more on the privilege meme

[keryx]

Here's an explanation of how the privilege exercise works in a classroom - which is where it was intended to be used. And more from the source. I'm intrigued by the statement that ... the people on one end of the room had to work harder to be here today than the people at the other end of the room. It's followed later in the exercise by a statement that having privilege "doesn't mean you worked less hard". So, uh. Which is it? *

The exercise seems to be, as crafting_change (and others, but especially her) noted, coming from a pretty weird place on social vs. economic class. If you follow the source link & look at their "social class awareness quiz", you'll see questions that gain you "blue points" such as:
What are Kona and Blue Mountain?
a. Resorts
b. Hotels
c. Islands
d. Coffee

And countering, "red point", questions:
What is 10W40?
a. An Unemployment form
b. A kind of oil
c. A criminal background check
d. A truck

Dude, that quiz needs a "how do you feel" debrief afterwards. Words like "unemployment" and "criminal" do not even APPEAR on the blue point list. If the questions are peppered with social-knowledge kinds of things like WWF and Vivaldi, and with an obvious bent that WWF = poverty, criminality, etc., Vivaldi = wealth, consumption, etc. AND each has a particular set of educational biases. Ah. I'm not making fantastic sense here, but I am now bothered by this exercise. I think it sets out to point out background differences in a way that is already pretty classist.

* Which is part of the point of a meaningful class discussion - neither statement is exactly true.

PS. Y'all are fantastic at teaching me about the world and your perspectives.

Comments

[sheana.livejournal.com]

Yowch re: those additional questions and blue points/red points. I think that this particular version has some problems, but there are some really excellent renditions of the privilege walk. I did one for my intro women's studies class in the fall semester that the students really responded to, and that I think helped them understand the concepts of being overprivileged (because, really, privileged people don't have to think about how *over* privileged they are). I dunno. It's an interesting project, but I'm a little disappointed to see this version equating criminality with poverty. That's kind of ... ergh.

[box-o-spiders.livejournal.com]

I agree. It's like they're presupposing a large chunk of information before they quiz you. What's the point? If you've already sorted people into groups what does a quiz prove?

It's an interesting model for less biased social testing though. Suppose instead that you asked points questions based on things that would relate to financial standing, labor laws, world events, politics. It's a good way to suss out what is important to a group of people and how that is representative of their standing in the world.

[crafting-change.livejournal.com]

I think it sets out to point out background differences in a way that is already pretty classist.
To me it sets out that any 'social class' differences are inherently classist. Well of folks get severance packages that can cushion them between jobs (and often find that the caps on unemployment aren't that great) where as poor folks who face higher turn over and job instability are going to know the unemployment form (I've filled it out once, soft_pieces has twice. Criminal backround checks? Most retail places, unless the state bars the practice, administer drug tests, search employees leaving the store, personality evaluations. Granted some jobs are requiring similar actions (my current job does drug tests on all new hires, and a place I interviewed at did a personality test).. but these are the sad realities.

So for me the test just reinforced the reality. Yes, it is shit that the 'red' list definitely makes mention of unemployment and criminal checks. But, to me, it is an uncomfortable reality... like when discussing thriftiness with a former member of my knitting group and she said that she could never own a used mattress and shuttered. At that point, all I had ever owned was used matresses. Sure that isn't on par with being associated with such harsh words as 'unemployment' or 'criminal background check' (which honestly don't trigger me as much as 'dirty' or 'stupid') but my reality did make her shudder... which... was far less fun than these privilege excersizes.