I am the faculty advisor for the honors society of my community college. Being in this role allows me to connect with cc students who, contrary to the stereotype want to ball academically. Now having spent a year in the role I can truly say that this is a strange collection of individuals who are surprising, engaging, and truly capable of doing great things. That being said, some straight up suck.
I am not talking about my team. I love my team. They are an eclectic mix of achievers who largely seem to get what an advantage and what great opportunities they have laid before them. They don’t operate from a position of presumed privilege and don’t look down on the people who aren’t ‘at their level’ yet. In truth, they want others to get where they are and for their collaborations to grow and grow until we can say the entire campus rocks honors style and should be seen as such. However, many many others look down their nose at those who aren’t achieving and are just struggling to find their way academically. It is as if there are the students who meet the stereotype of CC and by their existence perpetuate it and there are students who find that stereotype revolting and by their existence seek to distance themselves and the CC name from that stereotype. I don’t think these forces need to exist in opposition, but the binary reinforcements of our society make it so.
Some Thoughts:
- Since we are talking binary reinforcement, I’d like to point out that the latest proposed Supreme Court appointee is the embodiment of that statement and his hearings have been the worst version of the divide between the opposing forces.
- I also believe that he has shown himself to be partisan and to have a bias (perhaps newly formed) against the ‘other side’ which is going to show itself in his rulings. I believe this because I believe he is not even tempered and lacks the patience to serve fairly on the highest court in the land.