I am so so so so so happy right now! Yesterday was the last day of probably the worst class I have ever taken in my life. The class was really good in the sense that the content was important, but the teacher and other students and their opinions drove me crazy(What is new at the U of O??)! The class was called Indigenious Cultural Survival. It was about Native people in different areas of the world and basicly the fact that white people are bad.
The first day of class the teacher (a native american) said, "I have opinions that you probably won't like...Deal with it you are adults, I also curse quite a bit...but again, deal with it you are all adults." From that statement I knew the class was going to be aweful. The first week we watched a movie that had so many bad things in it, from cussing, to a rape scene. (I really should have just left, but I didn't, I feel so bad) I did look down for quite a bit of the movie. That night I went home crying. I wanted to drop the class so bad!! I didn't feel uplighted. (obviously this class wouldn't fall under the specifications of the 13 article of faith!)Unfortunately I checked with the Registrar and I couldn't drop the class with out losing lots of money. As a graduate student, classes are even more expensive. This class (4 credits) cost me about $900. If I dropped it I would lose over 1/2 of that. So I decided to stick with it for 3 more weeks.
I was also told by a native guest speaker that I couldn't consider myself "American". He said only native people are "American" and that white people are just U.S. Citizens. Then I said something about the fact that everyone came from somewhere (including native americans at some point in history) and I didn't think his claim could hold. Of course Native Americans don't believe this. They believe that they have been in American for BILLIONS of years. His comments really made me mad, especially because of all the people fighting for this country. I thought it was so disrespectful. Unfortunately everything I said to stand up for myself and my beliefs was disreguarded and shot down. Lots of the class was also devoted to bashing our "illegal borders" and the fact that the U.S. won't help people around the world when the need it. They were saying the U.S. needed to help people in Burma and other countries. I brought up the point Amy had brought up about the U.S. helping people in Iraq and now everyone is complaining. Again, I was wrong. We didn't go to Iraq to help anyone but ourselves...we are greedy and just wanted Oil. If a country doesn't have Oil...we won't help! I hate when I have to respect other peoples opinions yet they won't respect mine. They don't have to agree with what I am saying, just give me a chance to share it without telling me I am stupid, ignorant or wrong!
So, as I was saying: I am so so so so so happy right now! The class is over! FINALLY!
5 comments:
Lindsay, I love you! I read those comments and I was thinking I dont know a lindsay david and connor, but I DO!!!! This is so fun to stay in touch! Well I am teaching 5th grade and school starts on Tuesday. . . AHHH!!!!! I'm excited though. Great hearing from you and I am really excited to stay in touch! Love ya saylinds!
Lindsay, Great that you stood up for what you believe in. Especially when it is so hard....the UO classes are notorious for not respecting a more conservative point of view. I am proud of you for doing that and for sticking it out. Hard thing to do. If I had been in there I know I would have got myself in lots of trouble. Things like this make me nuts. It's all I can do to ignore the stuff working there. You did great.
Way to go lindsay. I don;t think i would have had the nerve to stand up like that. It would have been aweful to be in that class. but thik of the bright side you won't ever have to take that class again. but just know that being a teacher you get to deal with people thinking that you are more liberal thatn you really are. or at least i havee had to deal with that. but i know you geat and you can handle it. I love ya merdal.
I'd have had a hard time not letting her know that "adults" don't swear if they want to be thought of as having an actual brain! Here's my quote I used in my talk last week in Sacrament meeting: "Swearing is the attempt of a feeble brain trying to express itself forcefully." Now, just think of her in that light! (And for those of you who know I struggle with a few swear words here and there...this quote definitely applies to me too!)
I feel your pain. Good job sticking it out. You're so brave. I couldn't take the ridiculous liberal attitude of college classes. I quit after a year. So darn it, I guess I let them win.
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