On Education
In On Strike: Ethnic Studies we saw protests against Eurocentric education in America. As students, we now have access to studies on races other than white although it is not majorly available around the country. However, there are still some questions that arose when thinking about the issues of "ethnic studies". One is, why is White history considered history and the history of People of Colour considered "ethnic studies"? If you're are a minority living in America, the answer is quite obvious. Another is, even in ethnic studies, why is it that we learn more about how men worked on the railroads or domestic "feminine" work than how after they immigrated to America, gender roles didn't matter anymore and women had to take on the role as co-breadwinner on top of being a mother and a house bearer (Hune, 419)? The answer to this is quite obvious too.
Up until at least the high school education system, we grow up so focused on getting into a good university to get a good job so to support our futures that we blindly consume what is thrown at us. Education after high school is much more stable because we believe what we were fed that if you get into university your future is guaranteed and let loose. It is then that we finally start realising the flaws and biases in our education system which I believe is one of the reasons that led up to the protests in Berkeley. Will education ever go back to being more about learning than about money anymore?
WORKS CITED
Shiekh, I. (1999). On Strike: Ethnic Studies 1969-1999. Berkeley: Center for Asian American Media.
Hune, S., & Nomura, G. M. (2003). Asian/Pacific Islander American women: a historical anthology. New York: New York University Press.
Rampell, C. (2015, February 17). Opinion | Why do Americans go to college? First and foremost, they want better jobs. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/rampage/wp/2015/02/17/why-do-americans-go-to-college-first-and-foremost-they-want-better-jobs/
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