NEW YORK -- The recent controversieson American campuses from Yale to theUniversity of Missouri have been sad towatch. They reveal a country of chasms,in which ethnic and racial groups see,experience and speak of the world sodifferently. I find it difficult to commentconfidently on what triggered the outrageamong so many minor it y students.
Every new video of the mistreatment ofAfrican-Americans should make all ofus pause and recognize that there is stilla deep unresolved problem in the UnitedStates. My concern is that the remedy forit, on college campuses at least, is moresegregation.
Over the last four decades, wheneveruniversities have faced complaints aboutexclusion or racism -- often real -- thesolution proposed and usually accepted hasbeen to create more programs, associationsand courses for minority students. This isunderstandable because these groups havebeen historically ignored, slighted anddemeaned. But is it working, or is it makingthings worse?A 2004 empirical study led by Harvardpsychologist James Sidanius (who isAfrican-American) concluded that "therewas no indication that the experiences inthese ethnically oriented ... organizationsincreased the students' sense of commonidentity with members of other groupsor their sense of belonging to the wideruniversity community. Furthermore ... theevidence suggested that membership inethnically oriented student organizationsactually (BEG ITAL)increased(ENDITAL) the perception that ethnic groups arelocked into zero-sum competition with oneanother and the feeling of victimization byvirtue of one's ethnicity."The academic programs that havebeen created and expanded also reinforcefeelings of separateness. Again, there wasa need for greater attention to many of theareas of study, and some extraordinaryscholarship has been produced in thesefields. But the cumulative effect is onethat the distinguished scholar Tony Judtwrote about in an essay for The New YorkReview of Books in 2010. "Undergraduatestoday can select from a swathe of identitystudies: 'gender studies,' 'women'sstudies,' 'Asian-Pacific-American studies,'and dozens of others," he noted. "Theshortcoming of all these para-academicprograms is not that they concentrate ona given ethnic or geographical minority;it is that they encourage members ofthat minority to study (BEG ITAL)themselves(END ITAL) - - therebysimultaneously negating the goals ofa liberal education and reinforcing thesectarian and ghetto mentalities theypurport to undermine. All too frequently,such programs are job-creation schemesfor their incumbents, and outside interest isactively discouraged. Blacks study blacks,gays study gays, and so forth."There is increasingly a perception oncampuses that there are groups of studentswho have administrators, social clubs andcourses specifically for them. This doesnot help minorities. As Chief Justice EarlWarren wrote in 1954, in words that weremeant to change America, "separate ... [is]inherently unequal."It is worth keeping in mind that thesegregation on campus is simply areflection of the increasing segregation ofAmerican society. Increasingly, people liveamong others of the same socioeconomicclass, political orientation and race. Infact, because of the generous financialaidpolicies of many elite schools, IvyLeague campuses are far more diversethan most American communities. Kidsarriving there will encounter, often forthe first time, substantial numbers ofpeople who are very different from them-- in terms of income, class, ethnicityand race. Negotiating these encounters iscomplicated, and it shouldn't surprise usthat it produces tension.
The solution to this tension is surelyopen discussion in which everyonecan participate. And yet, the prevailingethos seems to be that if one feels hurt oroffended, that is the end of the discussion.
You cannot under st and another 'sexperience or arguments. But a liberaleducation is premised on precisely theopposite idea, one that requires not safespaces to retreat to but a common spaceto engage in. And democracy requiresthat common ground, one that anyonecan access. "I sit with Shakespeare andhe winces not," wrote W.E.B. Du Bois,"Across the color line I move arm in armwith Balzac and Dumas, ... I summonAristotle and Aurelius, ... and theycome all graciously with no scorn orcondescension."Today in America, we all believe thatwe are victims and nobody understandsour pain. If you want to see that view in itscrudest form, though, don't go to collegecampuses -- just listen to the followers ofDonald Trump. They are mostly angrywhites who feel that they are being shaftedby society. And don't bother trying to bringup facts or argue with them -- you just don'tget it.
댓글 안에 당신의 성숙함도 담아 주세요.
'오늘의 한마디'는 기사에 대하여 자신의 생각을 말하고 남의 생각을 들으며 서로 다양한 의견을 나누는 공간입니다. 그러나 간혹 불건전한 내용을 올리시는 분들이 계셔서 건전한 인터넷문화 정착을 위해 아래와 같은 운영원칙을 적용합니다.
자체 모니터링을 통해 아래에 해당하는 내용이 포함된 댓글이 발견되면 예고없이 삭제 조치를 하겠습니다.
불건전한 댓글을 올리거나, 이름에 비속어 및 상대방의 불쾌감을 주는 단어를 사용, 유명인 또는 특정 일반인을 사칭하는 경우 이용에 대한 차단 제재를 받을 수 있습니다. 차단될 경우, 일주일간 댓글을 달수 없게 됩니다.
명예훼손, 개인정보 유출, 욕설 등 법률에 위반되는 댓글은 관계 법령에 의거 민형사상 처벌을 받을 수 있으니 이용에 주의를 부탁드립니다.
Close
x