As quarantine continues and directives increased, the severity of the disease has prolonged our stay indoors. Globally, we have become more technologically dependent, but this served as a push to go nearly entirely online. In lecture, Professor Valverde has shared her opinions on how this decision will affect the education system after the pandemic is over, expecting a complete switch to online teaching as opposed to more traditional methods.
I suspect a similar outcome, if not in the year following the virus, then within the next decade at least. After all, before the outbreak, online and hybrid classes were already offered at the university. In this capitalistic culture, the university would prioritize earning money over the welfare of its faculty and students. This has already been demonstrated with the removal of programs that have provided students with free mental health services. A friend of mine has also raised a complaint about how the university allocates resources to building another dining commons and dorm buildings, but not another parking structure to accommodate the growing student population.
The weeks preceding quarantine were hectic, a mess of emails sent but with no definitive answer. And although my parents encouraged me to wear face masks to work and to school, I was afraid to. I didn’t feel safe doing so, with the increased discriminatory and even hostile behavior toward the Asian and Asian American community. Professor Valverde explains her own experience in Fight the Tower, focusing on the intra-racial discrimination she faced in her work environment. This surprised me since I expected the community to work together, forming a coalition or bond with their shared experiences, but instead, there seemed to be a hierarchy of sorts established. Andrew Yang discusses the shame that’s attached to being Asian after being subjected to the accusatory gazes of others, blamed for this pandemic because of race alone. There has always been a stigma associated with being Asian, but with the virus, some people use their fear as a driving force for their aggression and disdain for us.
Question: would reducing the panic and fear lesson the discrimination we face?
Image Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/11/learning/coronavirus-resources-teaching-learning-and-thinking-critically.html
Source: Yang, Andrew. “Opinion | Andrew Yang: We Asian Americans Are Not the Virus, but We Can Be Part of the Cure.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 1 Apr. 2020, www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/04/01/andrew-yang-coronavirus-discrimination/.
Valverde, Kieu-Linh Caroline (2013) “Fight the Tower: A Call to Action of Women of Color in Academia”. Seattle Journal for Justice: Vol. 12: Iss. 2, Article 5. Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/sjsj/vol12/iss2/5
No comments:
Post a Comment