Impressed
[This article originally appeared on Thoughts To Be Defined. Click over there to read the original and other articles by Jess Man.]
The Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) recently had a grand opening in September. This place is pretty sick. It’s dope and I am glad I can have some sort of inadvertent tie to this space.
To take the place of one of my workshops I set up a field trip to MOCA. There are a few gallery workshops MOCA offers to schools and students. I decided to take my class to the Where do Stereotypes Come From? In a city and a borough where Chinese makes up a large part of the population, sometimes the Chinese born and immigrant kids are oblivious or indifferent to the racism or the social difficulties their ancestors/elders endures/d. When I advertised this upcoming event to my kids, many were disinterested. Many found excuses to not attend. I am not their mother. I can not force them to do something they are adverse to doing.
Apologies filled up my inbox with “I am Sorry’s” and “Something Really Important Came Up” e-mails. I was beginning to get discouraged. Issues that are important to me seemed to roll off my kid’s shoulders like these things do not affect them in the slightest. Terror filled my stomach, how many kids would actually attend. I told MOCA I would bring 20, what if I walked in with 2 students? Failure!
So, I had to resort to the forcing tactic. I pushed several kids to attend. Confusion and “O, god she’s crazy,” showed in their body language. Do not get me wrong, there were a few students genuinely enthusiastic for the field trip. They gave me hope. Most though did not see the relevance the workshop had to the program they were in. Yes, my non-profit hosts a program that provides work readiness training and basic skills tutoring, but I am convinced as seniors in high school it is more imperative to be exposed to the wonders the world has to offer. Showing my students the possibilities and equipping them with the tools to question their immediate and extended environment is how they will succeed beyond high shcool.
An immigrant senior told me she was going to decline the trip because she was just not interested. I handed the permission slip to her. She received my explanation to attend with reservation. She and her friend showed up on the day of the MOCA workshop. I was pleased. Another student expressed every inclination to not go.
“Sorry Jess, I don’t think I can make it.”
“Why?”
“Cuz, I can’t. I have to go now.”
“Wait, wait. You are going to go!! You have to!”
I chased this boy to the elevator as he was running away from my antics. I followed him all the way down to the exit. Without shame I repeated and pressed that he must attend. “It will be fun!” I exclaimed. This student returned a couple hours later to the office. He hung out for a bit before abruptly departing. He thought he was slick, before he slipped into the elevator he said, “Jess, yeah, I really don’t think I’ll show up next Thursday.” Boy thought he could get away with his sly plan. I sprinted like a madwoman to the elevator, slammed my hand in between the door before it slid to a close. “No, you are going. Got it!” half serious, half playfully threatening him. He nervously laughed and gave me a confirmation he would attend.
I instructed all the kids to give me an RVSP the night before the field trip in email. There was no email from the student I scared into saying yes to me, but come Thursday, he showed up. To my surprise he brought his friend who had been coming to my workshops voluntarily. His friend was part of the program from the year before. He has no obligation to come to my workshops, but he does.
As we were getting into the topic of stereotypes I saw the student that refused to visit MOCA take out a notebook. He was taking down notes on terms and new information he had not previously known about stereotypes and Chinese American history. This kid who adamantly said he had better things to do on Thursday was immersed in the discussion. I was impressed. I was impressed by his eagerness to learn and participate. I was impressed I changed his mind. I was impressed he was engaged in his learning.
After the session I confronted him. He initially thought I was about to reprimand him for doing homework. On the contrary, I wanted to praise him for allowing himself to open his eyes to his history and to his future.
A total of 10 kids showed up. A little less than half the class came. Not a great number, but still a success.
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Tags: art, Chinese Americans, museum.
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