One value or characteristic, for our sound-bite culture

[beandelphiki]

Got an assignment back in politics class. We were asked to write a response to the question, "What value or characteristic is Canada to you? Why?"

My response, including my teacher's underlining and comment (in bold):

To being with, silly questions Hmmm! like this read more as "American education system."

I'm not completely certain if I could pick any one thing, but "tolerance" might rank high on this list. This is not necessarily a good thing, although it is certainly better than intolerance. Canadian "tolerance" for difference reflects many things, in my view. Everything from our positive international reputation for peacekeeping (rather than warmaking), to the blatant racism expressed toward First Nations people that goes ignored and unaddressed. After all, "tolerance" is not the same thing as "acceptance" or "understanding," and does not require nearly as much self-examination, although it gets good press. Ultimately, I feel Canadians are just a bit more concerned with that good press than authenticity.


Okay, so I don't really like my response, after reading it again. (And the crack about American education systems was an expression of my frustration with the assignment.) I darn well hate vague feel-good assignments like these. In theory, I know that they are supposed to cause us to "think deeply" but I believe they do just the opposite. My own response came mostly from headache-inducing anger at hearing my classmates extoll the virtues of Canada's "multiculturalism" and "diversity." C'mon people, THINK, dammit!

I hate how this response, superficial as the assignment was, is all over the place. I hate trying to write things in the classroom. Imagine if you were trying to read a book or something while the neighbours downstairs are playing loud, bad music, and you probably have a good approximation of how working in the classroom is for me. Nothing comes out the way I want it to. Teachers usually like it anyway, though, since they can't see how the half-formed pieces still left in my head would have been much better if I could have put them together properly.


In other news, I was doing the head-bobbing thing in my last class today. My teacher for Ethics (said class) doesn't allow us to use our computers, and insists we sit still for two hours and just listen to him. And he talks slow! I fell asleep in the first 20 minutes or so, but I'm completely awake now, using my laptop. This just annoys the piss out of me, because I know I probably looked stupid drooling down my chin in class, so why am I awake now? Is my laptop directly attached to my brain, or something?

Comments

[siegeengine.livejournal.com]

bravo for standing up to "feel good" questioning. I've always hated that sort of forced drivel myself.

Does "First Nations" refer to what we in the US would call Native Americans? I mean the indigenous population? Obvious I suppose, but I just like to check out facts before I assume wrong.

[beandelphiki.livejournal.com]

Yep, that's what it means. Actually, people here refer to First Nations peoples as Native Americans. But I've recently learned that "Native Americans" is a white-imposed term, so I plan to avoid using it.