My Corner for Education

The satellite campus of the university I went to was not too far from where I used to live. It took me only an hour and ahalf to get to school in the morning. To tell the truth, it was not much of a campus either. The university basically rented a section of apublic school as their satellite campus. There were about 120 students at the satellite campus. I still remember, on the orientation day there were only four or five visible minority students; one black fellow, two East Indians, and myself. Later on, I found out there was another Iranian lady.

We were put in three or four different counseling groups. It was quite nerve-racking to be the only ethnic student in my counseling group. My classmates were civil to me, but I could sense that they seemed to be quite distant. I was quiet in my group because I always observed first in a new environment ever since I came to this country. I was definitely not shy at all; however, I could sense that people were hesitant to talk to me. If I initiated aconversation, I usually got very polite and brief responses from others. I worked hard trying to fit in the group, but I knew that it would not be easy to make any close friends. This was the university that tried to deter me to go to U of T instead because someone thought that I would fit into the ethnic category at another school. No matter what, I was planning to stay put. Later on, I was surprised to find out some terrible things that happened to the other ethnic students. The following is the story.

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I met one of the East Indian students on the bus when we were onthe way to our orientation. I initiated a conversation and was veryhappy to find out that we were heading to the same place. (Who else would take a long bus ride to the very end of town?) We were both new immigrants in a new land, pretty much like being in the same boat. She was very easy to talk to, and obviously we were both excited about the year ahead. We were placed in different counseling groups, so I did not have opportunities to see her often. After September, I saw her once a while in the hallway, but then she just disappeared. I didn’t find out where she went until later on.

One day during the study on Racism and Multiculturalism in Educational Psychology, the professor told us about his experience as a young Polish immigrant in Canada. He dropped out of high school because of the abuse and bullied experiences that he had received from his classmates and teachers at his old high school in Windsor Ontario about 40 years ago. His abusive father was very upset with him, so he then left home to learn a trade at a flourmill and bakery shop. For a poor immigrant family, if you did nothave an education, you might as well go into the hard labor force to learn a skill.

He was lucky to work for a very kind gentleman who encouraged him to take night school credits to finish his high school. He worked during the day at the mill to support himself to finish his highschool and then on to complete his university degree. When hefinished his PhD, his name was reported in the small town newspaper. He was invited to give a speech at his old high schoolas an alumnus. He was shocked to find out that the teacher who treated him badly years ago was then the principal of that school. My professor accepted the invitation to give the speech but told the students about the ill treatments he received at that very highschool years ago. He said he did not name the names of the teachersin his speech, but he did confront the principal later on about the ill treatments he received under his care years ago. The principal who could not recognize him was dumbfounded.

My professor came from Poland, so the discrimination he received in Canada was not because of his skin color. He would look just the same as everybody else 40 or 50 years ago. He was ill treated because he could not communicate in English. As a head strongPolish teenager, he did not like to get picked on so he would get in trouble with many people at school. He candidly told us his personal story to make a point about the existence of institutional discrimination and racism in Canadian schools. Teachers have asocial responsibility to educate children about the problems ofracism and discrimination in our society.

The professor then asked us to guess how much the school system andteachers had improved from 40 years ago. Of course, many people jumped in and offered their opinions. He then criticized that thework on anti-racism and discrimination had not been done enough andstill had a long way to go. According to him, one of our ethnicstudents was forced to drop out because her fellow classmates and group councilors complained that she had an accent that they couldnot understand. The professor then went on to say that the lady was an English literature professor from India. She probably could write better than anybody in her counseling group and had more teaching experiences than anybody in the campus. The accent was not an issue. The issue was how a small school community rejected someone because she appeared to be different, and used a group power to force somebody to quit.

He then emphasized that skin color as well as language are bothvbarriers for multiculturalism. I think the bottom line is that if we truly believe in multiculturalism as a goal for Canada, then we have to acknowledge the existence of the institutional discrimination we face each and everyday in our school system and deal with the issues openly in every corner of our schools.

I was shocked to find out about what happened to the East Indian lady. Her counseling group and councilor actually forced her to drop out! They claimed that she had a very strong accent and she should not be in their group. Can you believe that those people would eventually become teachers to teach children? I could sense my blood boiling high when I heard of the story. I did not have awarm welcoming counseling group but at least they were all very civil and polite to me. I knew that underlying institutional discrimination and racism existed everywhere. In fact, it is still prevalent everywhere around the world, or we would not have terrible atrocities such as ethnic cleansing, wars or migrant laborproblems. I just could not believe that this was happening in the holy cradle for training future teachers.

I remember I used to get called names a few times when I waswaiting for buses at a bus stop or getting in and out of anelevator in the apartment. I was so frustrated and upset over thoseincidents, I would go home and take it out on my Da-Pong husband. Poor him! After he comforted me, he would then lecture me to betough to face these incidents. “There will always be idiots outthere who would do or say things like these, but they’re the idiots, not you!” he said. The incidents I encountered were causedby teenagers who did not know me, to even judge me. That is whyteachers have responsibilities to educate students and the society in general. Unfortunately, future teachers were the ones whocreated this mess in the case of the Indian student. I could onlyshudder!

I got to meet another ethnic student, an Iranian lady in Educational Psychology. I did not notice her because she had verypale skin, so I just assumed she was white. Anyway, she also had anaccent. (We all have an accent! British people have strongeraccents in my view!) She told me that her group was trying to forceher to drop out as well, but she opted to stay put. In fact, shewas quite feisty. At the end of our program, she decided tocomplain and take her case to the Dean for the ill treatments shereceived from her fellow classmates. I talked to her once on thephone when she was writing the letter to the Dean, but nothingafter that. We lost touch afterwards.

I was lucky that I finished the program without too much deterrence from others. I know I am quite resilient. I would definitely stand up for a fight if something like that happened to me. I would neverdrop out. These little stories that happened around me just made me stronger to take on racism and discrimination head on.

From my observations for the last seventeen years, things have changed for the better in terms of anti- racism and institutionaldiscrimination issues. School Boards are hiring more ethnic teachers. Unfortunately, we still have a long way togo if we hope to see a harmonious society where people can truly respect one another for the way they are, regardless of one’sethnicity, gender, creed, language, ability and sexual orientation.I dream to see the day!