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CSUDH Habermas UWP

California State University, Dominguez Hills
University of Wisconsin, Parkside
Created: April 27, 2001
Latest update: April 27, 2001
 E-Mailjeannecurran@habermas.org

Why is it OK to put us down?

On Wednesday, April 25, 2001, Susan Soriano wrote:

Dear Jeanne,

Hello again. Hopefully the heat is not getting to you. As the school's unity fest begins, a couple of thoughts came to mind as you were discussing "puffed up bull frogs" in class, and how some faculty say that it would be a better school if it weren't for the students. Why do the students here at CSUDH seem not to matter? For example, would another school in the cal-state system even suggest to their students that their names could bot be called at graduation? Why is it okay to do that to us? Why is it that when I tell people I go to CSUDH, they feel either sympathy or think I'm stupid and couldn't get into another school? Why is it that our school is also known as, Cal-State Dummy Hills? What is it exactly about Cal State Dominguez Hills that makes us the pit of jokes and mockery?

Sincerely,
Susan Soriano
Theories

On Friday morning, April 27, 2001, jeanne responded:

Dear Susan,

Tim Wise's White Denial is the best answer I can give. Our school was placed in a "less desirable" neighborhood than the one for which it was originally designated. And the neighborhood matters. Our school has a large number of minority students. Our school never did much that was very effective with students who had been ill-prepared in past years, and then they compared our test results to those of more advantaged schools without allowing for that dilemma. We also asked the question all along: "Are these students intelligent?" and failed to ask, "in what ways are they intelligent? In what ways is their intelligence manifest, and how can we work best with them to let them develop effective collaborative work?" And then, many of those who have a school with a larger population of traditionally prepared students who are preparing for the traditional job track, based on the traditional teaching track, enjoy having the prestige of referring to themselves as "better academically."

It all comes down to Fellman's "obsessive adversarialism" and our need to "win" and/or "be better than." Consider again Gordon Fellman's discussion of the Starr Spangled Banner.

love and peace, jeanne