Thursday, May 1, 2008
Charter sophmore reactions to the documentary
I have shown the DVD to 3 of my 10th grade classes and the reaction was interesting. Although the documentary is fairly fast moving, most of the students were unable to pay attention for even the first 10 minutes of the DVD. This, in my opinion validates the overall theme of the DVD, most American learners are not concerned with other cultures and are not willing to apply themselves to studying and / or thinking beyond issues that are of interest to them. I stopped it after the main idea of the video had come across and opened it up to discussion. I was immediately met with a number of xenophobic and racist of comments from at least 6 students in my 5th period class. Comments such as "how could they eat with their hands" and "don't the Chinese eat dogs?" again validated the DVD's idea of the limited American high school student's world view / interest . Most the sophomores who watched the DVD seemed to think that the Chinese and Indian students were dreadfully hard done by by having to work so hard. Most seemed to totally miss the point of the documentary.
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6 comments:
That's too bad. I wonder if those sentiments were provoked by a feeling of inadequacy. Perhaps because they felt attacked, their only response was to criticize about completely unrelated issues.
A good point. Perhaps me being foreign, only intensified the idea that they were being attacked?
It's possible it was a defense mechanism; but I also think it's possible that some of them completely missed the point. Or a little of both.
I don't think the point of the film was to criticize American students, but to challenge the whole American mindset. Most sophomores probably don't have the intellectual maturity to make such a distinction; nor the emotional maturity to refrain from going on the offensive in response.
That's why I don't think it would be worth showing the film to freshmen, as most of them won't get it. I think we should show it to juniors and seniors, however; and maybe even offer a showing for parents.
Even if people don't agree or want to argue against things the film says, at least it might get them thinking about it.
Well said Noah! I totally agree.
Unfortunately some parents would take offense jsut as easily as our sophomores, and likewise miss the point ;)
True, but some people need to be offended before they can understand something that is contrary to what they want to believe.
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