Even Geology is Better!!!
By: Erin Paul
H1, Group 4
As many of you know, I am an intern
at a low-income housing community called Wherry Housing. I live and work in
this community and it is the best place I know. It’s a very diverse
neighborhood. We have refugees from Burma and Thailand, Hispanics, African
Americans, whites and more. One of the main things I do at Wherry is the after
school program, which is a time for all the kids of the community to come
together after school and get help with their homework, play, learn Bible
stories, and eat snacks. This is what I look forward to every day! These kids
mean absolutely everything to me and they never fail to put a smile on my face
and provide me with a good laugh.
So the other day I was helping a
little boy with his homework at the after school program. His name is Noah and
he is nine years old. He was doing a worksheet on alphabetical order. He was
given a list of words and was supposed to look them up in the dictionary and
find the sight words, which are the words on the top of the dictionary page
that make it easier to find your word when flipping through the dictionary. One
of his words was pilgrim, so as he flipped through the pages, I heard him
exclaim, “PHILOSOPHY?!?!?!” I was amused by his reaction to the answer of the
first sight word for pilgrim. Chuckling, I asked him if he knew what philosophy
was. “Duh,” re replied, “it’s the study of life.” I was pretty surprised by his
response, thinking he had no idea what it meant. As I told him that I was
taking a philosophy class right now, a look of disgust appeared on his face,
adding to his odd reaction. “What’s so bad about philosophy?” I asked Noah. “I
don’t know. It’s just weird. Even geology is better!!” I couldn’t help but
laugh, and I laughed even harder when I asked him what geology was and he had
absolutely no idea. As I was laughing, I thought of an idea for my midterm.
My midterm post is going to include
interviews with my kiddos about some different philosophical ideas and some of
the topics we have covered thus far in class. I think it will be really fun to
get into the mind of these kids and see the differences between how they view
the world and how we do. I have noticed on many blog posts/comments and even
during our discussions in class, we reference how kids think and how we
sometimes wish everyone saw through the “glasses” of children. So I have
decided to try on those glasses and share with y’all what I see.
But before I share the interviews, I
want to touch on how my philosophical views have changed and formed since
becoming involved at Wherry Housing. Probably my favorite topic that we have
discussed so far is the big issue of cosmopolitanism, multiculturalism,
minority rights, and tolerance. When talking about these things in my group, I
referenced the people at Wherry often. I believe from living and working in
such a unique, diverse place, I now consider myself a cosmopolitan in the eyes
of Kwame Anthony Appiah. He defines a cosmopolitan as someone who recognizes
that people across societies have much in common, while also being tolerant of
their differences. The idea that we are all human beings is displayed to me
daily when I see kids of all ethnicities playing together, not even noticing a
difference in their appearance However, I also see so many differences between
cultures. For example, the Asians in my neighborhood practically live at my
house. I have been to Thailand before and it is definitely what you consider a
“hot climate” culture, meaning very people oriented. They are always surrounded
by other people and don’t value the idea of privacy, like most Americans do.
When I go to their houses, they are always making me feel so welcome: feeding
me, giving me gifts, and wanting me to stay forever. I absolutely love that
about them!
We
talked a lot about whether or not we should step in and interfere with these
differences. Many of us agreed we should step in when the situation is harmful.
I have seen an example of that among the Karen people at Wherry, which are the
refugees from Burma. I am probably going to reference them a lot because they
make up the majority of our neighborhood and are the most different from what
we are used to. Before coming to America, the families lived in refugee camps in
Thailand after they escaped Burma. There is terrible violence in Burma between the
Burmese government and the Karen people. So that is what they are used to.
Well, we began noticing signs of child abuse among our Karen kids. After
getting to know their families better, we realized that child abuse is very
common in their home, but they do not see it as abuse. That’s just what they
are used to. This is a situation we believed it was essential to step in
because there could be awful consequences for the parents if the police and
child services were to get involved. We had to explain to the families that
that kind of behavior is not acceptable in the States. We did that not because
we didn’t tolerate their differences but because we love them and wanted to
protect them.
Another
topic that we thoroughly discussed was immigration and the rights of these
people once they get here. From working with immigrants on a daily basis, my
heart transformed. Now, I don’t know for sure if all the immigrant families in my
neighborhood are legal, but I do know that they probably wouldn’t be alive
if they weren’t here right now. Instead of just making judgments like I used
to, I now put myself into other people’s shoes. I do believe that our
immigration laws should be enforced but I also believe that the process immigrants
go through to get to America and then become citizens is entirely too complex
and lengthy. I also think that when people do come here legally from other
countries, they should receive extra help. I have seen first hand how difficult
the transition is for families. They don’t have jobs, they can’t speak the
language, and they don’t have a lot of people to turn to for assistance. They
are in a brand new place that is completely foreign to what they are used to.
Money and language/culture training can make the transition easier and can
guide the way to their independence. It is important that the family knows this
help is not permanent so they will not become dependent on it. What makes me
angry about this whole thing is when people make ignorant and rude comments
about these immigrants. Most of us have no idea just how blessed we are to have
grown up in America. We have never had to go through the atrocities that many
other countries endure on a daily basis. And we’re going to get frustrated when
they can’t speak English perfectly after a year of being here? Have we ever had
to learn a completely new language, while under the stress of trying to start a
new life in a new place? No! So we shouldn’t pretend like we could do it so
much better and judge these people before even getting to know them.
Now
that I have discussed a little bit how these beautiful people of Wherry Housing
have shaped some of my philosophical ideas, I’m going to introduce y’all to
some of my kids and their ideas on some of the topics from class. My interviews
were based off of 5 questions.
1.
What
things make you go yuck?
2.
Do
you think people that play sports should be able to take drugs to make
themselves better?
3.
How
do you pick who is your friend?
4.
Where
does your happiness come from?
5.
Wherry
is full of all kind of people: Asians, Hispanics, blacks, whites. Do you like
living with all those people?
The first person
I interviewed was a little Karen girl named Cherry. I interviewed her on her 7th
birthday.
-
What
things make you go yuck? “Salad. It makes me sick. It’s poisonous for me. And
birds. I’ve seen my dad shoot them before.”
When
discussing Julian Savulescu’s idea of ‘Yuk!’ we talked about the different
reason we have those reactions. Some of the things we came up with is bad experience,
parents think that way, moral/religious, simply used to it, or a
rational/logical reason.
-
Do
you think people who play sports should be able to take drugs to make
themselves better? “No, it makes their belly hurt.” Oh to be 7 again!
-
How
do you pick who is your friend? “If they’re nice to me and funny.”
-
Where
does your happiness come from? “Birthday.” Haha, I have a feeling that was
because it was her birthday that day.
Paw, 10, Karen
girl
1.
Yuck – “When people say gross stuff. When people throw up it makes me throw
up.”
2. Sports – “No, they will get drunk
and won’t know how to play.” I love kids!!!
3. Friends – “See if they are nice
and kind to people.”
4.
Happiness – “God, praying, family, friends. Sometimes, I am sad but my heart is
still happy.” Love that!
5.
Diversity – “I don’t like when black people hurt my family. I like living with
them but I don’t like when they’re mean. White people make me happy when they
play at my house.”
Recently, there was a lot of violence between the teenagers
in our neighborhood, and it was all between black boys and Karen boys. There
was a gang of black boys that don’t live at Wherry but would come at night and
beat up a lot of the Karen guys. This is what Paw was referring to. It’s gotten
better though!
Kyo, 9, Karen
boy – lived in America less than a year
1.Yuck – “Tomatoes. They’re
disgusting.”
2. Sports – “Yes, I wanna watch good
sports.”
3. Friends – “Nice to everybody. You
are my friend, Erin.”
4. Happiness – “When I make 100 on a
test.”
Ruth, 8,
Hispanic girl
1. Yuck – “Spiders because they eat
flies and put food in bubbles. And throw up.”
Not
really sure where she got her spider facts haha.
3. Friends – “Girls. Nice and not
annoying.”
4.
Happiness – “When I don’t get enough sleep. That’s all I got.” This one made me
laugh! She was set on it though!
5.
Diversity – “Kinda, I think I would rather live with just Hispanics.”
Mumu, age 9, Karen girl
1. Yuck - “Tomatoes and broccoli. Really disgusting! Snakes. Creepy and scary! Seen one before. And farting, of course.”
3. Friends – “They don’t lie. Nice. Honest. Play with me. Come to my house.”
4. Happiness – “Heart and imagination. God makes me happy. Friends and family.”
5. Diversity – “I like it because friends should be all kinds of people.”
(Olivia, Mumu, and Ruth)
1. Yuck – “Someone digging in their
nose and eating it.
2. Sports – “No, they would become
weak and sick.”
3.
Friends – “If they’re a good person. They don’t steal or get in fights and
they’re not a bully.”
4.
Happiness – “Lots of things. Curiosity. I read that in a book. Being treated in
a good way.”
5.
Diversity – “Yes. We’re all the same kind of people. It’s the same as hanging
out with white people.” Appiah would be proud!
Taw and Day Day,
9, Karen boys
1. Yuck – “Throw up and poop. It
smells bad.”
2.
Sports – “No, it can affect their life. If they play for a long time they will
get tired faster. Like steroids.
3.
Friends – “The way they act. If they’re nice.”
4.
Happiness – “God.”
5.
Diversity – “Yes, as long as I know who they are.”
I hope you all enjoyed looking seeing what philosophy looks like through the glasses of my fun kiddos!
Word Count: 2033
This is so cute! I agree with what you said and those kids are adorable. I think it really shows their innocence and how different environments and society influence your opinion.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE this so much! Kids are so precious!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this, Erin, and for philosophizing with (and caring about) these terrific kids. I firmly believe that children ought to be encouraged to express and discuss their feelings/attitudes/beliefs/convictions, and to hear others' from the earliest age. It would go a long way toward correcting the mutual misunderstanding that characterizes so many intercultural exchanges. You're right, Appiah would be proud.
ReplyDelete