As we enter a new political, rhetorical, and systemic new world after Mr Trump's election and choice of presidential executive orders, community college students are immediate responsive and directly affected. Other previous presidents have used executive orders, of course, and former presidents have used executive orders in their first week in office. But we are walking into a drastic change that truly affects community college students so quickly, and -- as these responses testify -- negatively for community members.
This post is merely to represent a set of students (n=60) with a single prompt to "Write what you're experiencing" 10-12 days after the presidential inauguration. I insisted with anonymity. All responses were in "English" (disappointingly). I attach a word cloud.
To maintain the anonymity, I also strip some of the context of these students' responses, but much of the responses are clear. For some clarity, nouns such as "protests" were both affirming and criticized. Term such as "faith" was not faith in the president, but calling upon spiritual faith for endurance in the -- obvious -- negative experiences.
Again, the overwhelm experience is negative -- both emotional response, directly negative affect in student families and lives. I won't relate the brief narratives in those small pieces of papers, but they mirror the face to face conversations with several students whose families have already been disrupted, even torn apart, with these executive orders.
It's also obvious that a few students are very, very misinformed and lack a healthy dose of balanced feedback. One concern we have with community college families is that they rely to a single funnel of information literacy, without the confidence and empathy of learning with multiple voices, multiple information literacy sources to better understand reality. The concerns with community college families is because -- as working- and poverty-class families -- they lack time, transportation, and other media sources (like local newspaper) to provide a larger awareness. The other problem is mentioned by several students -- social networking is insufficient.
Firstly, we recognize fundamental rights, including the right for freedom of speech, the press, peaceably assemble, the petition the Government for redress. These are core rights of students in the community, on campus, and in the classroom. Understand -- colleges do limit free speech because of their primary responsibility for teaching and instruction. We have limits of free speech on campus, and you must learn about "free speech zones" on your campus. But we need to affirm and exercise all these rights. Anyone who threatens these rights themselves and ironically are anti-American and represent their fears and insecurities and are unprepared for American liberty in the community.
Secondly, we must embrace the priorities of communities, contrasting with rhetoric of divisiveness. Several of the fears in the students' comments are obviously uninformed, and they demonstrate lack of experience of spending time with, spending food with, sharing experiences with people "not like us." Until we learn from each other, we are only pretending to be college students and only pretending community members. Until we learn from each other, we are reinforcing fear and hate, no matter where you're coming from. Ironically, I read students using spiritual metaphors and the voice of hatred in the same sentence. Alienation in community college predicts failures both in the college and in the community.
Thirdly, for those students who express fear for their lives and their families' lives, I recommend that we use the core values of Americanism and the core values of community colleges -- build communities, positive communities who inform reliable resources. Build relationships with allies for comfort, resources, responsibilities, and information about constitutional structures.
Fourthly, no matter where you come from -- informed and uniformed, supportive or resistant -- be vocal. But be "informed, rational" in the public sphere (see Habermas; Fraser). But always a) respect others' voices and others' experiences and others' lives; and b) be prepared to rely on something that most people might claim as "truth." Be prepared to challenge resources and "alternative facts." As a community college, we must challenge anything contrary to elements of "alternative facts" as fully antithetical to scholarship, enlightenment, and any definition of classical liberty. Be vocal, but be responsible.
I am grateful for my students' voices, honest, frank. I am empathetic with all of them, whether they be informed or uninformed. I respect their positions, though some are incorrect and uninformed. I respect their uninformed positions because this is part of the college experience -- delving into others' experiences and perceptions until we come to a stronger community. The only I cannot respect is rejecting the anti-intellectualism creeping in our community. That anti-intellectualism is contrary to the historic American college promise. That anti-intellectualism is contrary to Americanism itself.
Regards, and respect.
BM
This post is merely to represent a set of students (n=60) with a single prompt to "Write what you're experiencing" 10-12 days after the presidential inauguration. I insisted with anonymity. All responses were in "English" (disappointingly). I attach a word cloud.
To maintain the anonymity, I also strip some of the context of these students' responses, but much of the responses are clear. For some clarity, nouns such as "protests" were both affirming and criticized. Term such as "faith" was not faith in the president, but calling upon spiritual faith for endurance in the -- obvious -- negative experiences.
Again, the overwhelm experience is negative -- both emotional response, directly negative affect in student families and lives. I won't relate the brief narratives in those small pieces of papers, but they mirror the face to face conversations with several students whose families have already been disrupted, even torn apart, with these executive orders.
It's also obvious that a few students are very, very misinformed and lack a healthy dose of balanced feedback. One concern we have with community college families is that they rely to a single funnel of information literacy, without the confidence and empathy of learning with multiple voices, multiple information literacy sources to better understand reality. The concerns with community college families is because -- as working- and poverty-class families -- they lack time, transportation, and other media sources (like local newspaper) to provide a larger awareness. The other problem is mentioned by several students -- social networking is insufficient.
So, as a rhetorician and as a professor in a community college, how do I respond?
Secondly, we must embrace the priorities of communities, contrasting with rhetoric of divisiveness. Several of the fears in the students' comments are obviously uninformed, and they demonstrate lack of experience of spending time with, spending food with, sharing experiences with people "not like us." Until we learn from each other, we are only pretending to be college students and only pretending community members. Until we learn from each other, we are reinforcing fear and hate, no matter where you're coming from. Ironically, I read students using spiritual metaphors and the voice of hatred in the same sentence. Alienation in community college predicts failures both in the college and in the community.
Thirdly, for those students who express fear for their lives and their families' lives, I recommend that we use the core values of Americanism and the core values of community colleges -- build communities, positive communities who inform reliable resources. Build relationships with allies for comfort, resources, responsibilities, and information about constitutional structures.
Fourthly, no matter where you come from -- informed and uniformed, supportive or resistant -- be vocal. But be "informed, rational" in the public sphere (see Habermas; Fraser). But always a) respect others' voices and others' experiences and others' lives; and b) be prepared to rely on something that most people might claim as "truth." Be prepared to challenge resources and "alternative facts." As a community college, we must challenge anything contrary to elements of "alternative facts" as fully antithetical to scholarship, enlightenment, and any definition of classical liberty. Be vocal, but be responsible.
I am grateful for my students' voices, honest, frank. I am empathetic with all of them, whether they be informed or uninformed. I respect their positions, though some are incorrect and uninformed. I respect their uninformed positions because this is part of the college experience -- delving into others' experiences and perceptions until we come to a stronger community. The only I cannot respect is rejecting the anti-intellectualism creeping in our community. That anti-intellectualism is contrary to the historic American college promise. That anti-intellectualism is contrary to Americanism itself.
Regards, and respect.
BM
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