsonian.
When she was done, we all clapped politely and took her flyers. I then turned to my students, all of whom are multicultural and multilingual, and said, "You all know the Smithsonian is free, right?"
I hold a strong belief in the value of higher education, but wow college sure can seem a lot like a scam sometimes.
I teach at George Mason University, which is a large public school that mainly serves the children of the communities of people in northern and coastal Virginia who were resettled there after being displaced because of various American military conflicts, as well as the children of foreign venture capitalists who own tech companies in the area. The school also has one of the strongest black student alliances in the country, so it attracts a lot of politically engaged young people from up and down the East Coast who are either interested in the university's Media Studies program or its close ties to the military.
In other words, the students are very diverse.
So, on Tuesday, the study abroad office sent a representative to my "Introduction to Japanese Culture" class to talk about study abroad opportunities. The person who showed up was a very professional, attractive, and confident Anglo white woman who told us about how spending a semester in Dublin helped her understand other cultures. She then said that the university is offering a special summer program for which students can pay $3000 to basically go to the Smithsonian.
When she was done, we all clapped politely and took her flyers. I then turned to my students, all of whom are multicultural and multilingual, and said, "You all know the Smithsonian is free, right?"
I hold a strong belief in the value of higher education, but wow college sure can seem a lot like a scam sometimes.
no subject
Date: 2020-02-20 02:39 pm (UTC)I never did any study abroad programs (mostly because money, also because all the art program offered for us was Italy, Italy, and Italy... as if the Italian Renaissance is the only art movement that matters), but wow, I'd be pissed as a student if that was an option.