Questioning Assumptions About the Poor
Dear Elliott,
Your explanation of SLANT seems sensible, but my problem, in a nutshell, is that it seems more like "Five rules for success" rather than a set of moral or intellectual rules. Actually, at the three colleges where I recently spoke—Bates, Wesleyan, and Brandeis—I didn't see a lot of SLANT behaviors, but their absence didn't make me feel unwanted, uncomfortable, or unheard. Still, I appreciate your concern that your students not waste opportunities through rudeness—there are better fights to pick. Indeed, kids of color are less likely to be "forgiven" for "rudeness" than rich or upper-middle-class white kids are. I recognized this in the largely black and Latino schools my own children attended.
Confusing "rules for success" with the very different kinds of "rules" implicit in the Golden Rule is an old-school habit. My kindergartners in 1963 told me the purpose of school was to learn to "be good" as in to raise your hand, stand in line, etc. In short, they came to school with a misunderstanding.
I think good social and moral behavior is best "taught" by being in the company of others—peers, older students, and adults—who display them. And even more important, by the kind of empathy experienced—in the Kohlberg
Your explanation of SLANT seems sensible, but my problem, in a nutshell, is that it seems more like "Five rules for success" rather than a set of moral or intellectual rules. Actually, at the three colleges where I recently spoke—Bates, Wesleyan, and Brandeis—I didn't see a lot of SLANT behaviors, but their absence didn't make me feel unwanted, uncomfortable, or unheard. Still, I appreciate your concern that your students not waste opportunities through rudeness—there are better fights to pick. Indeed, kids of color are less likely to be "forgiven" for "rudeness" than rich or upper-middle-class white kids are. I recognized this in the largely black and Latino schools my own children attended.
Confusing "rules for success" with the very different kinds of "rules" implicit in the Golden Rule is an old-school habit. My kindergartners in 1963 told me the purpose of school was to learn to "be good" as in to raise your hand, stand in line, etc. In short, they came to school with a misunderstanding.
I think good social and moral behavior is best "taught" by being in the company of others—peers, older students, and adults—who display them. And even more important, by the kind of empathy experienced—in the Kohlberg
