Week 10 - Anna Le, sect. 4

I thought that our last reading"Academics Awaken: Power, Resistance, and Being Woke" was a perfect tying ending to what we were introduced at the beginning of the class. It has been a long 10 weeks, but I have become more woke along the way, especially woke to the lurking shadows of the Ivory Tower. I have always had an intuitive distaste to how the "system" treated its people. The Ivory Tower flashes its prestige with "free" things, beautiful landscapes, tall buildings, and advertises inclusivity and equality, but I have wondered if all these things were truly worth what students are paying for. At the student level, I was aware that the most commonly shared experience that connects us was our financial burdens and anxieties about our future. We were made well aware at a young age that we were going to be in debt, but it was a necessary burden if we wanted to have any sense of security in our future. It is necessary to over-work ourselves and make (physical/emotional) sacrifices so that we can have some piece of the financial pie (aid) so that we could have the privilege of being here, and so that we could one day achieve our dreams. There is nothing wrong with meritocracy, but it becomes a false narrative when we have a "woke" moment and realize that the hard work we put into the system is going nowhere, and the system is actually putting us at a disadvantage even though we followed the rules. We falsely believe that this system will reward us along the way if we continue to work hard and comply, but as you continue on into this system with a woke consciousness, you will soon realize that there is no reward at the end of this, and this reward is saved for the elites or those who have adopted maladaptive behaviors to take a piece of the pie. Fight the Tower is fighting for students, faculty, and society to have the right to an environment that is fair and justice for all so that everyone can thrive and not some more than others.

This article has taught me is that we must continue to stay vigilant about the ways in which the system, Ivory Tower or not, continues to oppress our right to live a life we believe we deserve, to be happy, to love, to be safe, and to do good for society. We do not have a fair game in life if we are oppressed by systems that do not allow us to have that right to live a good life. We must stay woke. 

References: 

• Dariotis, W. M & Valverde, K. L. (n.d.). "Academics Awaken: Power, Resistance, and Being Woke"
• Jopanda, W. S. (2017, January 21). [#wokebaby]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/JennLi123/status/822992138900119552