Thursday, 5/15/97 Valued ethnic, gender classes help students
attain access STUDIES: Questioning education recognizing diversity
reveals biases
By Anna Wang I am deeply offended by Jennifer Nelson’s flippant
and derogatory remarks toward women’s studies (Daily Bruin, May 9)
not only because I am minoring in this field, but because her
remarks reflect a deeper bias against ethnic and gender studies.
Inherent in this attitude is the casual dismissal of ethnic and
gender studies as mere "whining grounds" for students who choose to
take these classes. While I don’t consider myself an expert on
feminism, I find Nelson’s assertions to be unsophisticated and
poorly supported. One of her most outrageous claims is that true
feminists need to major in other, more "practical" areas in order
to enter the work force and make loads of money to gain political
leverage. In Nelson’s narrowly tailored definition of feminism,
women can only empower themselves by beating "the boys" in the
money game. This standard makes the state of gender relations look
truly dismal, as women have yet to make as much as men. It makes
racial relations look far worse, as men of color make nearly the
same as white women, while women of color make even less than that.
While Nelson accurately believes that the wealthy have more
political clout than the working class, she wrongly generalizes
that wealth and the accompanying political leverage will result in
gender equity. Individuals can earn high salaries and possibly
avoid many of the social barriers their less-privileged peers face.
However, individual success does not lead to major social change or
collective achievement of "success." Nelson states, "Ideological
passion is important but lacks legitimacy without the education and
practical experience to substantiate it." I agree wholeheartedly
with this statement but object to her claim that women’s studies
students focus solely on learning a political ideology. As Nelson
points out, women’s studies students are not directly affecting the
state of gender relations by learning about it in a classroom. I
partly agree with her on this point – I am not improving the
situation facing women and people of color when I sit in a
classroom taking an ethnic or gender studies class. However, when I
leave that classroom, I have an education that has empowered me
with an awareness of social relations and my role within American
society, of the collective history of those who came before me,
and, in my case, of grassroots organizing techniques that I can put
to use when I enter into the world beyond our ivory towers. While
it is possible that Nelson has taken an ethnic or gender studies
class, I am quite doubtful about the degree of her familiarity with
the course offerings of ethnic and gender studies departments. Her
offhand dismissal of women’s studies classes as forums for women to
complain to each other and "feel warm and fuzzy" reveals a genuine
lack of knowledge about the depth and breadth of these departments.
As a student minoring in women’s studies and specializing in Asian
American studies, I have taken classes on American women writers,
economic development in a cross-cultural perspective,
Asian-American women, grassroots organizing, the psychology of
language and gender, the history of Asians in America and the life
histories of Native-American women. I don’t recall any of these
classes being forums for students to sit in a circle and share
"warm and fuzzy" confessions. In fact, I have found that ethnic and
gender studies classes have enabled me to hone my critical thinking
skills, further develop my writing ability and improve my
interpersonal communication skills. These are skills that are
easily dismissed by those who only see majors like biology as real
sources of "job-oriented skills." However, when an employer is
forced to choose between two candidates – one with excellent
writing ability, insightful analytical skills and effective
communication skills versus a second candidate who is able to
recite by memory the periodical table – it can be assumed that the
employer would prefer the first candidate because anyone can
memorize information whereas it takes development to acquire the
"liberal arts major" skills. Even if Nelson wrote the article only
to provoke someone like me into responding, I am troubled by the
increasing levels of intolerance, scapegoating and
narrow-mindedness prevalent in today’s society and on this campus
that dismiss ideas, attitudes and people of different backgrounds.
Accompanying outright racism and xenophobia is the presumed desire
for society to revert back to "the good old days" when the myth of
"liberty and justice for all" still existed despite segregation
(both de jure and de facto) that kept "those people" out of sight
and out of mind. Even here at UCLA, murmurs of discontent have
surfaced regarding student government. As with any campaign
mudslinging, candidates always attack the incumbents and declare
them to be corrupt. But what I see as the greater issue is the fact
that there is a great deal of resentment because the Asian Pacific
Coalition, MEChA, Samahang Pilipino and the African Student Union
successfully united to mobilize their constituencies to take
student government away from the mainstream, narrowly focused
resume-builders to advocate access to higher education for all
students (regardless of race, ethnicity or class), push for a
diversity requirement here at UCLA (the only UC campus without one)
that would reform the general education requirements so that
students could no longer ignore ethnic and gender studies classes
and shine the media spotlight on issues like immigrants’ rights,
labor relations and accountability. Observers will find that the
majority of the leaders of these movements are very familiar with,
if not majoring in, the ethnic and gender studies departments. Over
the years, civil rights advocates and feminists have fought for
many issues. Among them, the right of recognition is a particularly
emotional issue. People of color and women have traditionally found
little to identify with in our nation’s history books. Issues
unique to communities other than white, Anglo-Saxon
European-descended males were neither discussed nor even on the
periphery of the nation’s consciousness until far too recently. And
the fact that ethnic and gender studies departments are rare on a
national basis and still not seen as legitimate academic
disciplines means that our current, limited access remains
unstable. This must change as women and people of color deserve our
rightful place in history as Americans and should be recognized as
vital contributors to this society. We all have a right to learn
about our collective histories, to actively address our concerns,
and to organize collectively to accomplish our goals. This has been
at the heart of my own empowerment as an individual who isn’t
entirely accepted by the country where I was born and raised. It is
difficult to define this feeling of powerlessness and fully
understand the complexities of it if you lack the vocabulary. I
know who I am and where I stand without having had to learn it from
a professor. But I could neither identify nor address my issues
without acquiring the tools to break down this nebulous feeling and
dissect it. The bottom line to the people like Nelson in this
society: I’m not asking you to dedicate your life to my issues. All
I’m asking for is the right to dedicate my life to my issues so
that I can equip myself with the necessary knowledge and skills to
enable me to work together with you to confront the problems our
society faces. Wang is a third-year communication studies student
with a minor in women’s studies and a specialization in Asian
American Studies. Related Links: UCLA Women’s Studies Program