I’m on my much needed winter break right now, gearing up for applying to medical school. This break was supposed to be me doing all of the things I don’t get to do while I’m busy at school. However the day after I get home, I’m about to go running and I realize I forgot my shoes at school. Whoops.
So I’ve had a very sedentary break. I hang out with friends, do yoga, go cross country skiing, go on walks, sit inside and play assassins creed, do work, etc.
And eat.
But as soon as I get back I need to get back to eating better (which I do a pretty good job of now that I buy my own groceries.
I binged yesterday and had Chinese and nutella laden slices of toast.
I need to get back on track.
Other not so good news:
I’m in this native american studies course and the assistant professor clearly has some rage issues directed towards white people. For example, today he said, “All the poor white people suck up tribal money even though they don’t pay tribal taxes”. This may be true but let’s rephrase it in a non-offensive manner as you an academic professional- ”The area is predominately populated by low-income families, many of which are non-tribal and yet still get the fringe benefits of living on tribal land, such as access to our hospital.” Not that hard.
The entire discussion he was so staggeringly insulting, sarcastic and condescending I felt like walking out. He had this attitude, as if we were somehow below him in terms of our moral reasoning. Furthermore, he was excessively hypocritical. At one point we were discussing bias due to culturally instilled values and beliefs. This bias, he argued, was virtually impossible to remove and individuals are doomed to forever view the world through their monochrome glasses. His example being that when he teaches native english speakers mandarin Chinese, they innately find the language to be illegitimate as it is structured differently, and thus refuse to learn the language quickly.
What?
People can be brought up with a belief and then through education and through expanding their minds and experiences, change those original beliefs and biases. Additionally, how grossly condescending to assume that merely because English speakers are having a difficult time learning a language that is structured entirely different from their own, they are inherently viewing the new language as “illegitimate” and “inefficient”. He was presupposing ethnocentrism, stereotyping these speakers as believers in their own cultural superiority because they were struggling with a new way of thinking.
Furthermore, he was swearing, cutting students off when they prooffered their opinions (it’s a discussion section…) and acting in general like a huge douche.
I might drop the course.
/end rand.
Sorry, that wasn’t very fitness related- though it did get my heart pumping just sitting there.
