Decolonizing Rigor: Is placement good or bad?
Decolonizing Rigor: Is placement good or bad?
It depends. "Decolonizing Rigor in Higher Education" conversation by Mona Abo-Zena and Kerrie Wilkins-Yel, CIT-UMB, Jan 31, 2023, again
Weed-out classes are bad. Any placement — say, the proctored ALEKS math test — is bad. Do not waste students’ time and money, let them take calculus right away, forget the pre-algebra (, [whispering] where they will fail and lose more time and money on repeats, but it’s OK: we can use their tuition dollars to hire more Vice Provosts.)
But wait, not so fast. When it comes to race education, it turns out that…
…bringing white people and people of color together to discuss race can be like placing pre-algebra students in a calculus class. The people of color are often so far ahead of the white people that they would have to slow down in order to let us catch up. And since “catching up” involves extensive emotional processing, it does not happen quickly. This can be endlessly frustrating to everyone involved. People of color may feel cheated out of their own growth around race while white people may shut down or feel inadequate, scared, and intimidated.1
And then, the above is used to insist, of all things, that placement by ability should not play a significant role in selecting ballet dancers. Where is the logic? It is so subjective. Oh, forgot, logic and objectivity are White Supremacy. They are. But in the end, White Supremacy and Anti-White-Supremacy are one and the same. Thank you, Jacques2.
“Becoming an Anti-Racist White Ally: How a White Affinity Group Can Help”, By Ali Michael and Mary C. Conger, Perspectives on Urban Education, Spring 2009, p. 56.
Derrida.