Knowledge is Precious

Precious Knowledge

I am loving Eren McGinnis' documentary film, Precious Knowledge. Watching the trailer has brought tears to my eyes as I reflect on the decades of being tested on white people's history (or History through the lens of white people). I wish my high school had an Ethnic Studies program.

The best my public high school could do in adding a challenge to its curriculum was the addition of  Advanced Placement courses. However, if you take a glimpse at the course topics you will see how not a single course sounds like it incorporates critical gender or race theory component.

I took the AP US History course during high school.
My final grade was a big fat  C+.

Shame on me? Whatever. I didn't want to memorize 1,000 dead white phony & over-glorified male politicians who worked hard to build this country. Who the hell does? I was tired of worshiping the white fathers of our past because of all the hidden truths of genocide (i.e. Manifest Destiny, slavery).

Genocide of Natives

My friends and I were too educated to be continually bullshitted by the racialized institution of our education system.

I remember how students in my class were more excited about discussing the history of illegal annexation of Mexican territory into what is now known as Texas. Our teacher allowed for us to discuss this for a minute or two, but then moved on to the required information we needed to learn in order to pass the AP US History exam. Oh my gosh the textbook was dry. And we were only learning what "white people" wanted us to know about US History. Martin Luther King Jr., and Harriet Tubman were the main black people we learned about. We never even talked about Malcolm X or the Black Panthers. This goes to show how flowery the US History textbooks were, and how colorblind the education system was trying to make us all.

Minority Mirror

I wish we read select chapters from Ronald Takaki's book, A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America for AP US History.

Now that I think back to the education I received in high school, I believe many students would have really wished for an Ethnic Studies program. Even a Mexican American Studies program would have been absolutely beneficial and revolutionary!

Throughout high school, I questioned why I was required to read Tim O'Brien's book The Things They Carried instead of Tragic Mountains: The Hmong, The Americans, and The Secret Wars for Laos 1942-1992 written by Dr. Jane Hamilton-Merrit. The two books are about Vietnam war. But the second book would have had a greater connection to the many Hmong students who were in the classroom. More students would have been engaged if the second book was taught...perhaps?

And why were we not reading Kao Kaliah Yang's newly released book The LateHomecomer? I was a junior in high school in the year the book was released. I bet many students at my school would have finished the book within a week if it was required reading! It has great prose, and she's a great American writer of her generation! What's going on with the education system? Who are the ones making the reading requirements? Are they all white male legislators?

Great!

Why is it that The Great Gatsby is considered a "classic"? Who gets to categorize what makes a book a classic? And to what extent does this story resonate with everyone's experience?  This book was written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, a white man who had privilege to an education during the 1920s when women were denied any access to education. AND WHY were so many required readings for high school students male authors? Why can't we have more contemporary writers in our education curriculum? We can analyze the literary devices and writing techniques the authors have incorporated in their writings. It's not like we'll lose all of these literary skills if we were to simply choose books that perhaps resonate with contemporary experiences of students today. To top it off, we could even watch amazing documentary films like "Precious Knowledge" and gain lots of critical knowledge from it.

I had so many lingering questions that were left unanswered for years in high school. I felt there was no space to explore them as well. When I questioned my teachers, they simply shut it down and bickered to why I would ask such questions.

Hmm, I wonder if I go back to them now! Now that I have the knowledge of institutionalized racism and SEXISM of the education system, I wonder what will happen if I go back to ask these teachers these questions and challenge their cognition.

Anyways, I only have $2.35 in my bank account...and $8 dollars in my piggy bank... McGinnis is selling her DVD for $20.... I can't spend 100% of my money ($10.35) on one super duper amazing and revolutionary film....  I doubt she'll let me have an autographed DVD for $5.00. Hrmm... *sigh*.

Would you be so kind to lend me a dollar?

Forget it....I'll pay her in the pennies I have left...