Fall 2010 Week 6

Week 6

How’s it going readers?

            Are your midterms finally wrapping up or is the second round of them just beginning? Thankfully with my schedule my midterm workload hasn’t been too heavy but I will admit midterms still takes a toll on me just like everyone else. Maybe it’s the fact that we’re hit with between 4 and 6 exams (7 if you’re a glutton for punishment) all in a matter of two weeks. Or maybe it’s the fact that we have almost no transition time between general class time and exam time. Some universities have “reading days” where they have 2 and 7 days where they don’t have to attend class all they have to do is study for exams then the next week their exams begin. What do you think? Personally I welcome the idea of having a week or so to prepare for exams, and transition for “lecture mode” to “study mode,” but some people may not feel the same. For some people not having class means not having to do work and the temptation of partying during the week instead of studying may be too much for someone who doesn’t have the motivation of a class in the morning. Whatever your opinion may be I think it’s easy to see that midterms take quite the toll on all of us.

            Now that I’ve gotten my weekly rant out of the way let me fill you in on a recent dinner I attended.

            Now we as Latinos cross all majors and professions, it’s just that our presence isn’t always as easily noticed within our respective fields. Within education especially we have difference in the number of minority students attending our schools and the number of minority faculty members teaching in our schools. As a minority student pursuing a career in education this hits especially close to home, and the function I recently attended entitled “Diversity in Education” addressed this issue directly.

            As I arrived at the event I met various minority students pursuing the Neag School of Education, other students that are currently in the School of Education, faculty members here at UConn and even professionals currently in the field. However there was one person here who seemed to be a bit out of place, a man named Miguel, dressed in a “Puerto Rico” sweatshirt, baggy jeans and basketball sneakers who, when asked about his professional background, simply said he worked in a school in Meriden and just came for the food. As the night went on and we took our seats, I tried to figure out why this gentleman was here. He didn’t look like a professional and from what he told us (the people sitting at my table) he didn’t have that much background in education.

            The program began with the presentation of the Hearst Scholarship, an award directed towards students pursuing teaching as a profession with the support of diversity initiatives in mind. From there, Noemi Maldonado took the podium and introduced our keynote speaker, the gentleman in the Puerto Rico sweatshirt, who rose from his seat and took the podium, taking the room by surprise in the process. The gentleman who we thought didn’t belong there had more reason to be there than any of us. His name was Miguel Cardona, currently the principal of Hanover Elementary School in South Meriden, CT, and a member of the board of directors dedicated to closing the achievement gap in Connecticut.

            Mr. Cardona came to the dinner that night with one objective in mind, to challenge us to face our stereotypes. He showed us that we would be helpless in breaking the stereotypes against ourselves until we look and see what stereotypes we have ourselves. Everyone stereotyping him as not being a principal and well-respected member within the education community simply based on the way he was dressed was the first one we had to face. In order to help minority students succeed we needed to recognize that we all held predispositions and that we needed to be able to look past them in order to be effective teachers.  In addition to looking past our differences as future and current educators, he encouraged us to embrace them as well. Our differences are what make us unique and add a dimension to our teaching and image as a teacher that can help us further connect with our students. Not only did the night help me realize what I needed to do to be successful in my profession but it helped me feel more confident about succeeding as a minority in my profession.

            Every minority student goes through a period of doubt at one time or another where they question whether or not they’ll be able to be successful as a minority in a world dominated by the majority. Let me tell you this, any feelings I may have had like this have completely dissipated from my mind and I have this night to thank for it.